Florida artist Karen Hitt went on a mammoth road trip in 2013, painting all the way. Our report on her journey is online, and now the paintings from that trip and subsequent pieces are on view in an exhibition titled “At That Moment,” currently on view at the Venice Art Center in Florida.
Hitt’s plein air outing lasted five months and covered more than 21,000 miles. It was a matter of Hitt’s seizing the moment — a sentiment that pops up a lot in her writing and conversations. She recalls the genesis of her journey, saying, “The youngest of my three children turned 22, and momma took a road trip! A really big one, it turned out. I left my youngest with my 82-year-old dad, to house-sit each other and my home.”
Noted pianist Dick Hyman played at the Venice Art Center the night of Hitt’s opening.
Hitt describes her trip, which she calls the Grace Love Fellowship Tour, in artistic, spiritual, and adventuresome ways. Certainly she makes it clear that she feels she grew as an artist during the odyssey.
“Birth of a Timeless Scent,” by Karen Hitt, oil on linen, 16 x 20 in.
“I’m feeling honored by all the patrons in every form that came out to support me at the opening, and for PleinAir magazine for being both an event sponsor, but also inspirational in the starting point, when I purchased tickets to PACE13 for the first time, and the Publisher’s Invitational Adirondacks paint-out that same year,” says Hitt. “Two events on opposite corners of the U.S.A. jump-started the little Grace Love Fellowship tour jaunt. Eric Rhoads, I blame/thank you for all that you do to inspire many an artist to reach to new levels of their painting with the events that you create for just that.”
Karen Hitt poses with her mom at the opening
“At That Moment” is on view at the Venice Art Center, in Venice, Florida, through March 20. Hitt’s paintings will be featured at the WPSE National Exhibit at the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association, Georgia, in Blue Ridge, Georgia, in April.
