WESTPORT — Artists and aficionados spent a glorious summer day creating their interpretations of the world around Westport during a recent plein air event.

Carol Joannette traveled from Keene Valley to sit on the sloping lawn of Ballard Park, where she sketched and painted Lake Champlain and the distant mountains of Vermont.

“Everyone wants to be a famous artist,” she said. “I decided to take a stab at something different.”

Cheryl Raywood of Westport had previously displayed her artistic talents in rug weaving, but Saturday she worked with oils.

“This is a most extraordinary area. It’s all about the airiness and iridescence. I paint by observation. I think my painting may be Turneresque,” she said, adding that it usually takes her four or five sessions at a location before completing a piece.

At the 1816 schoolhouse, Crete Dorsey, a nurse at the Elizabethtown Community Hospital, sat with Roberta Decker and her grandnephew, 12-year-old Aaron Decker, interested in the architectural details of Essex County’s oldest standing schoolhouse.

During the afternoon, many artists toured area studios.

The opening reception for the art show, along with the commencement of bidding in a silent auction, will be held at the Heritage House from 5 to 7 p.m. July 31. The silent auction concludes at 3 p.m. August 9 to coincide with Westport Heritage Day.