MY Old Country House: My Friend Meg

...if you and your kin live around these parts
(see, I'm am picking up the lingo) , and beyond...

and...you are discussing artists and especially landscape artists,

you will mention the name

"Meg West".

"Whites Wind Blown" by Meg West

Meg West is amazing. Talented in that awe inspiring way.

Her paintings not only capture the inherent grace and pure simple beauty of this area...

...but they somehow manage to convey how that beauty makes you FEEL.

They breathe. They are alive with color, almost as if they are lit from behind.

I met Meg last year when I was driving along and saw her and another artist doing plein air
painting (basically that is when you paint scenes outside - live) In the 90 degree heat, they were painting the vineyards behind my house. I stopped my car and walked over and introduced myself. She was immediately as accessible and as beautiful as her paintings and we became fast friends (though it is hard for me to imagine how anyone could NOT be Meg's friend) . I told her I was dying to learn how to use oils and she invited me to paint with them someday and so I went out like a kid on the first day of school and bought a boatload of oil paints (I use acrylics). But oil painting and landscape painting did not turn out to be my thing, so I went back to my acrylic cows, but we have remained dear friends.

my cows are my thing...

Meg had an Art show last night, at our local "Fridays after 5". This is where galleries and businesses downtown open their doors to patrons to admire various local artists and photographers. It is an honor to do First Fridays and a big part of the downtown culture. I took the family downtown to see her show and also because the photographer Sarah Cramer was also having a show of her

"People of Charlottesville project",

of which I am a "people".