Plein Air Paint Out returns for second year Saturday

Two women paint at the Benicia Marina for last year’s Plein Air Paint Out, hosted by Benicia Plein Air Gallery. (Photo courtesy of Benicia Plein Air Gallery)

Last Year, Benicia Plein Air Gallery held its first Plein Air Paint Out to bring artists out of their studios and into the open air to paint scenes of Benicia and win prizes. The event was a success, with 40 artists taking part and East Bay painter Cleo Vilett winning first place, which resulted in a cash prize and a Gamblin oil paint set. Second and third place went to Nancy Roberts and Clark Mitchell for their respective paintings of a Victorian home and the historic Clocktower. Chris Magnum, Mark Monsarrat and Justin Pastores won honorable mention awards.

The artists were given the freedom to paint outdoor images of Benicia, but they had to select a spot and capture it on canvas in just a few hours. It was a daunting task, but they delivered.

“All the artists enjoyed it,” Samantha McNally, the Paint Out chair, said.

The Paint Out was so successful that the gallery fulfilled its goal of turning it into an annual event. The contest will have its sophomore year on Saturday, and McNally said that a lot of last year’s participants are returning this year with 53 being registered so far. However, with a few days left to sign up, she anticipates that there will be more than 60 participants.

As with last year, painters will arrive at the gallery at 8 a.m. to get a date stamp on their canvases. They will receive a packet with suggested local sites and then be given free range to paint whatever they choose. The paintings need to be completed and returned to the gallery for hanging before 3 p.m. The artists will reconvene at the gallery for a reception lasting from 4 to 6 p.m. where the first, second and third-place winners, as well as three honorable mentions, will be announced. Winners will receive anything from cash prizes to oil and watercolor paint sets to gift certificates.

However, there will be a number of new features this year. During the reception, attendees will be treated to the Brazilian musical stylings of Gringa, an all-female quintet based out of San Francisco. There will also be separate artists’ choice and people’s choice competitions, and all the other winners will be selected by judge Randall Sexton, a renowned artist. Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will be presenting the ribbons and prizes.

The paintings produced that day will also be available to purchase, with 10 percent of the proceeds going to the gallery and 15 percent to Arts Benicia’s Youth Program. The funds will help pay for scholarships for teens to attend art workshops and programs sponsored by the nonprofit organization.

“We are so pleased to join with the artists of the Benicia Plein Air Gallery to provide opportunities for teens to gain the skills and experiences they need to develop their artistic expression,” Arts Benicia Director Celeste Smeland said in a statement. “The Gallery’s support of these scholarships will make a difference for those young people that otherwise might not be able to participate.”

The event will be beneficial to the participating artists as well. McNally hopes the Paint Out will give them experience for other plein air painting competitions in the Bay Area.

“There’s a lot of really prestigious competitions in the area that people might be intimidated to enter,” she said. “Ours is more of an entry-level competition.”

McNally said that other competitions are usually a week long as opposed to just one day, so the Benicia event could help them get a feel for similar competitions.

“It also puts Benicia on the map as an art town,” she said. “We have eight galleries, and we have this Plain Air Paint Out that we’re now gonna do once a year. It puts us on the map as one of the cities in Northern California that is influential in the art world.

The Plein Air Paint Out will begin before 8 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Plein Air Gallery, located at 307 First St. The reception and art sale will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. For more information and to register, go to beniciapleinair.com.