As the organizer of the NFF’s Plein Air Paint Out, I have a confession to make: if you bought that stunning painting of the Metolius last Saturday, that may be a piece of pickle in your painting. It’s not my fault—you’re the one who left your painting for safekeeping at the deli.
Thirty-eight painters joined us on the last Saturday of July for the Plein Air Paint Out. “En plein air” is a French term used to describe the act of painting in the open outdoors. In addition to infringing pieces of pickle, there are real hazards to this type of painting. Plein Air artists are a tenacious lot.
For the past four years, participants of the NFF’s Paint Out near Sisters, Oregon have lugged heavy easels and equipment on dirt trails in July heat, perched on rocks and teetered near the river, and performed under extreme deadline pressure. Imagine creating and framing a work of art in only four hours! It’s a daunting task to try to capture the beauty of our National Forests, and to do this in such a short time frame is an insane challenge. Along the way, artists contend with changing light, temperature variation, and gathering crowds of trail goers who stop to watch.
In spite of all these hurdles, by 1 p.m. artists turn in full-fledged works of art. It’s an incredible transformation. Many of the paintings haven’t even dried by the time they are on display at the reception, and it’s a good year when I only have one or two smudges of blue oil paint on me at the end of the day.
So why do artists keep coming back to our Paint Out year after year despite these obstacles? It’s because, like us, they love the Treasured Landscapes near Sisters, Oregon. They want to be part of preserving the Metolius River for generations to come. Their paintings serve as records of how special our Metolius River is, and they inspire others to care for it to keep it that way.
The artists connect with the forests and river as they paint them. No one is more aware of the stunning beauty of the clear water Metolius River than the artist on the banks trying to mix the precise baby blues and turquoise tones of the rapids. When we told them to look for the group of sockeye salmon returning from the ocean for the first time since the 1960s thanks to recent restoration efforts, they scanned the water with an even keener eye.
At the end of the day the artists kept saying, “I want to come back here.” As painter Norma Holmes said, “This place nourishes the soul.”
A picture is worth a thousand words. As the NFF uses images of these paintings, we hope they will communicate that love of place, and that connection. The NFF will use Sandra Melchiori’s winning piece on the poster for National Public Lands Day to recruit volunteers while other pieces will be used in reports, outreach materials, presentations, and letters.
“It’s amazing the effect these paintings can have on people,” said Sisters District Ecologist and local partner of NFF, Maret Pajutee. “With these images people really pay more attention—they care more about restoring these beautiful places.”
