WSLP members gathered at The National Arboretum to paint on Memorial Day Sunday. This was our first paintout at the Arboretum. It was a bit challenging to get to with 25,000 Rolling Thunder Vietnam Veterans sharing the roadways for their Memorial Day meeting on the National Mall. Eight of us braved the traffic-drawn by the promise of good weather with sunny skies and the temperature in the high 80’s.

The National Arboretum offered a wide variety of landscape scenes to choose from: perennial and herb gardens, five acres of conifer collections of spruce, firs and dwarf pines, tranquil hilltop vistas of the Anacostia River, twenty-two sandstone Corinthian columns from the East portico of the U.S. Capitol, numerous ponds and other lovely scenes.

Maps were provided (and needed) to explore the over 400 acres as painting spots were chosen. Marietje Chamberlain and Mike Heylin were drawn to the hilltop views of the Anacostia River. Mary Kokoski found herself a shady spot near the National Columns. Sara Poly went in search of the “perfect tree”, finding it within the conifer collection, as did Adrienne Burrows. The day became increasingly muggy with the temperature rising - Bill Schmidt, Ed Cooper and Lani Browning were pleased they had selected a cool spot near Beech Spring Pond. That was, until swarms of flying insects invaded them, landing in paint and paintings and on arms. Bill Schmidt wisely had come prepared -as all good plein air painters should be, and was protected by his trusty bug spray.

Artists gathered at noon at the National Grove of State Trees for lunch. Lani Browning, WSLP’s paintout coordinator, asked for opinions about this location as a paintout choice. It was agreed that the site was good and interest was expressed in painting here in different months. Lani admitted she had scouted this in late February and preferred the late winter views versus so much “green”. Marietje liked the facilities available, Mary liked the variety of choices to paint. Bill Schmidt, our resident wit, commented on all the traffic. (There was none!)

After lunch, a critique was held under the shade of a lovely tree. Bill Schmidt ran the critique as each artist submitted their morning’s work. A lively discussion surrounded each painting. Bill Schmidt explained he was using a new palette with this piece. He had eliminated viridian and was now mixing his greens with ultra marine blue and cadmium lemon. Ed Cooper talked about how he initially thought he would do a vertical painting, and settled on a horizontal composition.There was much comment about his beautiful use of greens. Sara Poly, who found her “perfect tree”-a lovely dawn redwood, used a vertical composition. Her colors were especially rich with a nice feeling of distance. Mary Kokoski, who works in acrylics wanted to improve her lights, and warm up her yellows in her piece. Mike Heylin brought a watercolor from the March Great Falls paintout and we viewed the beginnings of his new watercolor of the Arboretum. Lani Browning admitted the flying bugs got to her but liked her start of her Beech Spring pond painting. Adrienne, who was there with her teenage daughter Dana, was planning on painting all afternoon.

Eight Members present: Browning, Burrows, Chamberlain, Cooper, Heylin, Kokoski, Poly and Schmidt.