The first Santa Cruz Art League Statewide Exhibition was held in 1928. This year, the competition and exhibition will maintain the same high standards for acceptance that have made this annual landscape show one of California’s premier art events.

One of the landscape paintings that stands out among the semi-finalists selected by Michael Zakian in the September/October PleinAir Salon competition (www.pleinairsalon.com) is “After a Storm,” by Philadelphia artist Patrick Connors. We wanted to find out more about how Connors created the piece he calls a “breakthrough painting.”

There are a few coincidences among the bimonthly PleinAir Magazine Salon competition winners, including the fact that one husband-and-wife team worked on the plein air painting that won second place, and two artists who are married to one another won separate awards.

If you entered the September/October PleinAir magazine Salon competition (www.pleinairsalon.com), you'll have the good fortune of having your artwork reviewed by Michael Zakian, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University. Read about this museum director who organizes exhibitions of plein air paintings.

DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR PLEINAIR SALON COMPETITION. Only a few days remain to enter the September/October portion of the PleinAir magazine Salon competition that will result in prizes being awarded by the judge, Michael Zakian, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University. After the deadline of October 31, 2012, three award winners and nine semi-finalist paintings will be selected. Those semi-final works become eligible for the $20,000 in cash prizes to be during the Plein Air Convention & Expo, to be held in Monterey, California, April 10-14, 2013. To enter this exciting and rewarding contest, visit www.pleinairsalon.com

 

As winners of the July/August bimonthly PleinAir Magazine Salon competition, three artists will be receiving valuable art supplies and gift certificates. Their paintings will also be considered for the $20,000 in cash awards to be given during the Plein Air Convention & Expo, to be held in Monterey, California, from April 10-14, 2013 (www.pleinairconvention.com).

Now is the time to enter the July/August PleinAir Salon competition, being judged by the distinguished art dealer John Pence. The deadline is August 31. Merchandise and promotional opportunities will be awarded in September, and semi-finalists will become eligible for the $20,000 in cash awards given during the Plein Air Convention & Expo in April 2013.

Audiences were spellbound by Eric Rhoad’s dynamic presentations in California last weekend. Rhoads, publisher of both PleinAir and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines, moderated panels during the California Art Club’s (CAC) Winter Symposium in San Francisco and the Los Angeles Art Show: Historic and Traditional convention. He will offer the same kinds of informative and motivating presentations during the 1st Annual PleinAir Convention & Expo in Las Vegas from April 12-15, 2012.