Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2025 i PleinAir Magazine

14TH ANNUAL To cap off an action-packed opening night at this year’s Plein Air Convention & Expo in Reno, Nevada, winners of the 14th Annual PleinAir Salon were announced live from the stage. In an instant, Kyle Ma found himself $15,000 richer as his painting Maricopa Point Morning was awarded Grand Prize. “I had three paintings in the running, and all day I was trying to do the math — wondering what my chances were of at least getting an Honorable Mention,” says Ma. “Winning the Grand Prize was beyond anything I imagined.” He continues, “Maricopa Point Morning reflects not only my emotional connection to the landscape but also my knowledge of geology and my time spent painting in the Southwest. When it comes to the Grand Canyon, there are…

Kyle Buckland grew up in a row house in the inner city of Wilmington, Delaware — an environment he recalls as a “concrete jungle.” Every year, the family escaped for a week and traveled to the southern Appalachian Mountains, where Buckland’s father had grown up. They’d leave in the middle of the night and drive through the Shenandoah Valley. “My parents would wake me up at dawn when we got to Skyline Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway,” Buckland says. “I would look out over the Shenandoah and see the mountains, and it was like being in a fairy tale. I’m sure that’s why I have this preoccupation with the landscape. It’s always had a profound effect on me.” The works of the French Impressionist painters had an equally pronounced…

ALLISON KRAJCIK | PURE COLOR THAT’S FORGIVING After years of navigating the delicate balance of watercolor, Allison Krajcik found herself craving a more forgiving medium. “I’d become frustrated with having to dance around the white of the paper to save my lights and highlights,” she says, “and it was too easy to make mud if I wasn’t careful with my washes.” With pastels, Krajcik discovered she could embrace a bolder, more experimental approach to her work. “The dry nature of the medium means that the colors stay pure even when I apply one on top of another, creating a depth and intensity I could never achieve with watercolor — and no mud,” she says. “Plus, I can add highlights at any time, and even brush off what doesn’t work.” Her…

My reductive approach to plein air painting, combined with simplification, strong design, and a unique perspective distinguishes me from other artists. Here are a few elements that contribute to my distinct artistic identity and how you can use them to set your own work apart. 1. Reductive Techniques: Simplify your forms and use negative space to create visual impact. Eliminate unnecessary details and focus on the essence of your subject. I often “carve” the image into being, wiping away paint with paper towels or using squeegees to subtract rather than add. 2. Limited Palette: Choose a small set of colors that resonate with you and explore their range. A tight palette helps create a cohesive look and forces you to be more creative with color mixing and application. I use…

Of Little Nishasakawick Creek by Jennifer Gorman-Strawbridge: “Confident and intentional, each thick, juicy brushstroke captures the vibrant colors of spring. The bold brushwork defines a strong composition, with the dark bridge positioned in the lower right third — drawing the eye along the rule-of-thirds power point — while the brightest highlight beneath it adds a visual anchor.” Of View from the Calhoun St Bridge 1 by Jessica Barnum: “This quiet pastel caught my eye from across the room. Tight vertical marks define the sky and water reflections perfectly. Compositional diagonals — the shoreline, trees, and their mirrored forms — guide the viewer’s attention to the painting’s center — the brightest highlight — and the most distant stretch of water along the horizon.” Of Bass Boat, Delaware River by Bridget Fox:…

Rhoads provides one-on-one advice to a PACE attendee. CHAIRMAN/PUBLISHER E-mail: bericrhoads@gmail.com Phone: 512.607.6423 Facebook: /ericrhoads X: @ericrhoads When PleinAir Magazine debuted, plein air painting stood at the margins of the art world — a whisper in a world dominated by modernist voices. What had been a revolutionary movement a century earlier had dwindled almost to extinction; only a handful of artists still painted outdoors, and the practice seemed destined to fade away. I launched the magazine with a singular conviction: that beauty, craft, and tradition deserved not only preservation, but celebration. We embarked on what many considered a quixotic mission — to champion an art form the establishment had written off as irrelevant. Today, I write to you from the midst of a renaissance we helped ignite. The transformation has…

HOW TO PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD Advice from four monthly judges in the 14 Annual PleinAir Salon “Select your strongest work, then look at all the categories it qualifies for — and enter it in each one. Since every category has only a Best and an Honorable Mention, it’s worth submitting your best piece to multiple categories, as the level of competition can vary. And never be disheartened — an artist might place third in several categories and not win a prize, but that still shows they’re an extremely competent painter!” — Jill Carver, artist “Ensure your entry is well photographed. Hurried submissions rarely make the final cut. Use a good camera, shoot the piece straight on, in good light, and color-correct if needed. And while your smiling face…

For Lisa Wang, watercolor represents a return to her roots. Although she spent more than two decades painting professionally in oil, her recent body of plein air work in watercolor represents a personal evolution grounded in rigorous training and a desire to capture spirit, not just form. “I rediscovered watercolor nearly 10 years ago,” she says. “But my introduction to the medium goes back to my childhood in China, where I spent six years at a fine arts secondary school. We studied academic subjects in the mornings and art in the afternoons. The entire first year we weren’t even allowed to touch paint — it was all pencil and charcoal drawing.” That early discipline shows in her work today. Whether she’s painting a sculpted door knocker in Barcelona or a…

When we head outdoors with our easels, the whole world opens up. Vistas stretch for miles, skies loom large, mountains tower in the distance, and long roads wind through vast, open spaces, offering up 365 degrees of inspiration. But sometimes, it pays to get close. Exploring texture, color, and form on a more intimate scale shifts the focus from sweeping landscapes to small, often overlooked wonders right in front of us. Getting up close to a single blossom, a cluster of leaves, or another tightly framed scene from nature allows us to capture nuances and detail we might otherwise miss. Using this approach in my own plein air work encourages me to slow down and really observe the complexity in my immediate surroundings — the curve of a petal, the…

Editor-in-Chief kelly@pleinairmagazine.com outdoorpainter.com facebook.com/pleinairmagazine x.com/pleinairmag Instagram.com/pleinairmag At the recent Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE), I witnessed firsthand what makes our community so special: the incredible boost we get from being together. It’s not just about picking up a new technique or mastering a new tool — it’s about the conversations sparked in demo rooms or on bus rides to paint-outs, the encouragement of a nearby painter, and the collective excitement when a presenting artist puts down the brushstroke that brings a painting to life. But it’s not just the attendees who benefit; artists at the top of their game come as faculty, in part simply to participate in the experience, to soak up the energy and camaraderie, and to celebrate the practice that has meant so much to their…

MAY MAY “ 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…