In May 2008, my student teacher Brooke Thomas, led an amazing field trip to her favorite hometown painting spot. Ms. Thomas did a wonderful job planning the field trip and teaching these students. Students painted `en plein air´ at Cape Lookout as part of a larger unit focusing on Impressionists landscapes. Students began the unit with two weeks of plein air paintings on school campus with only a couple days of classroom work copying French masters.
Cape Lookout National Seashore
It took 3 hours driving time between Raleigh and Cape Lookout with a short breakfast break at Bojangles. We rode a flat bottom skid to the seashore stopping to admire the wild horses on the way. Click on each thumb-nail image for a larger image.
After touring the lightkeeper´s house and hearing the history of the island, students divided into small groups all over the island. One group painted on the ocean side of the island whereas many of us prefered to focus on the sound-side of the island.
The Paintings
I´ve published a small handful of the paintings that students did during the field trip. Keep in mind that students had a little over an hour to complete the entire painting and struggled with wind, sun, and sand. I think they did a great job!
