Third Plein Air Paint Out, Art Show & Sale at Callaway Gardens

Sunday, April 15 - Sunday, April 22, 2012

After visiting Laguna Beach, CA art events, meeting Jean Stern, Director of the Irvine Museum, and other notable California artists, Edward Callaway was inspired to create something new at Callaway Gardens; an art event unlike any other in our region.

Plein Air, French for “open air,” is used to describe the act of painting outdoors. In the early 19th century paint manufacturers made available, for the first time, pre-mixed oil pigments in easily carried tubes. Armed with an easily transferable medium, painters took their newly minted paint tubes and easels outdoors. The ability to paint directly from nature opened the door to the Impressionist movement and Barbizon school.

Impressionist artists were interested in the influence of changing outdoor light on a color. Painting real life and naturalistic scenes, they focused on form as color that suggested light. Leaving behind formulas and static scenes, these plein air painters tested out the theory of trusting their eyes to portray the truth in nature.

Building on the work of the realists and impressionists, modern plein air artists are experiencing a renaissance. Callaway Gardens is proud to partner with these artists as they draw their audience into a greater appreciation of the natural world.