“If you polled a group of artists to determine what they are doing to survive in this economy, many would include giclee printing in their survival plan, or they should,” says Pat McDaniel, president of JFM, Inc. “That’s one of the reasons we offer a full range of printing operations in addition to the framing services my father began providing in 1974.”

Frank Mason (1921-2009) spent the month of June teaching a private plein air painting class in Stowe, Vermont that attracted a loyal group of artists. One of his former students, Jack I. Liberman, assisted PleinAir magazine in developing an article for the June/July digital edition on the ways those artists use the pre-mixed palette of colors Mason recommended.

When California artist Douglas P. Morgan switched from selling commercial real estate to studying painting in the early 1990s, he brought with him an understanding of marketing that few plein air painters poses. The advice he offers in an article in the April/May issue of PleinAir can help artists who will be participating in events this year.

In the April/May issue of PleinAir magazine being mailed in early April, Texas artist Tina Bohlman offers a demonstration of how to control transparent watercolor and then get out of the way so the paint can add interesting surprises to plein air paintings.

In the April/May issue of PleinAir magazine that will be in the mail and on newsstands in about a month, Oregon artist Brenda Boylan offers an intriguing step-by-step demonstration of working with pastels on location. Boylan’s style is to start with a bright underpainting and gradually layer veils of color that create visual richness and luminosity in her paintings.

When plein air paintings become overloaded with small details, they can lose their fresh, gestured, expressive qualities. Colorado artist Stephen C. Datz will demonstrate ways of maintaining vitality in outdoor paintings during the 1st National PleinAir Convention & Expo from April 12-15, 2012. Here he offers a step-by-step demonstration of his techniques as a preview of what he will be sharing in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on Saturday, April 14th.

Whether painting still lifes from live materials organized near a north-facing window in his studio, or recording landscapes outdoors in the changing light, North Carolina artist Richard Oversmith brings different levels of planning and concentration to the same creative procedures. An article on Oversmith originally scheduled for the February/March issue of PleinAir will now be included in the April/May issue.