I’ve been doing this for a while now so you might think I had it down but this Saturday I forgot a few important thing— directions and the memory clip for my camera. So no pictures this time and a big waste of time getting out to the location in Lawrenceville. I did have a general idea having Googled it when the notice came in but I forgot to print up directions before I packed up the Z and headed to Gwinnett. Consequently it took me two + hours to find it. Freemans Mill Park is new and even some of the local residents were not aware of it so I had to stop and buy a map plus ask for directions a few times.
To no surprise I was the only one there when I finally arrived well after noon. It had been raining and cloudy most of the day and never really improved. The park is not very large but features an old grist mill and damn along the Alcovy river with some walking and riding trails. The mill is a work in progress and has been restored but not to the point were they have it back in working order. It’s a bit curious and a good view of the mills wheel and flumes are hard to come by because of the overgrowth. It’s an old Civil War era building that was in working order all the way into the 90’s. In my estimation it might be over restored as the real workings of the mill are not evident or that interesting. Finally another painter showed up —Lee Ann Newsom, and we wondered around for a while trying to finding good spot that was dry enough and interesting enough to paint. We set up close so we could talk a bit and I enjoyed getting to know this painter who is new to the area. As usual we mostly talked painting and she relayed some advice from a fellow painter that you should count your strokes and only use two per brush load. As curious as this sounds it stuck a cord with me and I took it up and used it to work on this view and found that it gave me brighter, less muddy color and made me a bit faster. Thanks Lee Ann.
I’m sure there will be a rain date on this so I might head back out to paint the falls – at least I know how to get there now.