By Betty A. Little
posted
Aug 30, 2012
Warmer, sunny days in the Northeast encourage outdoor painting.
Plein Air Painting contributes significantly to capturing and
documenting the beauty and history of this area. Plein Air first
became popular in the early nineteenth century in Europe and
America when pre-mixed paints and transportable box easels were
developed. Artists use colorful brush strokes instead of layering
their paint.
Jill Dye of the Killington Arts Guild has long practiced and
taught Plein Air painting which brings you closer to nature and
puts you in the moment. Last year at a garage sale in Rutland,
photographer Patsy Zedar bought a French easel and paints suitable
for Plein Air and started taking painting lessons.
Recently in Waitsfield, Vt., there was a Plein Air paint-out.
Poet and photographer Ann Day reported that artists were all over
the valley documenting barns, churches and villages, mountains and
waterfalls.
The same weekend, Betty Little, Patsy Zedar and James Little
were traveling in the Adirondacks and interviewed two young women
participating in the Saranac Lake Plein Air week. They had risen
early to paint in the morning light by a lake and were doing their
second pictures. Both were part of a six member Hudson River group
that had come for the second year to this event. In 2011, Gretchen
Kelly (Hyde Park, NY) won a prize for the best watercolor in the
Saranac Plein Air Show. In fact, she said, all members of the
Hudson River group won prizes.
Tarryl Gable (Hyde Park, NY) said she is a full time painter and
art teacher and is following the plein air events all around the
country. Many of her paintings are about the west, particularly
horses. She had sold some of these at Liquid Art in Killington.
Betty Little told her that Beth Weinberg of Liquid Art had just
joined KAG and explained that the Guild is composed of artists and
friends of the ARTS including painters, sculptors, craftsmen,
printmakers, photographers, musicians, writers, dancers, dramatists
and poets. Member profiles and news is posted on the website; their
work displayed in the KAG Gallery at Cabin Fever Gifts on Route 4
in Killington and a profile written in this column.
When Patsy returned to Killington, she tried Plein Air painting
at Pico.
Tagged:
Killington Arts Guild, Plein Air Painting
