Gil Dellinger was recently elected to be the new President of the Plein Air Painters of America, one of the oldest and most prestigious groups in the country. Donald Demers and John Cosby were elected to be Vice Presidents, Raleigh Kinney will be the Treasurer, and Jean Perry will serve as Sergeant at Arms.

A number of plein air painters and organizations are publishing their own books, brochures, and catalogs through websites set up to make that a relatively easy, flexible, and effective venture. Jean Perry recently did just that when she published a 120-page, 10” x 12”, hard-cover retrospective look at her thirty years of adventures as an outdoor painter.

We asked Ned Mueller to tell us about the painting that Jill Carver selected to win First Prize in the September/October section of the 1st National PleinAir Salon Competition. “This painting is one of my favorites as well as it is for many other people, and I am very grateful for that,” Mueller says.

California plein air painter Ray Roberts has been showered with top awards in art competitions in recent years, including the First Place prize in the May/June bi-monthly competition in the 1st Annual PleinAir Salon competition, the Gold Medal in the California Art Club (CAC) annual competition, the coveted Artists’ Choice Award in the CAC competition. On August 27, Roberts won the Best of Show award at the Maynard Dixon Country event in Mt. Carmel, Utah.

This past July, Brian Stewart served as judge of the Door County Plein Air Festival, hosted by the Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. In May, he participated in an invitational event on Catalina Island, California that is featured in the fall issue of PleinAir magazine. From September 15-17, 2011, Stewart will teach a workshop on plein air painting at the Peninsula School of Art.

Two exhibitions that include plein air paintings explore the ways artists capture the illusive appearance of bodies of water, one currently on view in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the other opening in Stockton, California in October, 2011.

In the Fall digital edition of PleinAir magazine, Raleigh Kinney offers a demonstration of how to maintain the natural freshness, vibrancy, and immediacy of watercolors when painting Watercolor. The distinguished member of the Plein Air Painters of America also describes his background, teaching, and recent paintings.

As a compliment to the biennial exhibition by the Plein Air Painters of America (www.p-a-p-a.com) at the Haggin Museum of Art in Stockton, California (October 15, 2011 - January 22, 2012), Gil Dellinger will exhibit plein air and studio paintings at nearby Knowlton Gallery in Lodi, California (October 3 - November 26, 2011).