If you saw 60 people sitting in a field some time last week, all looking in the same direction, you may have wondered what they were doing.
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Those 60 people were all artists from NSW, Queensland, and Western Australia who gather in the region every year just before Easter for a week-long plein air painting workshop.
Plein air is a French term for painting in the open air.
The plein air painters have been travelling to Mudgee every year for more than a decade to capture different aspects of the region in acrylics, oils, pastels, and pen.
The painters started at 8am in the morning at each day’s location and painted for a few hours before a local artist demonstrated how they captured the scenery.
After the demonstration, everyone went off and painted again before lunch, another demonstration, and even more painting.
“It was a very busy week but I know I learnt a lot and I’m sure everyone else did as well.”
After each creating at least one painting each day on subjects such as Fairview Artspace, Beragoo Homestead or the Cudgegong River, the artists held a one-night-only exhibition where members of the community – and the other plein artist painters – could see the results of the week’s work.
“It’s a very worthwhile exhibition, with so many artists taking part. You can see their personalities really come out in the paintings,” art lover Pauline Bassingthwaite said.
The event is organised each year by local artist Merilyn Burch-Carney, who said this year was as enjoyable as ever, with artists coming from all across Australia.
“It’s been really good this year, and from what I’ve heard everyone enjoyed the locations that I picked out this year,” Mrs Burch-Carney said.
“Everything that we showed at the exhibition was painted during the week.
“It was a very busy week but I know I learnt a lot and I’m sure everyone else did as well.”