It is All Arts Week in Harford County, MD. Wednesday’s beautiful weather could not have been written more perfectly by prescription by Dr. Howard A Kelly for plein air painters who love Liriodendron, his historic home and grounds in Bel Air, MD. Throughout the day, approximately a dozen painters came with their easels, watercolors, oils or pastels and enjoyed translating what they saw before them on their canvases.

It was great fun to walk the grounds and talk with each artist about the composition of their paintings and why they picked the viewpoint they chose to paint. Some for the perspective of the shadows cast on the building, others for the architectural interest such as a shapely balustrade or arch and yet others for the positioning of an urn of beautiful flowers. One painter chose a particular tree, a chestnut, that he was fond of because of his memories of zipping by it on his sled in the winter. Jonathan West grew up next door to the home of Dr. Howard Atwood Kelly, one of the founding four physicians of Johns Hopkins Hospital. The nearly 100 acres of the mansion, built in 1898, was his playground.

A couple of artists came from out of state but they are often seen in Harford County painting because they have historic, ancestral homes or farm land here in the county.

All artists have given me permission to post pictures of their works in progress, and they look forward to exhibiting their completed paintings on Saturday at the Armory in Bel Air after the two-hour paint out which will have even more artists at various locales lining historic Main Street.

I finished my day with a special event for literary arts enthusiasts. More will be posted about the evening literary event in a few days time.