Suzie HarrisonDoing it au natural is their...

Suzie Harrison

Doing it au natural is their thing and they can be seen all over

Laguna Beach in their favorite spots, engaging in this art, with

admirers stopping to watch at times.

It’s a tradition that will be celebrated with the Laguna Plein Air

Painters Assn. Artist Members Exhibition and Sale on May 31.

“This is a juried show with 125 applicants and 92 artists

selected,” artist A. Jane Fulton said.

Fulton is a director of the show and has also been picked to

exhibit. The name of her painting is called “Red Tree in the Sunset.”

“I painted it at Heisler, when those palm trees turn that bright

sun red color right at sunset,” Fulton said.

Ray Redfern of Redfern Galleries in Laguna Beach was chosen as the

juror because of his knowledge of plein air painting.

“Redfern has a big reputation as a curator of fine art,” Fulton

said. “Ray collects and sells probably the finest collection of plein

air paintings in the U.S. -- he knows his stuff.”

Participants are coming from all over the country, as well as

Canada, with about 10 Laguna artists among the competition. One

hundred paintings have been juried in for the exhibit.

Lesanne Coffin will be among those exhibiting pieces, and it’s one

that she’s especially proud of.

“It was something I always wanted to do, go down steep stairs with

1,000 pounds on my back,” Coffin said. “It was a hot summer day. If

it hadn’t been for this guy I so admired; I wouldn’t have done it.”

She set up, sweating profusely and called it “July Heat.” It was

so hot that Coffin made the sand she was painting pink. It was a real

breakthrough for her and she created her favorite painting, which she

said she’d probably never part with.

Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. moved into its new headquarters on

March 1. The venue offers a nice size gallery space, a figure and

still-life working studio, meeting rooms andadministration offices.

It allows a place for local artists to take classes.

“It’s going to be in the studio for the first time, out in the

canyon,” Fulton said. “It’s a wonderful space with plenty of

parking.”

Now in its third year, the show keeps getting bigger and better,

Coffin said.

Patti Oshlund has been an artist for 25 years, doing ceramics for

15 and switched to printmaking, but started doing plein air painting

three years ago.

“I started it in part because I wanted to be able to travel more,

I love the outdoors and nature in Laguna Beach,” Oshlund said. “I

like to do marine scapes.”

Laguna Plein Air Painters is an association that was founded seven

years ago by local plein air artists Ken Auster, Jacobus Baas, John

Cosby, Saim Caglayan and Cynthia Britain, who are the association’s

board of directors.

It was created in an effort to bridge the early movement of

California plein air painters to present day.

Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn. is at the Laguna Canyon Artist’s

Building at 3251 Laguna Canyon Road, Suite F3. The show runs May 31

through June 15 with an opening night reception from 6 to 9 p.m. May

31. For information, call 376-3635 or go online to www.lpapa.org.

* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Coastline Pilot.