Gloucester Arts Festival

The Middle Peninsula's Premier Arts Festival

2021 Plein Air Artists

Announcing the winners of the 2021 Plein Air Competition!!!

  • Best of Show – Daniel Robbins for Long View
  • 2nd place- John Brandon Sills for York River View
  • 3rd place- Georganna Lenssen for Machicomoco
  • Best of Landscape/Agriculture – Greg Johannsen for Ascending
  • Best Nocturne- John Brandon Sills for Across the Divide
  • Best Sunrise/Sunset- Daniel Robbins for Last Light
  • Best Virginia Artist- Andre Lucero for Some Days Are Better
  • Best Floral- Carolyn Thompson Dudley for Magnolia
  • Best Architecture- Russell Jewell for Good Bones
  • Best Use of Light- Greg Barnes for Gloucester Point Vista
  • Best Symphony- Joseph Gyurcsak for Golden Hour
  • Best Figurative Landscape- Charles Dickensen for Beauty and the Beast
  • Best Vanishing Landscape- Shelby Keefe for Old Cook’s Bunkhouse
  • Best River- John Eiseman for Morning Fisher
  • Best Boat- Kirk Larsen for All Netted Up
  • Artists’ Choice – Thomas Bradshaw for Shanty and the Sea

Paint Main 2.0 Invited Artists Awards

  • Botanist John Clayton Prize for Best Natural World ~ Daniel Robbins for Day Lillies
  • Werocomoco Prize for Judge’s Choice  ~ Lynn Mehta for Gazette Journal Building
  • TC Walker Prize for Best Sense of Place  ~ Greg Barnes for Main Street

Paint Main 2.0 Community Artists Awards

  • 1st Place ~ Jan Finn Duffy for Water Water Everywhere
  • 2nd Place  ~ Elizabeth McGinn for Rainy Day on Main Street
  • 3rd Place  ~ Rick Griffin for Lamppost on Main

2021 Plein Air Artists

Greg Barnes

  • Greg Barnes
  • “Burns Farm”
“Primarily working from life, or en plein air, I set up my portable easel outdoors in front of the subject. Soft pastel sticks are used to draw or “paint” onto archival sandpaper. This paper provides plenty of tooth which allows layering of the pigment into the surface.  Each piece is begun by quickly blocking in the darkest shapes and continued by building detail in the main subject areas until the painting says just enough. I consider myself a contemporary landscape impressionist, relying heavily on intuition when searching for subject matter. Contrast, movement, and light attract me, and a bold use of color usually punctuates my style.”

Website: barnesstudio.com

Thomas Bradshaw

  • Thomas Bradshaw
  • “Windmill Point”

“Light fills the air playing off distant objects and begins to dance. It is that dance, that frolic of ever changing light that is at the core of all of my work. Much of my art expresses my love of nature and the world around. I love reading the scene, forming a plan and letting the painting take me where it will. In that creative process of interpretation the painting is automatic instinctive and begins to form itself out of the master before me. My intent as an artist is to reveal the beauty of objects and places in the moment. It is my creative process to expose and document with color, line, shape, temperature and value the journey that is my painting.”

Website: thomasbradshaw.net

Charles Dickinson

  • Charles Dickinson
  • “Sunset Boats”
“I have been an artist my entire life. My earliest memories of childhood were drawing with my father and I have never stopped. I get excited about the process of coming upon a scene or an idea and then getting to work creating my interpretation of that inspiration. I have concentrated on plein air painting for the past forty years because it gives me endless subject matter and allows me to work surrounded in nature. I enjoy the personal challenge to capture the fleeting moments of light in a constantly changing environment. Recording the history of our landscape is an important component and making contributions to preserving the landscape and culture of this world brings me great satisfaction. My plan is to continue to grow, study, and work.”

Website: charlesdickinson.net

Steve Doherty

  • Steve Doherty
  • “Hanging Rock Waterfalls”

“My goal as a plein air painter is to respond to the landscape with both accuracy and creativity. I want to offer my personal response to the light, color, atmosphere, and beauty of nature while remaining true to the locations, seasons, and the daily weather patterns I witnessed”

Website: www.stevedohertyart.com

Vlad Duchev

  • Vlad Duchev
  • “Dreaming in Blue”
“I love painting different kinds of subjects, but the landscape is my first and greatest love. Instead of glorifying the creation, I concentrate on glorifying the Creator by just simply rendering His creation. I love the moments when I’m one-on-one with my Creator right before the brush touches the canvas. This is the most precious time for me. The rest is just the technics that you learn by painting daily. My process of painting is very simple – I will only start painting if I can see a complete painting in my mind with all the steps from start to finish. Paint it in your mind first  – then transfer it to the canvas.”

Website: vladduchev.com

Carolyn Thompson Dudley

  • Carolyn Thompson Dudley
  • “View From Woodpecker Point”
“The quiet complexity of nature is what draws me to be outside and to paint landscapes en plein air. Whether I am hiking through on a trail or canoeing the Dragon Run swamp, I want to remember how my senses react to where I am. Working plein air lets me choose the colors and compositions that speak to me in those moments and are often later expanded in studio work. Painting plein air becomes my lyrical note taking. My goal is to have them come together as visual melodies of a moment.”

Website: cthompsondudley.com

John Eiseman

  • John Eiseman
  • “Lonely Road Home”

“My paintings are surely representational and narrative, but they are not about the pictorial. I use the subject matter-whether it be a farmhouse, tree, cloud-as elements of design in order to capture natural phenomena, and mood of “event.” Painting is not just the celebration of vision but, rather a quest for experience. It is the process of interpreting a fleeting muse. This process is in a constant state of emergency. This is why painting “en plein air” is so attractive to me—change is always in process, the light is fleeting. I hold suspicious a painting that is resolved easily. “Pushing and Pulling” an image, adding and subtracting values, adjusting color is what brings a painting together. I rarely draw on the canvas, preferring to immediately paint–allowing the “drawing” to sculpt itself.“

Website: johnteiseman.com

Joe Gyurcsak

  • Joe Gyurcsak
  • “Heading Out”
“I look at my paintings as a vehicle for creating a sense of light, atmosphere and mood. I continually seek subject matter that is naturally being played out instead of posed. I want my subjects to look fresh, I want them to have a breath of life in the two dimensional realm. If the painting has emotion and expression beyond the technical aspects that were employed to create it then it is a success! It is my hope that the viewer should lose their awareness of the boundaries of the painting. I am after the fleeting moments of life, those moments that happen sometimes in a quick glance!”

Website: josephgyurcsak.com

Russell Jewell

  • Russell Jewell
  • “Seeing Double”
“Contemplate a simple black square.  It is a window to everything in the world… in the dark. Therefore, regardless of the subject or medium, all that matters is light. Visually, only light allows for observation. Exponentially, only enlightenment pushes aside shadows within ourselves. Is it then not true, the world we observe and the world we imagine both demand light?  Two enlightened worlds to be shared with others.”

Website: russelljewell.com

Greg Johannesen

  • Greg Johannesen
  • “Super H”
“I consider myself a realist with a twist of an expressive impressionist. My realist side wants to paint exactly what it sees while the expressive impressionist side loosens that vision up with freer strokes coupled with a little abstraction. Painting en plein air enables me to balance both artistic forces while also liberating my creativity. Vivid colors and strong forms are hallmarks of my paintings. My work is influenced by the Chesapeake Bay — from Annapolis to Solomons Island to Point Lookout where oyster boats, boat yards, waterways, and grand bay views provide ample inspiration. My preferred mediums are pastel and oil”

Website: gregjohannesen.com

Shelby Keefe

  • Shelby Keefe
  • “Looking Thru”
“I am passionate about drawing and depicting my subjects with honesty as well as expressiveness. My goal is to create a fresh perspective to the recognizable world without being predictable or mundane. Being comfortable at rendering in oil paint, I enjoy tackling a wide variety of complex subjects from townscapes and architecture, to old trucks and horses, as well as the human figure. I utilize a vibrant underpainting technique of complimentary colors, which gives my paintings a sparkle that draws the viewer in. As I continue to grow as a representationalist painter, I strive to develop my ability to say more with less.”

Website: studioshelby.com

Kirk Larsen

  • Kirk Larsen
  • “Watermark, at High Tide”
“I love discovering & painting new places. There is bliss in the fascination of witnessing a piece as it unfolds, whether it be peaceful, dramatic or unusual. In particular I like to capture the feeling and mood of that day, time and place. I want the viewer to relate to the setting. I am inspired by nature, and the sea as much as mountains, cities and even the impossible. I’ve been in so many events where the weather turns and I have come to love the challenge. Sometimes a storm or rain can be as great subject as a beautiful day. I let the spirit and soul of the place and subject guide the tempo of brush and paint. I like to move when I paint and as a musician often dance and boogie at the easel and my art reflects that passion.”

Website: kirklarsenfineart.com

Georganna Lenssen

  • Georganna Lenssen
  • “Last Light”
“My process is phenomenological — I  follow  my materials, intuition and the emerging imagery.  It is an interactive process  — a sort of dialogue between myself and the work. The abstract qualities of my paintings are always anchored by references to the representational, however if my subject becomes too articulated, I will deconstruct it, creating chaos in order to reconstruct a different kind of organization. Scraping down entire paintings or working over previous pieces increases the depth and complexity of the image and its narrative.”

Website: georgannalenssen.com

Andre Lucero

  • Andre Lucero
  • “Been Here Awhile”
2016-2018 have been busy years for Virginia plein air artist, Andre Lucero, who was cover artist for the Plein Air Magazine Feb/Mar 2016 issue and was featured in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, American Art Collector Magazine. During these years Andre participated in twenty-seven plein air competitions, winning twenty award ribbons.

Website: andrelucero.com

Lynn Mehta

  • Lynn Mehta
  • “Snow Hill”
“It is important for me to create a painting which is interesting both up close and further away in order to engage the imagination. Inspiration is something which is honest to me and something which I believe makes a universal connection. Color, composition, and paint handling are key elements in my paintings and tools for my expression. The flexibility of oil paint is well-suited to my creative process. When I paint, I connect with changing light, the color of my surroundings, and movement. I focus on abstract shapes and forms creating a whole. Both new and familiar landscapes inspire me. Beaches, cities, mountains, farms, rivers, deserts, docks trigger my imagination.”

Website: lynnmehta.com

Daniel Robbins

  • Daniel Robbins
  • “The Landing”
“In my work I explore the world around me. Art gives me the opportunity to analyze both the physical properties and psychological effects of my subjects. I focus on the honest experience of seeing. I do not observe something simply as unique or beautiful, but allow my mind to think, question, and respond intellectually to the subject. To focus on beauty alone denies both artist and viewer the full experience of observation and intelligent response. My art represents this process of seeing. The final result of the work is not a representation of one idea, but a multilayered response spawned from repeated observation.”

Website: danielkrobbins.com

John Brandon Sills

  • John Brandon Sills
  • “Quiet Sunset”
“Art is the external expression of an internal experience.  To demonstrate this awareness, rather than painting light on things, I paint the light that became things. My paintings are an expression of the Truth that “all things are one thing” and that separation is an illusion.  The suppression of edges (that which separates) creates for the viewer an experience of Oneness and transmits an ethereal and mystical mood. “

Website: johnbrandonsillsfineart.com

Kim Van Der Hoek

  • Room Service
“Our world is constantly evolving and I strive to find beautiful moments worth preserving in paint. I’m drawn to both pristine landscapes as well as gritty urban views. Additionally, I want to convey a sense of what gives each particular location character without painting every small detail. It is always a challenge capturing not only a sense of place but also a unique moment in time. When painting en plein air recently, I revisited a location in an attempt to find the exact spot I’d stood in a year before. New construction had changed the entire area and the spot I’d set up my easel at the year before was no longer accessible. It struck me then that my job as a landscape artist is to capture a fleeting moment in time on canvas.”

Website: kimvanderhoek.com

Jill Wagner

  • Jill Wagner
  • “Bowers Harbor Vineyard”
“I’m a devoted (some might say “obsessed”) plein air artist, painting in Europe and at plein air festivals around the country. I find joy in the outdoors and the challenge of recording the scene in front of me. But I want to paint much more than the precise physical elements in my view. I’m looking to capture the atmosphere, the motion, the sound…the whole experience of being in that place at that exact moment in time.  And whatever I paint, my primary focus is always “the light” and how it affects the landscape, seascape or cityscape scene I’m trying to record. Working in pastel and oil, I approach my paintings as a sculptor would, carving out nuances of light and shadow.”

Website: jillwagnerart.com

Amy Bartlett Wright

  • Amy Bartlett Wright
  • “Narrow Creek”
“As a painter, I enjoy the challenge of plein air painting the landscape. Time is so short as light changes, trees sway and shadows move. I aim to simplify complexity and make quick decisions about what is important, abbreviate what is not. My goal is to capture a gesture, the essence of the scene in color in appealing designs. The result is often a loose and expressive interpretation of color and value shapes that fit together. Capturing that simplicity can be elusive! To create a painting that is fresh and loose, immediate and yet resembles in some way what I see in front of me? There is the challenge!  And, also the reward.”

Website:amybartlettwright.com

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