Fresh Air – Fresh Paint 2024!
6 Friends Painting the Walla Walla Valley in Plein Air
Artist Reception and Talk
Friday, May 3, 4-6PM
Six artists whose specialty is plein air painting will have their easels, paints, canvas and sketchbooks along while on location in the Walla Walla Valley from April 29-May 2.
Painting Days - April 29 - May 2, 2024
Painters painting the Valley: April 29-May 2
Painting on First and Main: April 30, 12pm - 2pm
Painting on First and Main: May 2, 5 pm - 7pm
How it began…
Several years ago, Bonnie Griffith was enlightened by an article she read in an art magazine about a small group of friends who did a cross country trip on AmTrack stopping to paint en plein air at various locations on their journey. It was a seemingly bonding experience and an art retreat in a sense where they could work on paintings and studies of the landscape in the great outdoors while renewing friendships. With this sort of adventure in mind, Griffith in collaboration with Combine Art Collective came up with a plan to paint the Walla Walla Valley in plein air over a 4-day time frame and then hang these fresh painted works in the Combine Art Collective for a month-long show. The first Fresh Air – Fresh Paint event was in 2023.
Griffith considered several things in the organization of Fresh Air – compatibility of the artists, all professionals working in plein air, a diversity of painting styles and mediums, and the creation of works with potentially good sales options for the gallery. For the artists, she wanted to help them build on their craft, learn from each other and bond with each other in their artistic journey. For the gallery she wanted to bring artists to paint that quality and variety of work that the gallery exhibits. That was the premise of the event and its success in 2023.
Planning for Fresh Air – Fresh Paint 2024 started last year with the selection of artists again looking for professionals with like-minded goals and ethics working in a variety of genre and mediums. Combine Art Collective again agreed to host the paint out and subsequent show with artist talks/panel discussion at the opening reception.
The artists will start painting around the valley Monday, April 29 and continue through Thursday, May 2. They will be painting at the downtown plaza on First Street on Tuesday April 30 around the noon hour and again on Thursday afternoon about 5 pm. Expected painting time is a couple of hours and interaction with the public is encouraged. For people interested in painting along with this group of artists at the downtown location or other sites, Griffith suggests they contact the gallery at 509-516-8113 or her at 509-301-1188 to get locations the artists are painting.
