Seven years of painting Padanaram en plein air

When painting “en plein air,” artists struggle with a number of difficulties and most of them can be chalked up to the constantly changing environment.

But artists took on the challenge anyway in the seventh annual Wet Paint Padanaram event hosted by the Dartmouth Cultural Center Saturday, Aug. 23.

Barbara Healey, of Dartmouth, said she’s all too familiar with the difficulties posed when trying to complete a painting outside.

“It’s always a challenge what the day brings — although we have beautiful weather today.” Healey said.

The artists lucked out with the nice weather this year. The event used to be held in late September, but had been moved up due to the typically rainy conditions.

Standing on the side of Smith Neck Road on the edge of Knowles Beach, Healey painted the harbor, which was as filled with activity as the streets of Padanaram. 

There was no rain and though there was a bit of breeze, but she noted it was “not too bad.”

“This morning, I thought I was going to paint at the creek, but the tide was too high and there was no marsh,” Healey said. 

That’s when she drove around and found her spot. She added though she had painted in this location before, the scene was much greener than it was during September, which gave its own set of challenges.

About the event, she said, “It’s always fun to just see a bunch of my friends out here,” adding, “It lets people know there is a lot of public access to our water.”

Although her spot by the bridge is pretty popular, she said there are others painting in lesser-known spots off of Elm Street that have public access.

Robin Nunes, of Dartmouth, has been painting for just about as long as the event has existed and has made it a point to participate every year. 

Her reason? “Getting days like this where the weather is absolutely beautiful and the scenery is gorgeous.”

Nunes was situated further along the beach than Healey. With her easel staked into the sand, she balanced on quite the slate as she added paint to her canvas with a spatula. 

“I always, always pick the bridge,” she said, adding she had initially wanted to paint a tug boat she saw, but decided she didn’t want to disrupt the foot traffic on the bridge. 

Additionally, she noted the person who bought her work at the event’s accompanying Adoption Party last year, showed interest in her new one, so she wanted to make sure it was a different scene.

Though she finds herself fully invested in her art now, Nunes admitted there was a year that she completely stopped due to feelings of self doubt. She said she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be an artist or even enjoyed making art.

However, a teacher gave her the inspiration and the confidence to start back up.

Now she had a painting at the Norton Gallery — right in the front window.

“We have Jill Law to thank,” Nunes said of Wet Paint Padanaram. “She runs it every year and she’s remarkable. I just hope we keep having it.”