As an exciting conclusion to the 1st Annual PleinAir Salon competition, a check for $15,000 was presented to New Jersey artist D. Eleinne Basa for her painting “Afternoon Light” during the 1st Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in Las Vegas on April 12, 2012. Other awards were presented totaling $6,000.

Over the next four days almost every member of the PleinAir staff will be helping artists at the 1st Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in Las Vegas and uploading photographs, posting videos, and Tweeting directly from the convention hall and painting sites.

Paintings and sculpture selected for the California Art Club’s (CAC) 101st Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition will be on view from April 1 - 22, 2012 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. Works by 124 painters and 22 sculptors will be considered for the awards and will be available for sale.

Oregon artist Mitch Baird’s painting “A Guiding Nudge” was selected to receive the First Prize award in the November/December 1st Annual PleinAir Salon Competition by judges Kim Lordier and Ned Mueller. Second prize went to Marc Dalessio for his painting “Barn at Turback”, and Third Prize was given to Aaron Schuerr for his painting titled “River Glow.” The judges offered comments about all three of these paintings.

We’ve added a more complete schedule of events, photographs of the speakers and instructors, and registration information to the website for the 1st Annual PleinAir Convention & Expo in April 12-15, 2012. Check out the details about the event that everyone is talking about and planning to attend!

When Camille Przewodek demonstrates her approach to painting with both a palette knife and brush during the 1st PleinAir Convention & Expo in Las Vegas from April 12-15, 2012, she will show how to use oil paint to capture the subtle hues, values, and intensities of colors in nature.

The 13th Annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational event presented by Laguna Plein Air Painters of America (LPAPA) and Laguna Art Museum in Laguna, California was held from Oct 9 -16, 2011. Over 40 of the nation’s top plein air artists participated. Reported by Vanessa Rothe.

We are excited to announce that a number of internationally known plein air painters have already agreed to be instructors and demonstrators during the 1st Annual PleinAir Convention & Expo taking place April 12-15, 2012 at the Red Rock National Conservation Area and the Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our special guest will be Richard Ormond, grandnephew of John Singer Sargent and the author of most of the great books on Sargent.