Painting events - Eric Rhoads with Ellen Howard at Plein Air Convention & Expo paint-out (2022, Santa Fe)
Eric Rhoads with Ellen Howard at Plein Air Convention & Expo paint-out (2022, Santa Fe)

Take advantage of these art and plein air painting events and opportunities from our 2023 Ultimate Guide to Painting Events and Organizations.

(We want to include your plein air painting events! Don’t see your group listed here? Contact our marketing team to learn how to advertise your plein air painting events and more with Plein Air Today.)

California

Bird Dog Arts Plein Air Invitational
Date: April 19-22
Opening Reception: April 22
Venue: Bird Dog Arts Gallery, Tejon Ranch
Format: Invitational
Award Total: $6000
Contact: David Gordon
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 661.330.7541
Website: www.birddogarts.com
The Bird Dog Arts Invitational is a two-fold event with 15 painters entering two plein air works done on location where each painter is from, followed by two paintings completed on-site in beautiful Kern County. RSVP online for our April 22 public sales and awards event on the historic Tejon Ranch. The free event includes wine, nibbles, awards, and a stunning small works silent auction.

Fallbrook Plein Air Event/Competition
Date: April 29
Entry Deadline: April 29
Sponsoring Organization: Fallbrook Art Association
Format: Open
Juror of Awards: Toni Williams
Contact: Julie Compton
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 805.794.0709
Website: www.fallbrookartassn.org
One-day event open to all artists. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cash prizes plus three Honorable Mention Ribbons awarded. 9:30 am sign-in at Gallery location, 300 N. Brandon Rd. #6, Fallbrook, and pick up map of the Fallbrook area showing painting locations. At 3 pm return your work to the Fallbrook Village Square for judging. Awards presentation at 4 pm.

Florida

Winter Park Paint Out
Dates: April 23-29
Opening Reception: April 24
Sponsoring Organization and Venue: Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens
Contact: Kimberly Lewis
Phone: 407.960.4718
Website: www.winterparkpaintout.org
Twenty-three professionally acclaimed plein air artists will paint at the Polasek Museum and at locations throughout Winter Park and Orlando. Art lovers are invited to watch the artists at work and attend free painting demonstrations. Works will be on display as soon as they are completed and dropped off at the museum’s wet room. ALL artwork created during the week will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Museum.

St. Augustine Plein Air Paint Out
Dates: April 26-30
Sponsoring Organization and Venue: St. Augustine Art Association
Format: Open
Contact: Jennifer Flynt
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 904.824.2310
Website: www.staaa.org/plein-air-paint-out
Artists! You’re invited to the 7th Annual St. Augustine Plein Air Paint Out in the nation’s oldest city. This event, a nod to St. Augustine’s art history, celebrates the town’s architectural and coastal beauty through the time-honored tradition of painting en plein air. Artists will be painting in and around St. Augustine at notable locations. Observers can visit the St. Augustine Art Association’s gallery to view and buy works-in-progress and finished paintings.

Georgia

Olmsted Plein Air Invitational
Date: April 15-23
Opening Reception: April 18
Sponsoring Organization: Olmsted Arts. LLC
City: Atlanta
Format: Invitational
Award Total: $40,000
Contact: Lillian Ansley
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 404.376.7075
Website: www.olmstedpleinair.com
Experience the 2023 Olmsted Plein Air Invitational Gallery Exhibition and Sale. View the exhibit and sale of nearly 500 original works of art by some of America’s most esteemed contemporary Impressionist painters via the virtual catalogue.

Illinois

12th Annual Prairie Plein Air Competition and Show
Dates: April 28-May 12
Sponsoring Organization: Village of Schaumburg in conjunction with Blick Art Materials
City: Schaumburg
Contact: Roxane Benvenuti
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.prairiecenter.org

Indiana

24th Annual First Brush of Spring
Dates: April 12-15
Opening Reception: April 12
Entry Deadline: April 14
Sponsoring Organization: Hoosier Art Salon and Indiana Plein Air Painters Association
Venue: Hoosier Salon, New Harmony
Format: Open
Juror of Awards: Jill Stefani Wagner
Award Total: $15,000+
Contact: Linda Volz
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 812.618.5710
Website: www.hoosiersalon.org
The 24th First Brush of Spring Paint Out is a 5-day art event with a pre-paint-out workshop on April 11-12 featuring Joe Lombardo. The paint-out kicks off with a reception at the Hoosier Salon on Wednesday, April 12; Field to Finish exhibit and awards, April 12-15; paint-out competition features a quick draw, nocturnal, professional, non-professional, and youth divisions totaling over $15,000 in awards, Saturday, April 15; art sale.

Missouri

20th Annual Augusta Plein Air Art Festival
Dates: April 20-29
Sponsoring Organization: Greater Augusta Chamber of Commerce
Venue: Harmonie Verein & Augusta Town Square
Format: Open
Award Total: $17,000
Contact: Lynn Buchheit
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 314.239.3988
Website: www.augustapleinair.com
Enjoy spring in Missouri wine country! Augusta is waiting for you to paint vineyards, wineries, farms, bluffs, and the river! This 10-day event has 13 paint-outs, four theme paints, workshops, and a final sale and festival. The final judging awards Best of Show, Artists’ Choice, People’s Choice, plus First, Second, Third, and Honorable Mention prizes in four categories. An art gallery is open daily to display and sell your work. Open to all levels.

North Carolina

2023 Azalea Paint Out
Date: April 13-16
Sponsoring Organization: Cape Fear Garden Club & Star Sosa
City: Wilmington
Contact: Arwen E Sosa
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.azaleaartsale.com

Pennsylvania

River Towns Plein Air 2023
Dates: April 12-23
Sponsoring Organization: Rivertownes PA USA
City: Marietta
Contact: Marita Hines
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: www.mariettaartalive.com

Celebration of the Arts Plein Air Event
Dates: April 30
Sponsoring Organization: Lewisburg Arts Council and Merrill W. Linn Land and Waterways Conservancy
Venue: Dale-Engle-Walker Property, Lewisburg
Format: Open
Contact: Barbara Baker
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 570.412.1686
Website: www.lewisburgartscouncil.com
The ninth annual Plein Air Event sponsors’ goal is to use artwork to support and encourage the conservation of local significant ecological sites. The day begins with a free workshop by a local artist. Artists of all ages and skill levels are invited to paint or draw at one of the Linn Conservancy’s protected sites that day and during the following two weeks. The artwork will be displayed at a local gallery in June 2023.

South Carolina

32nd National Juried Exhibition & Convention
Dates: March 26-April 30
Sponsoring Organization: Oil Painters of America
Venue: Reinert Fine Art in Charleston
Format: Juried
Contact: Liz Pusch
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 815.356.5987
Website: www.oilpaintersofamerica.com
The exhibition will feature approximately 220 paintings by some of today’s top representational oil painters.

Tennessee

Artists on Location
Dates: April 16-22
Sponsoring Organization: The Guild of the Knoxville Museum of Art
Format: Juried
Juror of Awards: Don Demers
Contact: Julia Connor
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 865.254.8257
Website: www.knoxart.org

Texas

Paint the Town 2023 – Plein Air Art Competition
Date: April 23-29
Opening Reception: April 23
Sponsoring Organization: Highland Lakes Creative Arts
Venue: Lakeside Pavilion, Marble Falls
Format: Juried
Juror of Awards: Charlie Hunter
Award Total: $12,000
Contact: Erin Hinzmann
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: 512.970.8087
Website: hlcarts.com/ptt-event-info
Plein air artists from across the nation will be working in various mediums to capture the outdoor sights and scenes of historic Marble Falls and the panoramic Texas Hill Country. Renowned artist Charlie Hunter will judge the works created throughout the week and will choose the winners of 2023 Paint the Town. With a sales gallery, live plein air painting, free art demonstrations, and a Student Art Day, there is so much to do.

Washington

Pacific Northwest Plein Air in the Columbia River Gorge
Dates: April 24-May 29
Sponsoring Organization: Maryhill Museum of Art
Contact: Steven Grafe
E-Mail: steve@ maryhillmuseum.org
Phone: 509.773.3733
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pnwpleinair

Italy

Arte in Loco: Horizons of a Genius
Date: April 16
Sponsoring Organization: Studio Peregrino
Venue: Various locations throughout the ancient village of Vinci, Tuscany
Website: https://www.studioperegrino.com/
Calling all plein air painters and art lovers! In collaboration with the Pro Loco of Vinci, we invite artists and art enthusiasts to participate in Il Giorno di Leonardo 2023, celebrating the life and works of Vinci’s most illustrious son. Artists will have the opportunity to paint en plein air in the places where Leonardo’s story began, and spectators will get to watch as the creations take shape. In addition to painting, the day will also feature games, cultural and technological demonstrations, guided tours and many other activities. Each artist will be offered lunch at the Pro Loco refreshment point, and will be eligible to enter the paintings they produce during the day in an online contest for prizes. In case of rain, the event will be postponed to the following Sunday, April 23.

Painting Events Coming Soon

Colorado

Plein Air Convention & Expo
Dates: May 21-25, 2023
Sponsoring Organization: PleinAir Magazine
City: Westminster (Denver area)
Website: pleinairconvention.com
Every year, the Plein Air Convention brings the foremost artists in their fields to share their best practices and techniques with you for five days of high-impact art instruction. It’s your chance to be part of a family of artists and to learn from the very top painters in the world. Each action-packed day includes indoor demonstrations on four stages by the world’s leading artists, including specialty sessions for oil, watercolor, pastel, and acrylic. A chance to sample the techniques of a faculty of over 80 painters.

New York

Paint Adirondacks
Dates: June 10-17, 2023
Sponsoring Organization: PleinAir Magazine
Venue: Paul Smiths College, in Paul Smiths
Contact: PleinAir Magazine, 561.655.8778 or 800.610.5771
Website: paintadirondacks.com
PleinAir Magazine’s Eric Rhoads started the Publisher’s Invitational so his friends could join him in the Adirondacks to paint, but an invitation is no longer required. This event is a chance for busy painters who need a break, an opportunity to slow down, reconnect with friends, and paint beautiful places where the masters before us have painted. We make it effortless. You roll out of your dorm bed for breakfast, pack your sack lunch for your day of painting, and show up for dinner. Our days are filled with painting the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York State and the surrounding area.

Fall Color Week 
Dates: September 29-October 5, 2023
Sponsoring Organization: PleinAir Magazine
Venue: Saranac Village City, in Saranac Lake
Contact: PleinAir Magazine, 561.655.8778 or 800.610.5771
Website: fallcolorweek.com
PleinAir Magazine’s Eric Rhoads lives in a place where fall color isn’t great, so he created the Fall Color Week retreat, held in various locations during peak color season annually. It’s a week of painting with old friends and new ones. We have our meals together, and we stay on the same property … all for one price. Join Eric this fall in Saranac Lake in New York during peak fall color season. Come enjoy the beautiful fall scenery with no competition, just painting alongside your friends. No meals to cook, no one to care for, just roll out of bed, get fed, and paint all day. It’s glorious.

Stay tuned for more painting events coming online or near your hometown! We’ll post the May painting events soon!


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