Sebastian Sun from Sebastian, Florida • 30

6 50 Plus Lifestyles Indian Brevard, Mid-November 2004 30 InC. AMERICAN HOME COMPANIONS, INC. Why pay for a 24 hour Quality Home Companion, when we charge only $135.00 The same Quality Companion will care for you or your loved one up to a 481 hour shift 569-5854 www.AHCCARE.com Local Management Local Companions Licensed and Bonded HCS5661 Advertorial American Home Companions, Inc. American Home Companions, Inc. was founded in 1992 by Don Reynolds, a former Methodist minister and businessman.

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AHC has served over 1000 clients throughout Florida during the past 12 years. We guarantee the compatibility of the caregiver to the client. For additional information call us at 772-569-5854 ART Area artists to get close-up, personal at McKee paint-out Ann Taylor For 50 Plus Lifestyles VERO BEACH Picture this: Twenty-nine professional artists spread out over 18 acres abundant with vegetation and dotted with historical landmarks, capturing the scene with the tools of their trade. If all goes as planned beginning Thursday morning, Dec. 2, and continuing through Saturday, there could be as many as 150 original paintings, watercolors and pastels finished, framed and for sale.

It's called a paint-out, and if you've never been to one, if you've never seen an artist at work, McKee Botanical Garden is the place to be. "Paint-outs are quite the going thing around the country, particularly in the Southwest and New England," enthused Ellen Fischer, co-chair of the event sponsored by the Cultural Council of Indian River County and McKee. She should know. Three years ago Fischer, an artist herself, was invited by the North Florida Artists Alliance to participate in a paint-out at a garden in Gainesville. It was such a success that when asked to return the following year, she immediately said yes.

"I was SO impressed. I came away with the idea and modeled last year's paint-out at Harbor Branch after it," Fischer explained. "I'll be forever grateful to Harbor Branch for doing something that was unknown around here. And I'm also grateful to McKee for doing it this year. After (Hurricane) Frances, I called Christine Hobart, my COchair who's at the Garden, and she said, 'Yes, we're going So I located all of the artists and told them.

Ann Taylor For 50 Plus Lifestyles Ellen Fischer smiles as she checks the list of artists participating in McKee en Plein Air, a -day paint-out that begins Dec. 2. "Then came (Hurricane) Jeanne, and I thought no one would want to continue." She paused, recalling that iffy time. "Christine again said yes, and the artists are all coming, which is SO wonderful as so many of them had storm damage. My own gallery, the Littleton Collection, was heavily damaged.

This is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to come and sell their work." It's also an opportunity for artists to paint new views. Not only is the landscape different from last year's, so is the territory it covers. Instead of Harbor Branch's 300 acres, where artists could choose their spots, at McKee there are just 18. Fischer sees this as a good thing. "This is little more close quarters.

Last year the artists were really spread out all over, some set up under trees and you couldn't see them. Here they can scatter, but you can walk around and find them. As far as Marlene Evans Putnam, a popular artist represented by the Meghan Candler Gallery is concerned, that's one of the benefits a paint-out offers. "People can come up close and watch see what you're working on. They can talk to us.

It's good to form a relationship with an artist, and people really like buying hot-off-the-easel. Some of the paintings are still wet when they're sold. It's fun." See McKEE, 7.