Lush landscape, live artwork and free admission attracted crowds to the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens Paint Out event over the weekend.
The local event paralleled the 12th Worldwide Artist Paint Out, an international event that
invites global artists to share nature’s muse.
Twenty-two Florida artists captured the vibrancy of the gardens’ scenery, while garden members and non-members explored each artist’s interpretation of the landscape.
Artwork from the event will be available to purchase in the gardens’ reception hall, and 40 percent of the proceeds will go to the park.
“I’m very romantic about it,” said Gainesville painter Tim Malles, who helped bring the event to Kanapaha. “It’s kind of like what the impressionists did back in the 1800s. They painted together and supported each other and learned from each other.”
The Gardens, located at 4700 SW 58th Drive, hosted its first Paint Out event in 2002 and brought it back in 2012, when it became a tradition.
Gainesville painter Nina Koelmeyer illustrated the park’s nature alongside her friends from the local art community for the first time.
“Everyone is very intimate with Kanapaha Gardens,” she said. “People will be able to recognize the beautiful scenes and see how different people perceive what they’re painting.”
Tina Lanza Corbett, of the High Springs Art Co-Op, paints a landscape during the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens “Paint Out” event Saturday. Artists were invited to come and be inspired by the beauty around them.
