PleinAir Magazine June/July 2019

I was on an airplane coming home from the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE) in San Francisco — exhausted yet invigorated — when it hit me like a ton of bricks. My mind was spinning with all the people I had met and all the conversations, ideas, and stories that came out during the convention. Though this may seem a little woo-woo, a little spiritual, I realized that those of us who attended were each there for the purpose of receiving special gifts. I learned of one such gift when a woman approached me at the convention in tears. She told me that registering as an attendee on our website unintentionally resulted in the most special day of her life — one that almost didn’t happen. You see, shortly before…

A couple of hours before the Opening Ceremony for this year’s Plein Air Convention & Expo, I came across a woman sitting in the hallway across from the registration booth, her back against the wall, a yellow highlighter poised above her program and a pained look on her face. Fortunately, I recognized that pose, as I found myself in much the same position last year. Overwhelmed by the number and variety of demos, presentations, and painting opportunities available to her, this first-timer couldn’t decide how best to use the experience. Since she’d never been before, and was there alone, we decided her first stop should be the Newcomers Orientation, which would acquaint her with the daily routine and help her meet others like herself. In the course of our conversation, she…

In front of a packed house gathered for the opening ceremony of the 8th Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo, California artist Tom Hughes took the stage to accept the $15,000 Grand Prize in the 2018-19 PleinAir Salon. He had this to say about his award-winning painting, Fog at Back Cove: “I adapted this piece from a watercolor that I had painted on the spot one foggy afternoon. My grandmother had a house at the back of that cove for years, and now my cousins have it, so I have a long history with the place. My dad, who was also a painter, lived in that area for a long time, and I have about 150 paintings he made there. “I do 95 percent of my studio work in oils, but every…

Born in New York, Fannie Eliza Duvall began her journey into art with William Sartain at the Art Students League and at Cooper Union, before moving to Los Angeles in 1888. Although California artists were familiar with French Impressionism as early as the 1890s, the style didn’t become widely popular until 1914, when American expatriate artists brought it back to the United States at the outbreak of World War I. Duvall, however, was an early adopter of the new impressionist theories, including the practice of painting en plein air, and in 1893 produced Chrysanthemum Garden in Southern California. A hit at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, this piece established Duvall as a serious artist. (Sadly, the Oakland fire destroyed the work in 1991.) After 1900, Duvall began spending part of…

“I painted this piece in Door County, Wisconsin, at a historic farm that has become a popular tourist attraction, complete with an open air petting zoo,” says Susan Lynn. “Just beyond the gate, a small herd of baby goats occupied some very enthusiastic children. Crossing the cattle guard and walking a short way down the gravel service road, I found this shady view of the gorgeous old barn, and — in sharp contrast to the chaotic scene nearby — a sense of quiet.” “I found this working wagon on a ranch during En Plein Air Texas,” says John Caggiano. “I loved the various saws, tools, and other mechanical attachments that I couldn’t quite identify. I was told that it was an early 19th-century John Deere. I had no idea the…

Born and raised in Taipai, Taiwan, and trained in San Francisco, Hsin-Yao Tseng brings a lively cross-cultural flavor to his gloriously energetic plein air paintings. His brushwork has the decisive immediacy of traditional Chinese brush technique combined with a luscious Western sense of impasto. The subject matter melds different worlds, too. Scenes of Taiwan depict Chinese lanterns glowing at twilight on narrow streets, or mountain villages of rickety wooden buildings clinging to steep hillsides. Scenes around the Bay Area show late model cars glinting in the watery light among apartment blocks and the accoutrements of American life. Other subjects are timeless: waves rolling over rocks towards stony beaches, sailboats, harbors, and cliffs — the endlessly pleasurable world of the great outdoors. Handling a wide variety of light conditions — from soft…