Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2025 i PleinAir Magazine

Determined to elevate landscape painting to the realm of high art, English painter J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) embraced what he called going “on the wing ” — traveling far and wide in pursuit of inspiration. His early explorations took him across Britain, but at age 28, he ventured beyond, seizing a brief window of peace in 1802 between the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars to visit France and Switzerland. Turner worked primarily in pencil during his travels, sketching directly from life. These field drawings often became the foundation for finished paintings completed months — or even years — later in the studio. In the piece featured here, he began with a delicate pencil outline, then layered watercolor from light to dark, carefully staying within the lines. Misty distant mountains emerge through faint…

Collectors of fine art have long admired watercolor for the luminosity of its transparent colors. This revered medium holds a prominent place in private and museum collections throughout the world. The Metropolitan Museum of Art began acquiring American watercolors in 1880, just 10 years after its founding, and has since amassed an impressive collection featuring the work of John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, and other luminaries. Contemporary watercolor painters value this complex medium that offers both transparency and opacity. An examination of the works of two outstanding watercolorists, Childe Hassam and Maurice Prendergast, reveals the vast potential of this medium. Both those artists painted the sea at low tide; understandably, the sea has always been an alluring subject for watercolorists. With its transparent qualities, the medium seems perfectly suited to…

From the start, plein air painting has been woven into the identity of the world’s major watercolor societies. Their founders were not just studio artists but field sketchers and innovators, using watercolor’s speed and portability to capture the landscape firsthand. In 1804, brothers John and Cornelius Varley were among the founding members of England’s Royal Watercolour Society. John, a prolific landscape painter and influential teacher, regularly painted outdoors, seeking to capture the changing moods of the countryside. Cornelius, a scientificminded artist and inventor, devised a “graphic telescope” to aid in capturing accurate proportions while sketching directly from nature. Their shared dedication to field observation, technical innovation, and artistic instruction helped shape the society’s mission and laid the groundwork for its enduring role in “promoting, by example and education, the understanding,…

The Door County Plein Air Festival, celebrating its 19th year, is presented by Peninsula School of Art. This premier Midwest outdoor painting event, features 37 plein air masters from across the country. Events take place July 20-26, 2025 in and around Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Visit www.peninsulaschoolofart.org/doorcountypleinair for details. CARL BRETZKE Minneapolis, MN The Last Waitress, 24 × 36 in., oil carl@carlbretzke.com | carlbretzke.com Website Inquiries Welcome DEBRA JOY GROESSER Ralston, NE Sunshine on the Bay, 16 × 20 in., oil on linen panel debra@debrajoygroesser.com | debrajoygroesser.com Visit website for gallery representation MARC ANDERSON Sturgeon Bay, WI Romulus and Remus, 14 × 18 in., oil on board mandersongallery@gmail.com | mandersongallery.com Represented by LePrince Fine Art, Charleston, SC Edgewood Orchard Galleries, Fish Creek, WI M. Anderson Gallery, Sturgeon Bay, WI SHEFALI KHANNA…

Few artists have changed the course of landscape painting as profoundly as J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851). Though he is often remembered for his dramatic oils — storm-wracked ships, sun-drenched ruins, and foggy cityscapes dissolving into light — Turner’s watercolors reveal a more intimate, yet no less powerful, side of his genius. These luminous works trace the arc of an artist who was constantly on the move, chasing nature’s grandeur from the chalk cliffs of Dover and the snow-covered Alps to Venetian canals and the lochs of Scotland Born in Covent Garden, London, Turner showed artistic promise from an early age. By the age of 14, he was studying at the Royal Academy, and soon after began exhibiting work there. Even in his youth, watercolor was central to his development. It was…

Join 17 plein air painters as they journey beyond the familiar, setting up their easels in distant corners of the globe to capture the light, atmosphere, and essence of foreign lands. From scenes of idyllic villages and sunlit harbors to dramatic mountain ranges, these works invite us to see the world through an artist’s eyes. EXPANDED DIGITAL EDITION CONTENT…

Artists and geologists perceive the world with unique insight, each attuned to the subtle clues left by time and nature. When standing before a dramatic rock formation or sweeping coastal vista, both can feel the sublime — a recognition of our deep and ancient connection to the Earth. Nowhere can this synergy between art and science be more powerfully felt than along Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy. Once located at the heart of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, this region holds within its cliffs the story of a world long past. Here, 300-million-year-old rocks bear witness to a time when all Earth’s continents were joined as one and the planet turned green with the rise of the first trees. Around 200 million years ago, that great landmass began to fracture. As…

Watercolor’s rise as a respected fine art medium didn’t happen by accident. It was hard-won by generations of artists who refused to be sidelined. In one defining moment, a group of 19th-century English artists, frustrated by the Royal Academy’s bias toward oil painting, banded together to elevate their chosen medium. “Born out of a sense of grievance,” the painters held the first meeting of the Society Associated for the Purpose of Establishing an Annual Exhibition of Paintings in Water Colours on Friday, November 30, 1804, at the Stratford Coffee House on Oxford Street in London. Founding members included William Frederick Wells, William Sawrey Gilpin, and brothers John and Cornelius Varley. Through their efforts, the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) was born, laying the foundation for the rise of watercolor societies around…

FEBRUARY FEBRUARY "BEST OF" CATEGORY AWARDS The 15th annual PleinAir Salon consists of 11 monthly contests from April 2025 to February 2026. The awards will be presented in May 2026 at the Plein Air Convention & Expo, in the Ozarks. Winners of each monthly contest are automatically entered into the annual competition. First prize in the annual Salon is $15,000 cash and the publication of the winning image on the cover of PleinAir Magazine, along with a feature story. Second Place earns an artist $3,000 and an article in the digital edition of PleinAir Magazine. Third Place yields $2,000 in cash, with three Honorable Mentions taking home $750 each, and an Artist’s Choice Award garnering $300. Six Best Medium Awards for acrylic, drawing, gouache, oil, pastel, and watercolor are worth…

Thanks to a perfect alignment of the stars, my wife and I happened to be in Hawaii when Kīlauea erupted for the seventh time since late last year,” says Washington artist Steven Hill. “We got to the lookout early and claimed a prime spot near the steam vents along the crater rim in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. A 12-ton boulder — roughly the size of a Volkswagen van — sat beside the trail, hurled there by an earlier eruption. With steam rising at my feet and signs everywhere warning, ‘Caution! Watch for sudden fissures and cracks in the earth’s surface,’ it was the most dramatic, dangerous, and exhilarating place I’ve ever painted. “During the short time we were there, I completed two of my best plein air works — and…