Jay, Sally, Judy and I met at 10 AM at the Tilcon (trap rock) rail yard on Pleasant Point Road in Branford -- which I call the Pleasant Point trains. But on my way, I went to check out the Trolley Trail, which can be accessed down a short, steep trail section about a mile further out the road. From the trail you can see the Tilcon distribution facility in Pine Orchard, and in one of the photos, you can see the tops of a train on its way there, across the marshes. Eastward on the trail, there are outlooks back toward Stony Creek. I'm including these photos in case they may inspire you for painting there.
Back at the trains, while the others were setting up and starting to sketch and paint, I again spent a lot of time roaming around for some good reference photos. Silvia, who lives just a few doors down, came to say hello and offer the use of her bathroom, should we need it, but she was not inspired to paint trains.
With our layers of clothes, sheltered from the wind by the trees, and with the sun on our backs we were snug and warm until around Noon, when the sun went behind some trees. Sally invited us back to her condo for her homemade black bean soup (accompanied by some good bread that Jay brought) and Sally's signature brownies for dessert. We also enjoyed browsing Sally's prolific collection of her paintings, including many nice bird illustrations and seascapes, and we perused some new art books, including the Splash Retrospective and an excellent Ian Roberts treatise on composition. Then we watched a couple of Castagnet video demos.
A great morning of art in good company.
Let's hope for another good Thursday next week. I'll try to get us out to the east next time or Guilford. We'll decide that after we see a near-term forecast.
Photos of the trains.
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