The Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters will open its 18th Annual Art Show on January 1 in the community room at Barnes & Noble. You can see the exhibit at Pittsford Plaza, 3349 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY 14618, when it opens on Sunday, January 1, 2023. The reception and awards ceremony takes place on Saturday, January 7, from 2-4 pm. This competitive, judged, and juried show includes 90 original paintings created throughout the Northeast and runs through January 28. Most works are for sale.

Jurying and judging was performed by George Van Hook. Van Hook was born and raised in Abington, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. He began painting very early and was able to participate in the vibrant artistic culture of the region. The family owned a farm in Bucks County, home of the Pennsylvania impressionists, and he became heavily influenced by their fine academic training and a love of the prosaic landscape. Another early local influence was the "Brandywine Tradition," the illustrative work of Howard Pyle and the generations of Wyeths. Van Hook thinks of his paintings as primarily a visual response to the selected environment, be it landscape, figure, or still life. "I want the color to be beautiful and the drawing firm and secure," he says. The paintings are a marriage of external and internal forces – what emerges on the canvas should be a reflection of both the beauty of the world and the artist's most inner response. Van Hook is a frequent participant in plein air festivals and has won numerous awards.

Free and open to the public, the show will continue through Saturday, January 28, 2023. Barnes & Noble is open every day from 9 am to 9 pm, except on Sunday (10 am to 7 pm) and New Year's Day from 11 am to 7 pm.

The Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters present their 2022 Plein Air Paintings Art Show at the Village Gallery, 3119 Main St. Caledonia, New York 14423. The opening reception and awards ceremony will be Sunday, April 3, from 4:00–6:00 pm, and the exhibition runs from April 1 through April 30, 2022. The Village Gallery is open each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the exhibit from 11 am to 5 pm.

Jurying and judging was performed by Kenn Erroll Backhaus, a Master Level Artist in both the Oil Painters of America and the American Impressionist Society. He is a member and past President of the Plein Air Painters of America, the oldest and most prestigious plein air organization. Kenn is passionate about the historical traditions of representational painting and has given back to the profession for over twenty years in various educational programs and workshops. Kenn’s experience has long been recognized, and he has been asked to judge numerous national shows.

All paintings are for sale.

Refreshments will be served and awards will be announced.  Invite your friends and family! Our annual membership show is juried and judged, and it is our opportunity to submit our best works for evaluation. The exhibit opens on January 2, 2020 and hangs through January 30, 2020. Most paintings are for sale. Visit the Community Room on the second floor of Pittsford Barnes & Noble.

Painting Caledonia opens Friday, June 1 with a reception at the gallery (3119 Main St, Caledonia, NY 14423) from 6 to 8 pm, and is on display until Saturday, June 30. All members have been encouraged to submit work, of which at least one painting must have been painted in Caledonia to support the theme. All paintings are for sale, and gallery hours are 11–4, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, or by appointment (please call (585) 294-3009). This is an excellent opportunity to own a piece of artwork painted in this historic village.

Check your email for registration details for this member-only workshop.

It’s important for each painter to have their own point of view, one that translates the observed landscape into their personal handling of forms and composition in their painting. Bill’s PowerPoint presentation will show how these painters who work ”en plein air” select visual traits in nature that are given a personal emphasis and expression in their paintings.  

Not all plein air paintings are small and one shot, some are large and sustained over time. Some are very painterly and some quite graphic in effects.  The painters I have selected avoid the sentimental and picturesque qualities of their subjects, as they seek something different.

Bill White has been a painter since his youth and received a BFA from The Philadelphia College of Art and MFA in painting and drawing from Tyler School of Art (Temple University).  Bill then taught for 40 years while exhibiting in the Mid-Atlantic region.  He moved from Roanoke, VA to Caledonia, NY in 2017 to be near family and opened The Village Gallery there.  Bill joined GVPAP in the fall, 2017.  

Website:  www.caledoniagallery.com

This workshop will focus on skies. When do you paint dynamic clouds or should you keep the sky crystal clear? How about a gray day? Do we load it up with varying shades or give it a fairly even tone? Are we painting a sky painting or is it a painting of a field with some buildings or a body of water with some boats that both have some sky in it? How do we add interest to a sky without detracting from our main subject? These are the questions we'll look into while designing our paintings.

Kevin will give a brief demo (hopefully outside). Afterwards, everyone will paint in their medium of choice.

What to do: Check your email for registration details!

Not a member yet? Send an email to paint@gvpap.com or visit the membership page to learn how to become a member.

Barbara loves drawing and painting waterscapes, especially harbors with boats. In this workshop, she will share many of the techniques she uses to make paint WATER – making water believable, reflective of surroundings and subjects as well as colorful.

All mediums welcome: GVPAP members using any medium are welcome because composition, value and drawing techniques may be used by all artists using any medium. Demo will be given in oil.

What to bring:
Photographs of water scenes with boats or cottages or general landscape. (Optional critique: bring paintings of water scenes that you have done in the past.

Bring your lunch and refreshments and if you desire, snacks to share. Coffee provided.

What to do: Check your email for registration details!

Not a member yet? Send an email or visit the membership page to learn how to become a member.

Refreshments will be served and awards will be announced.  Invite your friends and family! Our annual membership show is juried and judged, and it is our opportunity to submit our best works for evaluation. The exhibit opens on January 1, 2018 and hangs through February 1, 2018. 

Wouldn't you love to paint and draw more? But who’s got time? This workshop will be about making time for drawing when it feels like there is no time by working smaller, and using a travel kit that can fit in a pocket, purse, shoulder bag, etc.. I have been working with travel kits since the mid-eighties and can speak directly to the great freedom and sense of accomplishment that comes from working small and often.

We'll tackle a variety of subject matter and discuss ways to approach each in a no time to waste manner. We'll talk about materials and how to put together a more personalized travel kit, discuss some subjects you might not necessarily have considered before to get more work done more often.

Location and other details available to members upon registration, and the cost is $15. Most materials will be provided, with materials suggestions upon registration. Coffee provided; members will bring their lunch, beverage and snacks (refrigerator on premise). Restrooms, plus indoor and outdoor working space (wear warm footwear either way). A fun day to try something new!

Members can register by sending an email to paint@gvpap.com

Judy will demo watercolor. Perfect to pack on a trip, a way to bring your sketches to life. A light, clean medium to record impressions on the road. Lunch will follow and time to work.

Signature Artist Steve BonDurant will show us how he plans a painting by doing a value sketch and using that plan and underpainting to suffuse his oil painting with light. This demo will also be followed by lunch and an afternoon of painting. Techniques also apply for acrylics and pastels.

Signature Artist Dick Kane will demonstrate use of palette knife techniques to create convincing edges and texture. Dick will demo with oil paint but you can use acrylic paint. After Dick's demo, we will provide lunch and after lunch we will work on our paintings.