Artist Profiles

Learn about what projects your fellow plein artists are up to, see online galleries of their landscape paintings, and more in these profiles!

Painting plein air - Susan Nicholas Gephart - On the Hillside

Featured Plein Air Ambassador: Susan Nicholas Gephart

Plein Air Ambassadors get their paintings featured here! Help us welcome artist Susan Nicholas Gephart to the Ambassador team.

Spotlight on PACE Faculty: Thomas Kegler and Art Contagions

Perhaps, on some level, attending the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE) is dangerous. You may come home permanently changed.
pastel landscapes - 1. "Sunset on the Rim"

9 Pastel Landscapes of the American West

Bethany Field's primary focus is the American West landscape of the Llano Estacado and surrounding areas. She is on the faculty of the upcoming Pastel Live virtual art conference, where she will ...

Spotlight on PACE Faculty: W. Truman Hosner and a Serious Plein Air Challenge

Plein air painting can be a challenge, but even changing light and other environmental conditions aren’t enough for some folks. Like W. Truman Hosner, a member of the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE) faculty, who ups the ante considerably with his subject matter.
Watercolor - "Dead Horse Point, Canyonlands, Utah" by Cindy Briggs

How I Create Flowing, Organic Lines with Watercolor

Inspiration from Cindy Briggs, who is on the Watercolor Live faculty this month.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, "Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil," 1873, oil on canvas, 18 x 23 5/8 in.

A Renoir of Monet

While staying with Claude Monet at his home in the village of Argenteuil on the outskirts of Paris, Pierre-Auguste Renoir captured ...

Artist as Collector: Thomas Dunlay and Staying on Track

A few pieces in Boston painter Thomas Dunlay’s collection remind him to stay the course.

Spotlight on PACE Faculty: Marla Baggetta Gives You Permission

Pastelist Marla Baggetta has a secret she uses every day to put her in the right frame of mind for painting.

Artist as Collector: Shelby Keefe, and For the Love of Cars

Wisconsin painter Shelby Keefe chooses paintings for her collection that reflect her goals — and if they feature cars, so much the better.
picture of artist Ryan Jensen painting en Plein Air

Artist Spotlight: Ryan Jensen

How did you get started and develop your career? My earliest memories are of my family and including my father, a painter, and mother, a...

Spotlight on PACE Faculty: Brenda Boylan on Not Wearing Earphones

Pastelist Brenda Boylan is a veteran of the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE), and this year, she plans on sharing her street-smart tips for painting urban scenes. Such as?

Spotlight on PACE Faculty: Michelle Jung and the Bicoastal

Oil painter Michelle Jung spends half the year in Santa Cruz, California, and the other half in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The contrast between the two locales has sharpened her skills of observation and has given her important insight that she can share with attendees of the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE), where she is on the faculty.
Fred F. Scherer artist | PleinAir Today

Plein Air Heritage: Science Needs Art

Starting in the late 1880s, many natural history museums established a practice of showcasing animals in dioramas that would allow visitors to see the specimens in an exact location rather than a generic scene. Meet a master who painted those dioramas from plein air sketches.
plein air paintings by Steve Hill - OutdoorPainter.com

Plein Air Goal: To Paint 1,100 Islands

An artist shares his love (and advice) for painting the Croatian region.
My studio where you can see the plein air version of “Monsoon Monday” to the left next to my larger 30” x 30” studio piece.

Artist Spotlight: Michele Byrne

How do you find inspiration? Michele Byrne: Two years ago I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Here everything inspires me and I feel like...

My Favorite Place to Paint: Ria Krishnan

Lily pads, wooded trails, and, most important, trees are all at Ria Krishnan's favorite place to paint, just 10 miles from her home.  ...
frames for artists

A Day in the Life of … Jill Stefani Wagner

Today we're going on a tour with Jill Stefani Wagner, who takes us through a typical - and inspiring - day of being a professional artist.
Woman artist painting outdoors right near crashing waves

Artist Spotlight: Debra Joy Groesser

Debra Joy Groesser is drawn to almost any subject depending on the light, the color and the atmosphere. Many times, she’ll set out on a painting excursion with a specific place in mind only to have something else catch her eye on the way.

Fleeting Moments: Plein Air Watercolor

Working quickly and directly, Joseph Zbukvic exploits all the qualities that make plein air painting with watercolor so unique.
Painting outdoors - San Francisco

My Favorite Place to Paint: Bruce Katz

Nine years ago, California artist Bruce Katz was featured in a Plein Air Today series called “My Favorite Place to Paint.” Back then, it was the countryside outside of San Francisco. We followed up with him to see if - or how - his locale preference has changed.