Come Paint Alberta is an artist-led community project promoting plein air painting in Alberta. With the support of Leighton Art Centre, Come Paint Alberta was planned and led by established plein air artists Louise Lacey-Rokosh, Laurie Aldridge and Theresa Williams, who hosted paint outs in five iconic Alberta locations. They painted alongside the participants and collaborated on a series of large scale acrylic paintings, each completed on location. These five pieces anchor the exhibition.
Paint out participants were offered the opportunity to submit their work and some of the submissions will be juried into the exhibition. The pieces – created over three months from early April to early July – truly capture the essence of Plein Air in Alberta, including a rawness that comes from the artists’ exposure to insects, dust, wind, and wildly variable temperatures.
Please join us on September 10, 2022, between 2 and 4 pm, to celebrate Come Paint Alberta, together with Night Lights: The Wonder of the Northern Lights. Artists will be in attendance.
En plein air is a French expression that translates to “in the open air”. The practice of creating art outdoors goes back for centuries but was popularized by the French Impressionists in the 1800’s. Artists painting in the open air attempt to capture the true effects of light and colour of the landscape at any given moment before the surroundings change with time, distinguishing the process from painting a landscape subject from inside a studio, from memory, imagination or a photograph.
The act of outdoor painting from direct observation continues to be popular, including here in Alberta. This exhibition showcases the work of a number of accomplished Alberta artists, all of whom enjoy creating art en plein air.