Painters looked to rural North Florida for inspiration Friday, setting up easels and paintboxes in cow pastures and clusters of palm trees.
The six-day Heart of Florida Paint Out drew 43 artists who painted on-site landscapes in McIntosh and Evinston, about 30 minutes south of Gainesville.
The artists will paint through Wednesday, and the Paint Out culminates Friday with a public show in the Thomas Center in Gainesville at 6 p.m.
Florida's Eden, a North Florida conservation group, has put on the event since 2002 to showcase the land's natural beauty and promote conservation efforts.
"We'd like to portray this beauty, so in people's minds it has a value," said Stewart Thomas, co-director of Florida's Eden. "They're invested."
Visitors at the Paint Out were free to hitch a hayride or roam the area on foot and speak to artists.
Many of the visitors would otherwise never see rural Florida, co-director Annie Pais said.
"These are our assets, and they may disappear without anybody knowing they were here," Pais said. "People have been in Gainesville for maybe 30 years and never been there."
Artists painted at six sites, portraying green pastureland, swaying palm trees, rustic buildings and the shores of Orange Lake.
Finished paintings were put up for immediate sale.
At the last Paint Out in 2006 44 artists turned in about 350 paintings, selling for about $100,000 total, Pais said.
Linda McCollum, wife of the mayor of McIntosh, said she has lived in the area for 31 years. But until the Paint Out, she never set foot on the land she was wandering.
McCollum said she was most impressed that the artists were so good with an audience.
"Me, if I were doing something like that, I would be addled," she said. "I wouldn't want people talking to me."
But Elizabeth Ferber, an Orlando-based oil painter, said she enjoyed interacting with visitors. "The best part of it is to show the public how we work, how we paint, what all goes into it," Ferber said.
Gainesville artist Mary Jane Volkmann agreed.
"People are so interested in art or how we work," Volkmann said. "People say, 'We wish we could do that.' It's a great opportunity to encourage the arts."
Volkmann said she also enjoyed the lakeside fields where she painted.
"It's very lovely here," she said. "This part of Florida has so much untouched space."
The natural resources showcased in the Paint Out are business assets for North Florida's growth and could be developed responsibly, Pais said.
"We love this community," she said. "We want it to grow and prosper. But we all want it to stay true to its natural beauty."
