Plein Air Fest: The Challenges

Lessons Learned



Last year I attended an Artist's Retreat and I have to point out how different that is from a Plein Air Fest. At the Art Retreat, we painted every morning and afternoon and had critiques of the paintings at night, it was all about the experience and dedication to painting. For the Plein Air Fest, we painting in morning and afternoon but we also had to frame our wet paintings for display. The Plein Air Fest was more about getting the painting ready for the art show and sale. We had to stop painting much sooner at the Plein Air Fest so that we could frame our works. Framing was tough for me as I could not pre-wire my frames or use previous frames since I flew in and had purchased new frames.

Lessons Learned:

Art Umbrella: When the sun was out it was super hot, I was glad that I brought my art umbrella in my luggage!
Hard Case Luggage: I put my pochade, tripod and umbrella in a hard luggage roller and packed my clothes under and around them, all equipment made it there and back in good condition.
Drive if you can: Flying is tough, as you are limited to a suitcase. If I had a car, I would have been able to bring a folding chair, cooler, frame ready frames, and framing equipment (drill, wire cutter, offset clips). I think that would have been easier.
Equipment: Knowing your art setup really helps, I was able to set up quickly and start painting. Also, on the last painting day, at 1230 the storms came in. I could see the sky turning black and hear the thunder, I called out to Mom that we needed to take down and get to the van. We were able to quickly pack up and get to safety in the van before the rains came!
Early Canvas Stamp: If the venue allows, I recommend getting all canvases stamped on the first day, this saves time.
Paint: I brought 12 small paint tubes (for these 4 days) and I had plenty of paint and did not lack for color. The colors I brought included: Titanium White, Warm White, Lemon Yellow, Cad Yellow, Permanent Red, Permanent Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Pthalo Green, Dioxazine Purple and Ivory Black.
Same Day Framing: Same Day Framing with a new frame is tough and time consuming. If I drive to a Plein Air Event in the future, I would prep for wiring and backing.
Perspective: Both of us admit that we could have used perspective refreshers, with large steep hills and tiny streets downtown(historical and narrow), looking up or down in the downtown created a strong need for perspective knowledge.
Larger Canvases: I love small gem paintings and had decided early on that 8x10 is what I had to do since I would try to bring those home in my back pack and luggage. Almost ALL award winners at the Plein Air Fest were larger (being relative) at 12x16 to 18x24 in size; small gems were not rewarded.
Water Color is So HOT Right Now: All of the big money awards and almost all awards-- 8 Awards went to water color paintings. Best in Show and First were watercolor paintings! Amazing, inspirational and talented artists won the awards, it was just a surprise to me that no oil paintings were chosen for recognition. I only paint in Oil...hmmm

Downtown Will Happen: While painting downtown, there was a lot of truck exhaust (yuck!), the UPS truck stopped in front of me and blocked my view, the street painter and his machine painted the street next to me, the ambulance parked right in front of me (I was on a street corner, not in a parking zone) --all in a 3 hour time period! Plus, parking for downtown was $5 per 3 hours, way overpriced!


 So there were a few challenges, but ultimately it was about the experience which was extremely positive. Here is a link to photos of all the Award Winners http://essa-art.org/espafest-2018-award-winners/