 This little fellow was scampering along the path looking for food to stuff in his cheeks and store up for the coming winter. I took several photos of him hard at work one day last fall and painted this in my studio in January. 6x6 Oil on panel $275 at the Centennial Art Show this weekend.  The Nashville Parthenon originated as an exhibit at the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition and received a makeover in 2002. It is a centerpiece of the urban Centennial Park near Vanderbilt University. This view is from the SW side of the park, where you can see the skyline of downtown Nashville in the distance. 5x7 Oil on panel $275 at the Centennial Art Show this weekend.  The same day I photographed the diligent squirrel, I also walked the park and photographed many other areas and sites. This seating area is one of many that surround the Lake Watauga in Centennial Park. It's a popular place to stroll and, believe it or not, to fish. A few years ago, I met a man fishing there and we got to talking. He told me he worked the night shift cleaning the nearby Burger King and, on his way home every morning, he would stop and fish here until he caught a couple that he would take home and fry up for breakfast. 8x10 Oil on panel $350 at the Centennial Art Show this weekend.
The artists of The Chestnut Group partner with local conservancy groups to support and preserve natural and historic areas in the Nashville region. Our members spend many months viewing, studying, and painting from life and/or from their own images of the place we are promoting. In the Fall we return to Radner Lake for the show in November. This current show in the Parthenon supports the programs and events that take place year-round in Centennial Park. I hope you take the opportunity to come and enjoy the art and have your own encounter with Athena! 
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 From 1982 to 1990 a full sized replica of Athena Parthenon was quietly being constructed in the inner courts of Nashville's Parthenon under the direction of Alan LeQuire. In 2002, LeQuire and master gilder Lou Reed directed the 4 month project of gilding and painting details on her face, wardrobe, and shield. Today Nashville's Athena stands a shining golden 42 feet tall, towering over the thousands of visitors who visit Centennial Park and the Parthenon. She certainly towered over the dozen or so plein air painters who were so lucky to be able to enter the sanctum on off-hours to study her and paint from life this amazing statue! We set up around the room, each with our own specific view of her and with our own impression of what we hoped to capture in our painting. I had done a little homework prior, namely to understand what color mixtures make for a convincingly glowing gold. The few days before our session I was trying out various combinations of cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, burnt Sienna, Indian yellow, white, and a few others. It turns out that it's the color of the shadow areas that help the gold to be convincing...another lesson in "shadows are not black." In this case, shadows are very warm and reflective.
My Athena painting is finished and framed and ready to go to the art show next week. As you can see, I used artistic license by adding the two little girl figures to show both the scale of this amazing statue and to express her strength and dignity. Can you imagine what they're thinking?
I have 4 more paintings for the art show/fundraiser and I will post photos of them next week. I hope you enjoyed sharing this experience with me! It's definitely one I will never forget! And I hope you will be able to make time to visit (May 23, 24, 25, and 27 from 9 AM to 4:30 PM and May 26 from 12:30 - 4:30 PM.@ the Parthenon) and view all the amazing paintings by the wonderful artists of The Chestnut Group! Thanks for reading my blog!!
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