John Pototschnik: Plein Air Southwest Salon 2012

Opening night, Plein Air Southwest Salon 2012 - Southwest Gallery

The Outdoor Painters Society has just presented awards for it's 6th Annual Plein Air Southwest Juried Invitational Show. Hosted by Southwest Gallery in Dallas, the show opened 7 April. This year marks significant changes in direction for the show. Artists were no longer required to attend scheduled mandatory paintouts, and permissible subject matter was expanded to include all parts of this great country. The changes have turned the show into a national event, enabling many more artists to participate, resulting in a very competitive show.

The goal of the Outdoor Painters Society is to promote an appreciation for the process of painting "en plein air", a french term meaning "in open air". Most works are completed on location in a single painting session and therefore are generally smaller and more reasonably priced.

Southwest Gallery is one of the best known and highly respected galleries in the United States with 45 years experience representing many of the nation's top artists. The gallery houses over 16000 square feet of exhibit space and represents artists producing Traditional, Contemporary, Western and Impressionists works.
Participants in the show were carefully chosen by a jury panel. California artist, John Budicin was the awarding judge.

Below are the award winners. Hopefully, I didn't miss anyone. Most of the pictures of the winning paintings were taken during the show, so conditions were not ideal. In some cases I had to make a few Photoshop adjustments...including cloning, squaring up the images, improving clarity, removing shadows and ribbons that overhung the images in places. Since it's pretty difficult to remember color, I hope each of the artists represented here feel that their piece is fairly represented.

Best of Show

Southwest Art Magazine Award
Ned Mueller - Coffee Break - 9"x 12"

Awards of Merit

Jack Richeson Award
Linda Dellandre - Fields of Color - 12"x 16"

Wind River Arts Award
Rusty Jones - Bradshaw's Point - 12"x 9"

Art Ready Frames Award
Becky Joy - Over the Edge - 11"x 14"

Jerry's Artarama Award
Peggy Kingsbury - Fishing Camp Road - 9"x 12"

Plein Air Magazine Award
Michael Obermeyer - The Distant San Gabriels - 8"x 16"

Progressive Services Award
Richard Prather - Marina Moonrise - 11"x 14"

Awards of Excellence

Fredricksburg Art School Award
Nancy Boren - House of the Little Old Lady - 9"x 12"

Utrecht Award
Ted Clemens - Behind Ballard - 9"x 12"

Vasari Artists Oil Colors Award
Diane Frossard - End of Another Day - 8"x 10"

Fine Art Studio Online Award
Carolyn Hesse-Low - Waterways - 9"x 12"

Sourcetek Award
Randy Saffle - A Day of Rest - 12"x 16"

Honorable Mention

David Bates - Hillside Shadows - 8"x 10"

John Cook - Nowlin Farm - 8"x 16"

Fran Ellisor - Fisherman's Wharf - 9"x 12"

Kaye Franklin - Streamflow - 9"x 12"

Ann Hardy - Argyle Iris Farm - 16"x 12"

Peggy Immel - Blue Spruce and Red Berries - 12"x 16"

Christy Kidwell - Fall at Turtle Creek - 8"x 10"

Ann Larsen - Dolores River - 8"x 10"

There was a quick draw held at White Rock Lake in Dallas. Each of the artists participating had just two hours to complete a painting en plein air. These works were later displayed at the gallery and voted on by the artists in attendance. I chose my favorite piece from the large group of paintings and then I asked my wife to select her favorite. There were two paintings that tied for first place, Richard Prather's, White Rock Trail...and...Kaye Franklin's, Snap Dragons. Marcia and I had a good laugh over this one when we discovered later that she had selected Kaye's piece and I had selected Prather's. I guess we have pretty good taste.