Elaine Mathews still has her first plein air painting, a junior high art project. “Our teacher let us set up in front of the school,” says the artist, who grew up in Compton. The scene she proudly painted? Houses across the street. Now, living in Rancho Mirage, she has a more picturesque natural view when she ventures outdoors for a plein air session.
You can see her in action at the California Desert Plein Air Festival from Jan. 8 through Feb. 1. She’ll participate in “paint-outs” open to the public, and as one of 15 featured artists, she’ll display her oil paintings of California landscapes at the Artists Center in Palm Desert.
Artists have long been inspired by desert landscapes, but the practice flourished especially in California during the late 1800s when the Santa Fe Railway and other railroad companies offered free train tickets to artists who painted what they saw along Western routes. The artwork was used in ads to entice people to visit.
Mathews moved to the desert more than 20 years ago from Orange County, where she’d long been a professional painter and high school art teacher, to be closer to her grandchildren. A member of the Palm Springs Desert Chapter of the California Art Club, she points to the quality of light as the main artistic difference for a plein air painter living in the desert.
“I lived in Orange County, where it’s pretty and you have bright days,” she says, “but in the desert, it’s crystal-clear bright. When I moved to the desert, it was like getting a new prescription for my glasses.” Among her favorite places to paint locally are the Indian Canyons, Prescott Preserve, and Araby Wash in Palm Springs.
Plein air painting in the desert does raise a few challenges: heat, which cuts into painting time, and wind, which can topple equipment. Still, “it’s hard not to paint here, especially in winter light,” Mathews says.
The festival opens with artist workshops Jan. 8–9. Starting Jan. 10, the public can watch plein air artists at work during free paint-outs that begin around 8 a.m. Artists appear at a different location around the valley each day: Jan. 10 at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitors Center, Jan. 11 on El Paseo, and Jan. 12 in Ironwood Park. The art exhibition will be at the Artist Center Gallery from Jan. 15 through Feb. 1.
For more information about these and other festival activities, visit californiadesertpleinair.com.
