North Tahoe Plein Air 2009

I traveled to lake Tahoe last week not quite knowing what to expect for North Tahoe Plein Air 2009 , an event organized by Lois Skaff and the North Tahoe Art Center. The ten hour drive from L.A. was pretty intense but the landscapes that greeted me were worth it. It is no wonder this area has become a popular tourist destination, some would argue too popular. It is simply gorgeous with its turquoise lakes, dramatic light shifts and layers of forest.


We had three days to paint and even though I spent a substantial amount of time exploring and hiking, I managed to come up with enough paintings for the festival (7). Most importantly, I made some new friends and met some great artists. I sold four paintings total. Celia Howe of Backstreet Gallery in Truckee even asked me to keep some of the pieces in consignment. Celia and business partner Peggy have a wonderful gallery and framing store in Truckee.




The main show was part of the Northstar wine and food festival. During our show, artists Paul Kratter and Craig Mitchell (judges along with Zeze Mott) did some demonstrations. It was interesting to see how two artists approach a landscape in such different ways, with Paul in a more direct traditional way and Craig with a more illustration approach, that is with a more extensive palette and graphic concept. Here are some pictures of the demonstrations . Guess who is who in these pics from my sparse description....
Clue: Craig is standing in front of Andrew Bolam's gallery in Northstar and Paul has a crowd of devotees around him. :)