Plein Air Southwest Week

I had the pleasure today of painting with some very fine painters as part of the Plein Air  Southwest event.  Although the event covers a lot of territory - most of the Southwest, in fact - I was pleased to learn that one of the painting weeks was going to be on my home turf.  As one of the juried artists, I was relieved that I wouldn't have to drive far, especially considering local gas prices are nearing $3.50 a gallon!

We were blessed with snowfall this past weekend, so we were ready for snow.  Two out-of-towners, in fact, arrived in snowboots and gaiters.  Fortunately, we didn't have all that much.  But the snow meant that Dry Creek was flowing, so we drove out to one of my secret spots and painted snow and running water.  Below are my two paintings for the day, both 9x12 oils.

I painted with Rusty Jones and Steve Atkinson, Bill Cramer, Cindy Carillo and Linda Dellandre.  It was hard to find the painters to photograph them - when we're painting in an event, we tend to scatter to find our own best spots - but I got everyone but Rusty and Linda.

Steve Atkinson

Bill Cramer

Cindy Carillo

Tomorrow, we're heading up to Jerome.  We might have more snow there, and certainly we'll have the collection of old trucks at the Gold King Mine!

By the way, if you're near Dallas in April, the Plein Air Southwest exhibit will run April 8 - April 30 at Southwest Gallery, 4500 Sigma Rd, Dallas, Texas.  I hope some of you will see the show.