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Discover the latest art news from the world of plein air painting, including recent winners, upcoming art events, art competition deadlines, and more!

Cumberland Society to Award More Than $8,000 at Inaugural Show

The Cumberland Society of Painters will present a $5,000 first place award to someone at its 1st annual national juried exhibition, which will be...

Parting Shot: Grand Canyon Celebration of Art Winners

PleinAir magazine was pleased to award Best of Show to Michael Obermeyer at the Grand Canyon Celebration of Art event, held at the Grand...

Big Payoffs in Rockies Competition

With a top prize valued at more than $4,000, the Plein Air Rockies 2013 Competition attracted some strong painters. Who went home with awards?...

What’s More Beautiful Than a Field of Lavender?

- Bob Bahr reporting, Editor PleinAir Today - The organizer of this paint-out in Oregon gets permission from 27 lavender farms to allow artists to...

Why This Works: Balance and Subtlety

In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and points out why they...

OPPORTUNITY: Excellence at Escalante

A fantastic opportunity awaits the astute outdoor painter in Utah this fall as the Escalante Canyons Art Festival launches its 2017 workshop schedule. So much to learn! So much to paint! Details here.

Capturing Paint the Peninsula

The 5th Annual Paint the Peninsula was considered by many who attended to have been by far the best. With subjects ranging from Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent, Port Townsend, and Crescent Bay to lavender fields, boats, and rusty trucks, judge Cathe Gill had some tough choices to make.
Watercolor painting - India

New Delhi Welcomes Plein Air

The India Watercolor Society (IWS) is hosting the 11th annual Plein Air Festival and Competition, January 20-23 in New Delhi. The jurors are Atanur Dogan...

Artists and Conservancy: The 10 Habitats of St. Vincent Island, FL

In this series, artist Lori Putnam speaks on the role artists can play in the conservation and preservation of land, cultures, and buildings. In this installment, Putnam explores painting on the conserved land on St. Vincent Island, in Florida.

65 Years of Painting

As part of its Artist Lecture Series, the Seven Bridges Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut, will soon be hosting one of America’s leading figure, portrait, and still life painters and one of the world’s most renowned pastelists. He has perfected his craft for over 65 years, and you don’t want to miss hearing him detail his artistic odyssey.

OPPORTUNITY: EnPleinAirTEXAS, in San Angelo, in October

One of the fastest-growing and most well-received plein air events of the season is accepting applications from artists now.

Don’t Let Your Salon Victory Slip Away. . .

Only hours remain to submit your materials for the October/November PleinAir Salon!  You could win $250, $500, or even $1,000 if your painting is chosen for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place by judge Scott Shields.  When is the deadline?

Art For (and From) the Heart

There have been many charitable responses to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The Wayne Art Center in Pennsylvania is one organization that answered the call to respond, hosting a very successful fundraiser.

Homage? Humor? Artistic Statement? Yes.

Through a widely circulated online article in Colossal, plein air painters have been getting a giggle out of a German photographer’s take on painting outdoors, a series of photos that have been collected in a book that walks the line between homage and humor. And they are well-shot pictures.

OPPORTUNITY: Los Gatos Plein Air in June

The Los Gatos Plein Air event, in California June 13-17, says it has something for every artist.
Artist Nancy Seamons Crookston, painting on location

Nancy Seamons Crookston: Missed By Many

It is with heavy hearts and profound sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of Utah-born, California-based artist Nancy Seamons Crookston.

NUDE! Exposure for Those Who Paint Figures

If you draw or paint nude figures en plein air or in the studio, there are two opportunities for you to compete for prizes....

Peggi Kroll-Roberts on Lois Dodd

We don't always have room to include all the great information we get in artist interviews, but online we can make sure these nuggets...

Running a Workshop: Part II — Marketing

This is the second in a three-part series in which Cindy Briggs and Theresa Goesling share their expertise on running painting workshops overseas, or...

The Foldable Landscape

Lili Schuch realized that her sketchbook had at some point become the artwork. Lead Image: The small format of a sketchbook provides portability and...