“Plein Air” means “open air” and signifies outdoor painting that captures nature’s light. Plein Air painting became famous in France in the 19th century. The invention of paints in tubes enabled impressionist artists, such as Van Gogh and Monet, to paint outdoors, en plein air.
"Not until the late 1860s, with the work of Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro, the leaders of Impressionism, did painting en plein air become more popular. This change came about from 1881, when Monet, in his efforts to capture the true effects of light on the colour of landscape at any given moment, began to carry several canvases at once into the out-of-doors. On each he began a painting of the same subject at a different time of day; on subsequent days, he continued to work on each canvas in succession as the appropriate light appeared." Britannica
Artists
June 2018
Featured artist: Susan Johnson
Calendar
May 2018
Featured artist: Michael Dadasovich
October 2017
"Fleeting Moments"
Featured artist: Iris Sabre
Reception: Oct 14, 4-6
November 2018
Featured artist: Stephen Berry
November 2017
Featured artist: Samantha McNally
Reception: November 11, 3-5
Christmas Tree goes up with mini paintings!
November 24
Benicia Plein Air Gallery
307 First Street
Benicia, CA. 94510
Phone number: 707-297-5903
February 2018
Featured artist: Rolando Barerro
Reception: TBA
October 2018
Featured artist: Dixie Mohan
September 2018
Featured artist: Judy Feins
January 2018
Featured Artist: Susan Street
Reception: TBA
December 2017
Group Show, Theme TBA
Reception: TBA
The Gallery will be open on December 1 till 8 pm for the Benicia Tree Lighting.
Christmas cookies from 6-8!
Original mini painting Christmas tree ornaments available throughout the month of December
displayed on the Gallery Christmas Tree. The tree goes up on the day after Thanksgiving.
March 2018
Featured Artist:
JoAnne McMahon
April 2018
Featured artist: Catherine Fasciato
July 2018
Featured Artist Mary Lou Correia
August 2018
Group Show
Theme TBD
Special thanks to Gringa, the band that played during the reception. www.gringamusic.com. Thank you to Mayor Elizabeth Patterson for presenting the awards and to Judge Randall Sextion for choosing the winners. 15% of sales went to the Arts Benicia Youth Program.
September's Featured Artist is Stephen Berry
“Vibrancy” runs from Thursday September 7th to Sunday, October 1st
Reception: Saturday, September 9th, 2017, 4 to 6 pm
The reception for “Vibrancy” will be held during the Art Walk on Saturday September 9th, from 4:00-6:00 pm, at the Benicia Plein Air Gallery. Stephen’s show will be up for the month of September. “Stop at the gallery, enjoy food and wine and good company, and come with me on a little journey. Each painting can take you somewhere.”
Often, watercolors are considered beautiful, but pale and washy. But they don’t always need to be that way! If luscious color juxtaposed to nuanced greys and darks excites you, then “Vibrancy” is just for you. “All the world is… vibrating with light, and one of my desires is to bring that sense of color and vibrancy to the viewer’s eyes, as if the paper were lit from behind! What really makes those bold colors sing, though, is how you compliment them - the colors you team them with and the greys that work in tandem. And thus the focus of the show is that dynamic pairing.”
www.seamlessexpression.com
