Reminder: Plein Air Painting in Fairfax Co VA on Saturday at Lorton's Workhouse Arts Center ~ Potomac Artworks

4.24.2013

Reminder: Plein Air Painting in Fairfax Co VA on Saturday at Lorton's Workhouse Arts Center

The Workhouse Associate Artists of Gallery 902 at the Workhouse Arts Center are hosting our Inaugural Plein Air Artists Event during SpringFest Fairfax 2013 on Saturday, April 27. It is free for both artists and viewers, beginning at 8am for artists.

Visitors may watch the artists at work and vote in the People's Choice Exhibit, which starts at 1:45pm, with votes tallied and awards presented at 3:15pm. The artwork, created during the day on the Workhouse and Occoquan Regional Park grounds, will be on show until 4pm.

The printable artists' registration form and additional information are available at tinyurl.com/wh-pa13 or snipurl.com/wh-pa13 . Event summary, many photos, and all details can be seen at Virginia Tourism' virginia.org .

Please pass this along to your fellow artists and post on your blogs or in your newsletter! For planning purposes, Workhouse Associate Artists of Gallery 902 encourage participating artists to RSVP ahead of time for this event on our Facebook page and to “Like” us.

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The Charm of en Plein Air

Much of my work is done en plein air, French for "in the open air." People often associate it with the Impressionists, but the move to paint outside preceded them by a number of decades. The trend to appreciate landscapes as a genre at all was new for the time.

Several characteristics contribute to the distinctive beauty of en plein air painting. They are generally smaller in size in order to be able to capture a scene in a single sitting. Because of the time limit and environmental factors such as the sun and shadows moving, they often lack extensive details and might appear slightly fuzzy or unfinished. Lastly, they tend to have a freshness and spontaneity which makes them impossible to compare to traditional and methodological studio work. That said, my own studio work tends toward the same feel as en plein air, which then identifies my overall style: softness with an edge.

My aim when painting en plein air is for alla prima paintings, which roughly translates for me as "what happens outside, stays outside." It adds another level of difficulty to the work.

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4.24.2013