Jean Pederson shares insights from her painting trip to Lake Tahoe with a star-studded group of artists. She tells us John Salminen helped organize the events, and he told her, “We’re only inviting happy people.” Jean’s response: “How could I pass up an invitation like that?”
Painting at Lake Tahoe with Friends
By Jean Pederson
I appreciate spending the time in Lake Tahoe two summers in a row from the perspective of growing as an artist, but also for the growth in friendships and a sense of community. There was so much laughter, and a real feeling of camaraderie. There was a level of comfort as if we’d all known each other a long time.
It was great being able to spend time with peers who understand what you go through being an artist, because there are a lot of great things, but there are a lot of things that are challenging. This is the way I make my living, and it was nice to have conversations like, “If you’re adjudicating a competition, how do you handle this situation?”
I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, right next to Banff and Jasper in the mountains. And I actually started painting landscapes because that’s what everybody did. The problem is when I paint with watercolor, I usually wet both sides of the paper, and I prefer to work vertically, which doesn’t lend itself that well to painting the landscape en plein air. So now when I work outdoors, I’ll maybe use pen and ink and then apply watercolor on top, or I’ll use acrylic.
I love painting en plein air; I just don’t get time to do it very often, so I haven’t developed into the plein air painter that I would love to be. In Lake Tahoe, I reverted to what I know, and mainly just started to paint or draw people.
One day there were some ducks in the water, so I just started layering ducks, playing with the concepts of time and movement that I’ve been exploring in my studio work. I like considering what it would be like if time wasn’t linear, if it was happening all at once, and imagining what that would look like.
When you’re painting outside, it’s an experience. You smell the flowers, you feel the wind. And whether or not you love your sketch, when you go home, you’ve got all those memories and feelings, so that when you want to do something that’s 60 x 80 inches, you have that experience already, and you can give yourself license to push elements of design in different directions.
Editor’s Note: Don’t miss your opportunity to create lifetime memories at the 12th Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE). The next one is May 19-23, 2025 in Lake Tahoe and Reno!
