Area artists get out to paint Bushy Run Battlefield scenes
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Five area female artists spread across the historic Bushy Run Battlefield on Friday, painting scenes of how the state park is today rather than what is was 259 years ago when British and colonial troops fought a decisive battle against Native Americans in what was once hilly woodlands.
Patricia Dickun of Washington Township set up her French easel — an elevated painting board that opens up to allow the storage of paint and holds the canvas in place — at the edge of a parking lot. She looked out into fields of green and brown grass and trees near the park entrance and across Route 993 in Penn Township. She was including a Ligonier wooden fence at the edge of the road, as well as hills in the distance as she mixed and applied the oil paint with a brush onto the 11-inch-by-14-inch canvas.
Dickun said she likes to work outdoors, but realizes she must keep it in the proper perspective. The key to working outdoors with the view of such a broad landscape is to focus on only part of what the eye can see, she said. The sun, a friend after rain washed out Thursday’s painting session, changes how the scene looks as it moves across the sky, Dickun said.
“I love it. I don’t know what I would do if I did not have it,” Dickun said.
Before setting up to paint the scene she wanted, Diane Grguras of Pittsburgh took her time walking through the fields around the Bushy Run Monument that was erected for the 250th anniversary of the 1763 battle.
While Dickun used a brush to paint, Becky Mormack of Unity was used a palette knife to apply the oil paint. She opted for painting a scene at a former rock quarry along a wooded trail at the battlefield.
Rather than start with a blank canvas like some other artists, Mormack had painted her canvas blue, then added the colors of the sky and rocks and trees as she created her artwork.
Mormack, who lives on a farm, said she never had any formal training before taking up painting several years ago. She was joined along the quarry by two other painters, Marcy Koynok and Doreen Currie of Unity.
All of the women were creating paintings of Bushy Run that will be on display and for sale during the Art and Wine With Henry, a special event from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Bushy Run Battlefield Museum. Their artwork will join pieces from other artists that will be for sale in the museum, as well as artwork painted by John Buxton, Robert Griffing and Andrew Knez. Those well-known artists specialize in creating 18th century woodland scenes of frontier life and Native Americans.