RURAL CHARM
Plein Air Painters of the Southeast
Some of the best plein air painters in the country will be gathering together again for the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast’s annual Paint Out to capture the beauty of the charming village of Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Hosted each year by Leiper’s Creek Gallery the six-day event runs October 14 to 19, with a welcome dinner the first day at 5 p.m. Throughout the week, artists will set up their easels and paint the surrounding area in plein air—and, in addition, students can sign up to mentor with a PAPSE member for two to three-hour sessions. The 2019 PAPSE Paint Out show and sale opens from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, October 18, and continues through October 19, where artists will also conduct demonstrations during the afternoon.
Thirty PAPSE artist members are attending the event this year, including Jim Carson, Kathie Odom, Richard Oversmith, Natalia Andreeva, Anne Blair Brown, Beverly Ford Evans, Jane Chapin, Roger Dale Brown, Chad Smith, Hodges Soileau and Kathleen Hudson.
“The members of PAPSE are some of the best painters in America,” says Bill Farnsworth, artist and PAPSE president. “They show great kindness and generosity toward one another. I am proud to be a member and serve as president of the organization.”
Odom, who considers herself a “nostalgic impressionist,” enjoys becoming fully immersed in whatever environment she happens to find herself in. Upon arriving to the Paint Out, she immediately starts traveling the backroads looking for landscapes or structures that speak to her. “The Leiper’s Fork area is covered with farms and rural back roads that have been cared for by folks who take great pride in where they live,” says Odom. “I like to call my work nostalgic impressionism because I like telling stories of the older countryside that is changing so rapidly. I like capturing it before it's all gone from us.”
“I really enjoy getting to paint with friends who I don’t get to paint with often,” says Evans, who adds that the event gives her a chance to go out and paint her hometown, rather than stay cooped up in the studio. Evans’ oil Morning Light & Shadow from a previous paint out is a soft, serene piece. She describes her
work as fairly representational, painting the natural colors exactly as she sees them.
“I am always enthusiastically looking forward to each paint out. These gatherings are [the] best opportunities for [an] exchange of ideas, assessment of current trends and events, chances to meet new people and experience new places. Paint outs are important milestones in [an] artist's career,” says Andreeva. “I like to get up early in the morning and drive around during sunrise, getting a feel of the area that wakes up together with me.”
The recurring theme amongst all artists who attend the PAPSE Paint Out seems to be that of connection—a chance to connect with old friends and possibly meet new ones. “Most of all, I look forward to getting to hang out with a bunch of really good artists, as well as good and friendly people,” says Carson, known for his creative color balance and bold brushwork. “And we get to talk art all the time without boring anybody.”