Peter Pettegrew

The Winter Park PaintOut, which was based at on the grounds of the beautiful and historic Albin Polasek Museum in Winter Park was a big success for everyone involved. Being the first annual event, it was easily determined by the founders of the paintout that it was the beginning of a new springtime tradition. Every participating artist - over twenty five in all - sold works at the event which help raise much needed funds for the museum. The idea for the paintout was hatched by Hal Stringer and Gary Hollingsworth both of which are heavily involved in the local art community in the Orlando area. This knowledge gave them a large group of gifted painters on which to call upon for the event. “The talent at this event was unparalleled” says Peter Pettegrew who sold three of the four works he created during the event. “Everywhere you looked there were incredible paintings in the works by the best painters of the area.” Several workshops were held during the event to help educate collectors on the different approaches on Plein Air Painting each artist employs, including area great Tom Sadler who gave an interesting demonstration on old masters techniques which drew both collectors and artists alike. The final night of the event was a beautiful evening. Inside the museum, all of the works were on display among a crowd of admirers. Outside among the sculpture gardens, delicious catering, being prepared (and donated) by some of the areas best restaurants was available for collectors to relax and decide which paintings might go home with them that night. Red dots (sold stickers) lined the walls beneath the paintings and everyone involved felt a sense of hope and accomplishment for the event and the support of those who still need art to bring beauty and joy into their lives.

Peter Pettegrew at The Polesak Paintout

Penultimate Picture of Peter Pettegrew at The Polesak Paintout

The famous and venerable Sunshine Artist Magazine reported on the Winter Park Art Festival thusly:

WINTER PARK AUTUMN ART FESTIVAL
Winter Park, Florida
JUDGES’ COMMENTS:
With so many posters this year featuring great artwork, particularly
great painting, Winter Park Auturrm Art Festival’s victory is especially
noteworthy. Although the judges said there was nothing out of the
ordinary about the subject matter (a typical Florida landscape), they
were impressed with the simple poetry of its creation.
“[We] kept coming back to it,” Lussier said, “and all
comments were positive.”

The Winning Poster

One of the benefits of having a panel of judges is that
one judge can recuse herself if there is a conflict of interest,
so although Shelton didn’t have a hand in the creation of this
poster, she did let the other two judges make the call because of
her involvement with the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival.
RK . .
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
“Whether I’m painting in the Everglades or in the marshes
of South Carolina,” said Peter Pettegrew, “these Southern
wetlands have a feel and presence like nowhere else I’ve been.
This land is where the spirit within lies very close to the surface.
Its beauty abounds, and one does not have to struggle to locate
its magnificent side,”
Pettegrew has been capturing the outdoors, as he does
with Ostello View, since he was a child. His aunt, also a painter,
insisted that the 4-year-old be given no coloring books but only
blank paper after seeing his sketches. As a teen, Pettegrew was
accepted into the prestigious Harbor Senior High in Santa
Cruz, California, afterwards continuing his formal education at
the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Acclaimed for his gallery exhibitions, the Orlando, Florida,
artist has attracted collectors such as Dan Quayle, John Travolta
and John Rigsby, but the artist is most thankful for his ability to
protect nature as he shares it with others.
The poster was designed by C&S Press Inc.

Excerpt from Sunshine Artist Magazine

Text and art Courtesy of Sunshine Artist Magazine

The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens will
be hosting the first annual Winter Park Paintoutt in the last week of April of 2009. The artists of this invitational show were all challenged to compete in designing the image to be used in the poster and subsequent advertising for the event. When all of the entries were in and the judging complete, it was a sweeping view ofthe museum facade from the front of the grounds by Peter Pettegrew that caught their attention. Peter’s painting will now be part of the permenant collection of the museum located in historic Winter Park. Peter, along with most all of the prominent landscape painters of the
area, will be participating in the event including nationally recognized and award winning Larry Moore and Florida landscape specialist and long time Winter Park artist Tom Sadler, both of which Peter has had the privilege of working along side of in the field on several different occasions and an other paintouts in the area including the Wekiva Paintout > which is sponsored this year by the Wekiva Island Marinaand which will be hosting many fine events for the participating artists.

Here are three new oils-on-canvas painted on the recent Caribbean splash-about. These are small canvases, 8″ x 10″ all.

Peter Pettegrew-ppoc1685-sunrise-in-keys-8x10

Peter Pettegrew-ppoc1687-evening-mooring-8x10

Peter Pettegrew-ppoc1686-sunset-colors-keys-8x10

Florida landscape impressionist painter Peter Pettegrew’s painting “Ostello View” has been selected as the art for the 2008 Winter Park Autumn Art Festival Poster.

Over the summer, Peter was contacted by Baxter of Florida Frame House to submit a painting for the poster celebrating the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival. On September 17th they had a big unveiling and signing event at Florida Frame House with all of the board members of the show and the Mayor of Winter Park, David Strong, in attendance. Everyone agreed that it was a fun evening of good food and cheer in the beautiful gallery setting, and all are looking forward to the show, which will be held the weekend of October 11th and 12th along Park Avenue in Winter Park. Peter will be in attendance, signing posters and meeting art collectors from around the area.

Peter, Baxter and Mayor David Strong

Peter with collector Kimberly Roberts

Just about everybody has heard of Florida landscape painter Peter Pettegrew by now, but have you ever thought of him as one of South’s famous Highwayman? Alright, that’s a little bit of a stretch, but he is– in his own way– very much like a lone Highwayman painting on location all over Florida , Georgia and the Carolinas. In Pettegrew’s early days of selling his work, it was “the old paint ‘em and sell ‘em” right from his car, and later from a big van his agent Jim Cournoyer owned. And yes, sometimes the paint was still wet when the sale was made!

When Peter hooked up with Jim in 1993, Jim took over the selling so Peter could devote more time to hittin’ the highways and back roads finding new subjects with the “right place with the right light.”

Although Pettegrew’s style has more of a Hudson River School feel with many layers of paint– more like Beanie Backus (one of Peter’s favorites and a Highwaymen mentor), in fact, his work has a lot in common with the Highwaymen. All of the Highwaymen artists are largely self taught, sharing ideas and learning with fellow painters, occasionally doing workshops together and separately.

Here is Pettegrew with Sam Newton who, along with brothers Len and Harold Newton, are among the best known original Highwayman. Peter took Sam’s workshop and they had much to talk about… a lot of years and stories on the road painting in Florida.

Peter’s favorite time to work is always what is called the “golden time,” just like Beanie Backus and most of the Highwayman.

“My favorite times of day were late afternoon or early morning, because the light is more alive then. I like the effect of light on the color of an object, and how light differs from day-to-day, season-to-season, place-to-place.”
Beanie Backus

JC

Peter writes:

My wife’s parents live in a small, lakeside town called Bigfork in Northwest Montana during the summer months. Bigfork is a beautiful place, situated between several rugged mountain ranges and at the convergence of the Swan River and Flathead Lake, the longest lake in the Western United States. Jack Hannah has an incredible home on a rock out-cropping overlooking the lake and author Robert Ludlum’s home is at the end of the street that my in-laws live on, overlooking Flathead River. We spent time on both rivers and Flathead Lake, taking in the sweeping views as you paddle, sail or float your way along. A short drive away is Glacier National Park, where I had the chance to do some sketching and photographing on the snow-capped mountain top near the summit, where the summer air is clean and crisp - a far cry from Florida’s summer humidity.

Another great way to get around was by trail bikes, where we were able to cross into town by way of the logging roads cut across the mountain ridge. We found galleries filled with exceptional landscape paintings including stone lithos by noted Montana artist Russell Chatham, an influence on my choice of subject matter since the mid 1980’s. Another surprise of the trip was participating in a sailboat regatta on Placid Lake with a mixed group of boating fanatics - a race that produced several strong gales and flipped a few of the participants into the drink. On the final day, we hiked into an area known for it’s wild huckleberries and came across a motherlode of the sweet tasting goodies. As it turned out, the late winter had been ideal for producing such an unusual bounty and we were just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I think that could be said of the whole trip in general - Montana’s such a beautiful place, you can hardly go wrong.

Here’s Peter– and more is on the way!

This is how it was described by Jim “The Man” Cournoyer:

Florida landscape impressionist painter Peter Pettegrew is guest of honor at his one man show hosted by The Annex at Neptune Beach FL.
A Collection of New Works from this modern day plein air impressionist. Pettegrew brought 39 paintings along with original handmade serigraphs and stone lithographs painted over the last 2 years. The collection includes painting from his travels in Montana, California, South Carolina, the Caribbean and, of course, Florida.
The huge collection of Pettegrew landscapes was matched by the huge turn-out for this fund raiser and the 1st Pettegrew show here at the Annex.
The show will be up until 25th of July The Annex 200 1st Street North Neptune Beach Florida (904-247-7200)