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Painting in the Garden of the Gods

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As we all know, the weather doesn’t always cooperate with our plein air painting plans. We experienced this yesterday on the third paint-out of the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE). As we boarded the busses to visit the Garden of the Gods, the thunder was so loud that it was setting off car alarms.

Spirits were high as we boarded the busses, despite the thunderous rain.

Once on board, however, we enjoyed a relaxing ride to the park, where the dark contrast of the sky illuminated the red rocks and the clouds would give us stunning glimpses of Pike’s Peak.

The view of Pike's Peak from the Visitor's Center of Garden of the Gods — The view of Pike’s Peak from the Visitor’s Center of Garden of the Gods

Painting the Red Rocks along the paved trail that leads throughout the Garden of the Gods.

At PACE paint-outs, faculty members are available to guide you while you're painting - a great opportunity for beginning artists — At PACE paint-outs, faculty members are available to guide you while you’re painting – a great opportunity for beginning artists. Shown here: Ellen Howard, Paul Kratter, and Lori McNee

Eric Rhoads working with a painter; one of the benefits of PACE is learning from each other on the spot.

Some painters chose to work from the balcony of the Visitors Center, which offered a spectacular view. — Some painters chose to work from the balcony of the Visitors Center, which offered a sheltered, but spectacular view.

Today, our group is visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, where Albert Bierstadt himself painted historic landscapes.

Albert Bierstadt, "The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak," 1863, oil on canvas, 73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in., Rogers Fund, 1907 — Albert Bierstadt, “The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak,” 1863, oil on canvas, 73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in., Rogers Fund, 1907

And have you heard where we’re going next year? We’ll be in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains! Visit PleinAirConvention.com now to start making your plans!

We want to give a special thank-you to our faculty, in-person and online attendees, volunteers, and sponsors. I’d like to personally thank fellow journalist and art enthusiast Laura Vailati of Miami Niche for her help in covering all of the amazing things happening all day, every day, across five stages, and beyond. And, a special thank you to Davis Perkins from myself and all of us at PACE; Davis is a paramedic who travels to help those suffering from catastrophes, and he kindly offered his expertise while at PACE.

Here’s a recap of the final day of indoor demonstrations:

Don Demers, who’s considered to be one of the finest marine painters in America, gave us a main stage masterclass on how to portray the anatomy and movement of the sea as it interacts with the shoreline.

“I encourage you to use intuition because intuition is based on unconscious knowledge,” Don said. “Through intuition, you are able to find the flow of the energy of the scene, exactly as John Constable did.”

Also, PleinAir Salon winner Lori Putnam showed us how she creates a “color symphony” using sensitive chroma and the right value key in her “Vibrant Expressions” demonstration on the main stage.

Lori Putnam at PACE — “Light, like life, is made up of many preconceptions about how things work in one way or another,” Lori said, “but that is absolutely not the formula. Everything is relative and the formula is given by observation, considering that things are reflected into things.”

More Favorite Moments

In Nancy Tankersley’s session, we looked at cityscapes from different heights to understand sightlines and where to place your vanishing points to simplify the process to get perspective right.

There is no subject from which it is impossible to develop a magical painting. Michael Holter demonstrated how to create an exciting painting from a not-so-great image, using light and shadow and atmosphere to create a magical landscape.

In Michael’s workshop, we also learned techniques to speed the plein air experience and help us achieve success.

How do you integrate a figure in a landscape? What is the painting about, the figure or the landscape? In Raj Chaudhuri’s demo, we learned to ask the right questions — namely design/composition, painting idea/approach, and the narrative standpoint — to help drive our painting choices, and we saw the role of thumbnails, sketches, color studies, and final paintings.

Why does this angle go that way, and that angle go this way? Shelby Keefe gave a cityscape demonstration featuring a lesson on perspective principles in “It’s a Matter of Perspective.”

"To create the sense of perspective you have to consider colors,” Shelby said. — “To create the sense of perspective you have to consider colors,” Shelby said.

PACE closing party — On the last night, we celebrate the week of art and friendship with a DJ’d dance party

As we come to the end of PACE ‘23, some of us are saying goodbye until next time, and some are staying for the final paint-out at Rocky Mountain National Park on Thursday of this week.

We can’t wait to see you in the Great Smoky Mountains for the 11th Annual Plein Air Convention!