PleinAir Magazine Apr/May 2018

Although he kept a studio in the same building in New York City as several artists of the Hudson River School and became good friends with Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900) — one of its most celebrated members — Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904) operated on the fringes of the movement. His paintings exhibit the same influence of Romanticism, but while his building-mates turned to the wilds for inspiration for their majestic depictions of mountains, valleys, and waterfalls, Heade opted for decidedly more horizontal expanses of subdued scenery — primarily salt marshes and coastal settings, from Massachusetts to New Jersey. Even when he painted storms, a favorite subject, he preferred the somber buildup to the main event. Here, rather than the tempest itself, it was its prelude — the blackening sky and eerily…

Last night as I was dining with a couple of old friends who are gallery owners, they asked about the turning point — when the plein air movement went from a handful of people to a true movement of tens of thousands of people. As I briefly pondered my answer, it came to me for the first time that one thing made a giant difference: the launch of a single event that brought everyone together as a community. Of course, I’m referring to the Plein Air Convention & Expo. Though I want to make it clear that we don’t think for a minute that our magazine or our convention is responsible for this movement, what occurred at the first convention may have played a role. And what occurred there was the birth…

As I sit down to write my first note as your new editor-in-chief, a light snow has dusted the landscape just outside my window, creating the kind of scene I like to imagine Steve Doherty will be out painting tomorrow morning. In fact, the last time we spoke, he’d just come in from painting an earlier snowfall, taking full advantage of his newfound free time and a few hours of sunlight. Although I’ve been in art publishing for more than 20 years and knew of Steve from his work at American Artist and then at PleinAir, I’d never had the pleasure of working with him. Over the course of the last few months, I’ve come to recognize him as the gracious, witty, and passionate plein air advocate that you already knew…

This April, the world’s largest plein air event will take place in the art mecca of Santa Fe, where we’re going to spend our time painting unique sites while learning from and painting (and playing) with many of the finest plein air artists in the world. We’ll spend five days in this renowned environment where art means everything. You, like every other artist, should paint in Santa Fe at least once in your lifetime. So be there with us from April 16-20, 2018 and get to know a group of people like yourself, many of whom you’ll remain friends with for the rest of your life. PRE-CONVENTION EVENTS KEVIN MACPHERSON PRE-CONVENTION WORKSHOP* *Additional fee required. If you’re new to painting outdoors, you’ll find this class invaluable. It’s one day that will save you years…

Please enjoy these featured pieces from many of the PACE 2018 Faculty! Be sure to look for and meet all of them while in Santa Fe, and be inspired by the talent and passion they invest in their work. BARBARA TAPP Kensington, California Haven Beneath The Golden Gate, 13.5 x 19.5 in., watercolor dieselbt@aol.com | www.barbaratappartist.comRepresented by The Holton Studio Gallery, Berkeley, CA. MIKE SIMPSON Montrose, Colorado Juniper Snag, 10 x 14 in., watercolor Available through the artist mike@mikesimpsonart.com | 970.249.1098 www.mikesimpsonart.faso.com/viewcollection/102879Represented by Simpson Gallery, Montrose, CO; Maynard Dixon Gallery, Mt. Carmel, UT. MICHAEL HOLTER Plano, Texas The Pigeon Roost, 20 x 16 in., watercolor Available through the artist michael@michaelholter.com | 972.965.2078 www.michaelholter.comRepresented by Thunder Horse Gallery, Ruidoso, NM; Willowbrush Gallery, Tulsa, OK. KATHIE ODOM Knoxville, Tennessee Song Within, 15 x 24 in., oil on linen kathieoart@gmail.com |…

In 1918, Marsden Hartley joined the budding artists’ colony in Taos, New Mexico, where he intended to experience nature directly and work exclusively from his own firsthand experiences. He believed that a new American aesthetic could be created through an artist’s “definite reaction from the soil itself.” Over the following year, he created a series of representational paintings in pastel, which he found perfectly suited to the arid terrain. He wrote his friend and mentor Alfred Stieglitz: “It is the only way I can get a line on the qualities [of New Mexico]. It is a very important and typical medium for this country, which has such wonderful dry quality of color, and such hardness and brilliance.” The artist had trouble, however, translating his impressions of the landscape into oil, and…