VIsiting with the original Guerrilla Painter

A few months ago, I ordered a new paint box from Judson's Art Outfitters in Colorado. Poking around their website I discovered that Carl Judson would pass nearby; I took a chance and invited him to stay with us and paint with the NIagara Frontier Plein Air Painters. A few emails back and forth and we set up an evening salon with my group, he gently presented some history and his philosophy and listened carefully to comments and art stories. All evening a series of about 100 images rotated on the tv screen, providing a visual panorama of plein air.

Painting the Falls, on the days when the ice is roaring down the river from Lake Erie has a special quality. Spending that day with Carl Judson added to the 'special' as we set up with our backs to the American Falls and could see the 'shoe between the trees before leaves filled in the view. Ice at the base of the Horseshoe was halfway up, about 90 feet deep, and another 5-6 feet deep on the fenced off lookout areas near the spray.

 Carl attracted a steady group of observers of the water falls and our paintings.

 This pile of equipment represents enough for two artists to sit, paint and eat lunch. The economy of space of the Guerilla Painter supplies has lightened my load considerably. When I started to paint out years ago, I could barely manage my own bulky set up even with a set of wheels, these two boxes were easy to carry with two chairs up the hill and through the fields without thinking about weight or bulk.

 Carl Judson and I in front of his mobile art shop [and traveling apartment], before leaving the area in Wilson. We had painted the Trillium walk in the morning, he was headed for Rochester Art Supply, one of our favorite artist road trips, followed by Canandaigua and Ithaca.