For those of us that had an adventurous spirit, Sunday's paint out at Sky Meadows proved to be a surprise and a delight. True to form, the wacky and unpredictable weather of 2011 had a very interesting mix in store for us on this chilly last weekend in October. We had the unique combination of autumn colors at their peak as well as the first healthy dusting of snow. The experts say that we have not had snow this early since the civil war times.

The brave souls that were planning to attend began emailing each other the day before to see if they were going to be the only crazy person painting in the snow. In attendance were members Barbara Nuss, Lani Browning, Sara Linda Poly, Christine Drewyer, Marietje Chamberlain, Adrienne Burrows and guest artists Web Bryant and Betty Huang.

This was my first time at Sky Meadows and it does not disappoint in the extraordinary vistas of the Virginia countryside. The leaves were at their Halloween perfection and several of the artists took advantage of the beautiful distance views of the Piedmont overlook and the South Ridge. Sara, Betty, Lani and Web decided that the blustery winds and 40 something temps were best weathered in the backs of their cars and produced stunning views of the overlook. Web did this complete with music and perhaps that contributed to the total ambience of the experience but resulted in a dead battery. The park rangers assisted him in resolving the problem but we didn't get to share his final painting at critique. I did the same view but outside and set up just on the edge of the road to avoid standing in the two or so inches of snow. After laying in the view the same park ranger told me I needed to move out of the road… I did get to attend the critique but with very wet boots indeed. Ah the advantages of plein air painting. Barbara decided on the charming log cabin with the distance view of the Northern ridge complete with the black angus cows that seemed quite unaffected by the snow and Adrienne did a pastel of the side view of the Mount Bleak house with an amazing maple in those spectacular gold's and amber tones we artists wait all year to paint. The sky was a gorgeous blue and the state park stunning.

An all girls critique took place at lunch time and everyone seemed to concur that this is a spot that we would love to return to and paint again.