Event Dates: July 28th - Aug 2nd, 2025
Exhibition: Aug 2nd
Event Website: https://www.frankbettecenter.org/19th-annual-plein-air-paintout
My Highlights:
What an honor to be selected to be one of 35 artists showing in the 20th annual Frank Bette Paintout on Alameda Island.
During the Battle of the Brushes, I collaborated on a painting alongside Raffi Kondy, Carolyn Lord, Geoffrey Allen, and Nathaniel Blice. It was nutty good fun. We all shared Carolyn’s palette (enormous mixing wells), Geoff’s brushes (generous squirrel mops), and a half-sheet to paint from David Savellano’s reference photo (a Tuscan windmill). Towards the end, we had four brushes swiping at the painting simultaneously. Beautiful, organized chaos!
Barbara Tapp was the volunteer assigned to help me to hang my wall… talk about humbling!! I’m floored by her commitment to Alameda plein air, as well as for the practical advice she offered about framing watercolor paintings.
My painting “Late Afternoon at China Camp” received the Alameda Award of Merit by judge Richard Lindenberg.
My painting “Smoke Over Oakland Harbor” was voted People’s Choice by the public.
Biggest Lessons:
I completely burned out on days one and two. Needed a full rest day to recover on day three (couldn’t even pull myself out of bed and missed the Quick Draw). And then limped my way through days four and five to the finish line. These events are super hard on the body, and I need to pay closer attention to pacing myself across the week.
Bay Bridge traffic is nooooo joke, and I spent way more time in the car than I’d care to. Next time I paint in Alameda, I will pay closer attention to avoiding rush hour.
Something I did well was to spend a day “scouting” before the event started. I had my concepts about painting locations, motifs, lighting, and composition done before day one. This made a huge difference, knowing exactly where and when to be, to have a good chance at success.
Something that didn’t work well for me was working on a painting across multiple days. If I don’t finish the painting in one go, I often lose interest or forget what I’m trying to say.
Gratitude:
Thank you to the event team at Frank Bette for hosting this event for 20 years. Thank you to President and Event Co-Chair Margaret Fago for fielding my questions throughout the week.
My special appreciation to David Savellano, who in addition to being an inspiring watercolor artist, was so welcoming and generous with his wisdom.
