VENTURA : Roving Painters Have a Brush With Outdoors

Sue Stoutz was seated outside the Bella Maggiore Inn in downtown Ventura on Tuesday morning, making a sketch of the bed-and-breakfast hotel when a big yellow maintenance truck pulled up.

“Oh, it parked right in front of my building!” she wailed, grabbing her sketch pad and scrambling to another spot so she could see what she was drawing.

Such are the hazards of painting outdoors.

Stoutz is part of a group of artists who meet once a week and go to different sites around the county and sketch outdoors. On Tuesday, they picked the Bella Maggiore Inn and the area near California and Santa Clara streets in Ventura.

They camped outside the California 66 restaurant, where bands sometimes play on the weekends, and broke out their watercolors, pastels and pencils. Some set up easels, but most sat in small plastic chairs and balanced sketch pads on their laps.

Passing tourists would sometimes ask if they sold their paintings; others simply waved hello.

Next week, the Plein Aire Painters will go to the beach promenade in Ventura, Stoutz said.

“It’s so hot inland, we’re trying to stay close to the beach through August,” Stoutz said. “Then in September we start venturing inland.”

The group has been meeting for about three years and numbers about 35 people--mostly from the western part of the county, Stoutz said. Its members range from college students to senior citizens, she said, adding that some of their paintings are shown in local galleries and exhibitions.

Ford Kaiser, a 67-year-old retired art teacher from Ventura, said working with other artists once a week is a helpful change, since many painters often work alone.

“You’re inspiring each other,” he said.

Kaiser was sketching the hotel in pencil first, and then went over the drawing again in permanent ink.

“Then I wash over it with watercolors,” he said, gesturing to a messy palette next to him. “It’s kind of an Impressionistic style.”

A few feet away, Amilia Kessler was facing a different direction and drawing the Henshaw Hotel on Santa Clara Street instead. She was captivated by its roof, she said.

With a few deft, swift strokes, Kessler had transformed her blank sketch pad into a colorful rendition of the hotel. She had a strong aqua-colored sky and vibrant-colored trees.

“I like bright colors,” said Kessler, who was wearing pink socks with purple sweat pants and a pink shirt.

The hotel was actually more of a conservative beige, but Kessler gave it a bright yellow look in her drawing. She also omitted the cars in front that obscured the view.

“Artists can see anything they want,” she said.