With this lockdown dragging on you may be looking to do an outdoor and an out of the box activity. I have a good solution.

One of my favorite organizations that through the years has kept up a steady stream of interesting activities, exhibits and even has their very own parade is the Barryville Area Arts Association. With the virus still lurking around us, the Arts Association has been focusing more on outdoor events with limited access to indoor activities.

The Barryville Area Arts Association is sponsoring a Plein Air Under the Pines (no not the restaurant) which will take place on Friday, September 18th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the historic Cottage in the Pines in Sparrowbush. Set on sixty acres, The Cottage has several guest houses, an event space, rustic barn, and a chapel in the woods overlooking a millpond.

The term Plein Air is just a fancy way of saying painting outdoors particularly for landscape painting. Some of the better-known landscape painters would be Winslow Homer, Claude Monet, and my personal favorite Thomas Cole the founder of the Hudson River School of American Painters.

The Cottage is closed to its usual wedding venue business, so it is a safe uncrowded opportunity to try out painting and have a great day in a very beautiful location.

The Barryville Area Arts Association has been having their Plein Air events at different locations all over the County for several years now, they are very popular and you don't have to have any trained painting skills to join in.

The Plein Air Under the Pines event is free and open to everyone and all the cottage amenities will be available to the attendees and a boxed lunch will be available courtesy of the River Valley Artist Guild.

Experienced artists should bring their own supplies, and there will be limited artist supplies for beginners. There will be an introductory demonstration given on the use of oils and pastels.

All of the artwork completed during the Plein Air event will be on display at the outdoor reception at the Artist Market Community Center on Richardson Avenue in Shohola on Saturday, October 3rd.

Space is limited for the September 13th event, and reservations are required. To register send an email to barryvilleareaarts@gmail.com. The rain date is Friday, September 25th.

In one of my recent columns, I mentioned the very pretty #Team Izzy wristbands that are for sale at Lou and June Monteleone's Corner Shop in Eldred. I would like to give the Corner a “shout-out” for selling over 100 of the wristbands and it has become a hot item in town.

They still have some of these limited-edition purple and gold #Team Izzy wristbands for sale so be sure to get one before they are gone. The cost of $5.00 and all proceeds go to the Giglio family as they make their way through all of Izzy's treatment options. You can reach the Corner Shop at (845) 557-3321.