Plein-air painting invitational begins

Artists will be setting up their easels and paint boxes this week for the eighth annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational. The weeklong event traditionally attracts some 60 artists and more than 1,000 art lovers.

After painting in and around the city of Laguna Beach throughout the week, each artist selects three paintings completed during the Invitational. These paintings are hung in the Laguna Art Museum along with other paintings completed during the week for a Collectors’ Dinner and Preview Sale. The unsold works are then available for viewing and purchase at the museum.

The Montage Resort & Spa will host a “Paint Out” at Treasure Island Park Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. In this event, all of the participating artists will be painting in the park. The works of art created at this event will be on display during the week and for sale at the museum beginning the evening of the Collectors Dinner and then on Sunday, Oct. 15.

On Monday morning, the artists will begin to paint throughout the area — on the beach, in the canyons, throughout the streets of the city — and will continue through Thursday. The public is encouraged to view the painters during the week as the artists create the paintings which will hang in Laguna Art Museum at the culmination of the event.

On Oct. 14, from 9 to 11 a.m., all 60 artists will participate in the “Quick Draw” Paint Out in Heisler Park, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and immediately adjacent to the museum.

Under the gaze of hundreds of onlookers, artists have just two hours to complete a work of art. The works of art are then moved to the museum and immediately auctioned. This gives the public a chance to see all of the master painters in action, watch a painting being created and then purchase it in the auction that morning at 11:45 a.m.

On Saturday, Oct. 14, from 6 to 10 p.m., 400 guests will attend the Collectors’ Dinner and Preview Sale at Laguna Art Museum.

The next day, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the general public will have the opportunity to purchase remaining paintings.

For more information, call (949) 494-8971, ext. 88, or visit www.lagunaartmuseum.org.