Plein Air in Arizona

I have just returned from the Plein Air Conference and Expo (PACE 16) in Tucson Arizona! And what a wonderful experience it was.  I will be creating a few posts on this experience I am sure.

There was so much to do and to take in.   I met up with a few friends there Jane Hagen Freeman and Marilyn Wear.  Marilyn was a prize winner – was so exciting to be there to see her win!  We attended many daily sessions for interest and to help us hone our plein air skills.  

I also met up with Poppy Balser from Nova Scotia! It was so hot there that my watercolours kept drying on the palette before I could get the paint to paper.  I persevered and managed to complete three sketches.  

One of the most important lessons was the importance of first completing a value sketch to help plan your work.  We heard this a lot and frankly, you cannot hear it enough if you do not do this step. I did not keep all my value sketches for some reason as I quite liked them.  And we got to visit with some pretty amazing artists