"Fog Lifting Over the Duck Poinds" 8x10, oil, en plein air
25 July 2010
Campobello Island in the Canadian Maritimes
It's been a hot summer in most of the US and Canada. We've had a few hot days here, too, but nothing like some of you have been experiencing. We like to escape the heat by going to Liberty Point. This dramatic cliff overlook juts out into the cool, deep waters of the Grand Manan Channel. The other day, when we went there for a hike, it was 82 at the studio in Welshpool but a pleasant 63 at Liberty Point! (That's 28 and 17, respectively, for those of you on the Celsius scale.)
My big news is that the Acadia Invitational II exhibition opens at Argosy Gallery in Bar Harbor, Maine, on August 8th. I was one of 30 painters invited to participate in this show, along with artists such as W. Jason Situ. The show runs through September 2011 (yes, that's for a full year!) I hope you'll have a chance to see it.
Speaking of shows, the Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy exhibition continues until September 4 at the Saint John Arts Centre in Saint John, NB. I have a dozen pieces in it. The show has 11 very fine artists plus over 80 paintings. If you haven't stopped by, I hope you'll check it out. (And yes, the artwork is all for sale!) Details are at www.PleinAirFundy.org.
Other big news includes my two full-length instructional videos. F+W Media, publishers for The Artist's Magazine and The Pastel Journal and also the operators of Artistsnetwork.tv, have picked them up for distribution. They'll be available in two ways - through streaming video on Artistsnetwork.tv and as a download from Northlightshop.com. Release date for the pastel video is August 20; the oil video will be available September 17. Once I get the "link" for these, I will publish them on my website, my blog and also on Facebook.
Also, I've been juried into the 2010/2011 Plein Air Southwest event. Sponsored by the Outdoor Painters Society, this event spans several months and has events at the Grand Canyon, Ouray (CO), Prescott (AZ), the Texas coast and Dallas. Some of the participating artists include my friends Bob Rohm, Ann Templeton, Jill Carver and Bill Cramer, among others. Although there are specific events at the afore-mentioned locations, the artists can paint from mid-August until the Quick Draw at the Dallas Arboretum in any of the southwestern states and put work from these other locations in the show. The show opens April 8 at Southwest Gallery in Dallas. Here's a link to the show page: http://www.pleinairsouthwest.com/Index.html
The free shipping continues for my books (Backpacker Painting: Outdoors with Oil & Pastel, Through a Painter's Brush: A Year on Campobello Island) and other publications. At checkout, use the coupon code FREESHIP to qualify. Visit my store at http://stores.lulu.com/miragenm to buy them. By the way, Lulu.com forgot to index my new book, so they are offering 15% off the price. The book is Paint Sedona: A Plein Air Painter's Field Guide to Sedona, Arizona. Go to my website, order the book, and then enter coupon code BEACHREAD305. Here's the link to the order page:
http://stores.lulu.com/miragenm. (I don't think you can use both coupons, though.)
I am now taking reservations for my popular winter Paint Sedona workshops. We have changed the format a bit this year. Rather than 5 days, I'm teaching 4 days each week, Tuesday through Friday. You'll still get 20 hours of instruction since I do two half days (9-1) and two long days (9-3). Also, not every week is a mentoring week. I have three types of workshops in Paint Sedona now:
• Traditional plein air workshops (all levels of student welcome)
• Advanced topic plein air workshops (intermediate-advanced students only; this winter's topic, "Large Format Painting")
• Mentoring plein air workshops (intermediate-advanced students or professionals only)
By the way, we are no longer offering lodging for Paint Sedona. There are, however, many fine motels, B&Bs, time share condos, resorts, house or room rentals very close to the studio. For more much information, please visit my website, www.PaintSedona.com.
For those of you interested in learning about new paintings, new workshops and helpful painting tips, I encourage you to visit my blog regularly. The site is http://mchesleyjohnson.blogspot.com. I'm also on Facebook, and I've started putting updates there, as well. Visit me there at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Chesley-Johnson-Studio/135294966502539?ref=nf.
Have a great summer, and I hope to see you soon!
Michael
Michael Chesley Johnson MPAC PSA
