Plein Air Festival 2017 Blue Ridge in GA

My Three Paintings in the 2017 Plein Air Festival Show

The past week from Thursday thru Sunday, I participated in the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association (BRMAA) Plein Air Festival. We do it the second weekend of September each year to coincide with the World Wide Paint Out sponsored by the International Plein Air Painters (IPAP). It is always so much fun, and it is not an invitational event. Our purpose is to get as many artists to participate no matter the level of their plein air experience. We believe in taking the pressure off the artists that want to learn and paint from life.

Artists filing into show to hear awards!
There were 97 paintings submitted!

There is a one-day workshop usually given on Thursday by a teaching artist. This year it was Carly Hardy, with the premise of the class being "From Plein Air to Studio." She did a great job... I took the class. I feel like you can always learn something! We created a studio piece from a previously done plein air "study."

The BRMAA sets up a "Quick Paint" usually on one of the days. This year it was Friday afternoon at the Serenberry Vineyards. Artists sign up to participate and must have their substrate stamped, and can only start when they blow the horn ... having one hour to create something ... stopping immediately when the blow the horn after that one hour. We take them to a central location and display them on small easels, and their is a judge. This year it was won by Elizabeth Carr for a sweet little watercolor. Congratulations, Betty!

1st Place, John Guernsey - Bottom left
"Toccoa River Rocks" Oil

On all days you can paint anywhere you wish within the parameters BRMAA have set. There is a bounty of beauty in this area for the artists to find many places to paint... Toccoa River, Lake Blue Ridge, Downtown Blue Ridge, Mercier Orchard, various waterfalls, rocks and water, and loads of beautiful farms and land.

2nd Place, Shane McDonald - Upper Left
"Farmstead at Old Dial and Newport Rd." Oil

I was honored to judge this show... and it was extremely hard to do because there were so many "worthy" paintings. I could have given more awards, but was limited to 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place, and one Honorable Mention. Here are photos of the winning paintings, and a few random shots of other paintings. They were taken with my cell phone, so apologies for any little inconsistencies!

3rd Place, Catherine Rich
"Chroma Flow" Oil-Bottom left

Honorable Mention, Charles Cashwell
"Mom's Place" Oil-Top

Candy Day

Camille "Candy" Day, and Ed Cahill, are fellow members of ELPA (Eastern League of Professional Artists) -  Candy's paintings to the left and Ed's here to the right. There were a couple of these that were award worthy!

Ed Cahill

More participating artists! Wish I knew the names for you. I could have given a couple of these an award!