Back Bay Plein Art Festival underway this week in Newport Beach
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Thirty-eight local artists set up their easels Saturday morning among the sage and trails surrounding the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center at Upper Newport Back Bay as part of the annual Back Bay Plein Air Art Festival.
Now in its 19th year, the week-long festival of art is presented by the Southern California Plein Air Painters Assn. (known familiarly by its acronym, SOCALPAPA), the Newport Bay Conservancy and OC Parks.
The opening event Saturday morning was the “Quick Draw” painting competition and awards event where artists were given a window to paint, from 8 to 11:30 a.m.
“It’s a very exciting event that the community is welcome to view which is a beautiful and immersive experience of the Back Bay,” said event co-chairman Marisha Miller. “All works are for sale and 35% of the proceeds for art sales are donated to protecting and preserving the Newport Beach bay.”
Mike Major, a Yorba Linda artist, was seated at his easel at the top of the bluff, where he was found putting the finishing touches on his brightly-colored interpretation of the outdoor landscape.
“Painting in soft pastel is my favorite plein air medium,” Major said. “It’s so fast and spontaneous with the subject of Back Bay, with sage along the path, and the water.”
Heading deeper into the bluff of the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Katherine and Sun Su, a married couple from Fullerton, were found painting side-by-side.
“I’ve been painting 20 years in SOCALPAPA,” Katherine Su said. “The Back Bay is my favorite spot to paint.”
She said she and her husband could be found every weekend painting outdoors.
“I’ve been painting my whole life and also in oils,” Sun Su said, with a chuckle.
Audrey Large of Fullerton was perched on the rooftop observation deck of the Muth Center where the eye level clouds became the focal point of her painting.
“I taught myself, and I usually paint still-life and portraits but I started to practice painting plein air recently,” said Large, who is a Cal State Fullerton engineering student. “I love art and I’d like to start painting outdoors.”
Festival’s Show and Sale
Through Friday, July 17: The Best of OC Parks and Newport Bay Plein Air Art Show and Sale takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. View and shop 60 plein air paintings that were pre-selected for this special exhibit.
On Saturday, July 18 and Sunday, July 19: Weekend Art Show & Sale, also from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Several hundred additional paintings by 46 SOCALPAPA artists will be featured. There will be live music and an original painting giveaway.
The Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center is located at 2301 University Drive, Newport Beach.
