With Plein Air Easton right around the corner, Jess and Marie talk with the 2025 festival judge Peter Trippi.  They discuss his early introduction to art history, his position as Editor-in-Chief at Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, and his approach to curation and judging.

Peter Trippi has edited Fine Art Connoisseur since 2006. Previously, he directed New York’s Dahesh Museum of Art, which specialized in 19th-century European academic painting and sculpture. Before that, he held senior posts at the Brooklyn Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art.

In 2002, Phaidon Press published Trippi’s monograph J W Waterhouse, which reassesses the Victorian painter best known for his Lady of Shalott at Tate Britain. Trippi went on to co-curate the Waterhouse retrospective that appeared 2008–10 in the Netherlands, England, and Canada. In 2016, Trippi co-curated the exhibition Lawrence Alma-Tadema: At Home in Antiquity, which visited museums in the Netherlands, Austria, and England. His 2021 curatorial projects were the 45-work exhibition Artful Stories: Paintings from Historic New England, in Milton, Massachusetts, and the five-artist show Flora Nova: Painting Nature Now at Sugarlift (New York City).

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Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Scott Gratton.

Following the inaugural Alumni Invitational through a partnership with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, Marie and Jess are joined by Communications Manager Caitlin Fisher, the brainchild behind the exhibition, to discuss the motivation behind the project and to debrief on how it went.

Founded in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving land on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. From farm fields to marshes to woodlands and public trails, it is our mission to conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape for generations to come.

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Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Scott Gratton.

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2024, Tim and Jess talk with alumni artist Debra Huse. Debra brings her trademark joy to the conversation as she discusses the many projects she is involved with.

Debra Huse is a contemporary American Impressionist. She uses rich color and bold 
fluid strokes to capture the light and drama in 
her plein air and studio oil paintings. 
Debra enjoys painting on location and 
has painted in many plein air events across 
the country. Huse and her husband Randy 
enjoy traveling on their sport fishing boat GROUPER where Debra often paints scenes 
from the water.

Huse currently has a studio 
in a Newport Beach, CA Boatyard. 
Debra Huse has been featured in Southwest Art Magazine, Plein Air Magazine, 
Fine Art Connoisseur & Art of the West Magazine.

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To inquire about being a guest or sponsoring the Plein Air Easton Podcast, send us an email at [email protected].

Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Scott Gratton.

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2024, Tim and Jess talk with alumni artist Mark Shasha. Mark is an interdisplenary artist that, beyond painting, also plays music and acts.  He discusses his relationship with terror and how it fuels all of his artistic pursuits.

"Painting is a calling for me. It is a longing for those moments when the poetry happens when a sun beam caresses a snowbank, peeks into a glade or spills diamonds across the sea. I’m compelled by something deep in me to seize that energy and to express it as paint on canvas using my own calligraphy and the brevity of a few accurate brushstrokes.  My reward is to have the viewer linger, to understand, to share as the canvas evokes and conveys a glimmer of that sublime natural beauty all around us."

Mark Shasha (b. 1961) is an award-winning American artist, author and educator. His work has appeared in museums, galleries and publications for 40 years. His paintings are found in public and private collections around the world.  And millions have read his children's books which he has written and illustrated.    After college at Rhode Island School of Design in 1983 Shasha was a frequent illustrator for the Boston Phoenix, The Globe and many other publications. His first children’s book, Night of the Moonjellies (Simon & Schuster, 1992) won a Marion Vannett Ridgway Honor Award and was welcomed by Smithsonian Magazine as “a classic.” It continues to appear on bestseller lists.

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To inquire about being a guest or sponsoring the Plein Air Easton Podcast, send us an email at [email protected].

Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Scott Gratton.

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2024, Tim and Marie talk with alumni artist Russell Jewell. Russell discusses how his teaching career and Plein Air Easton influenced his art.

Russell Jewell is an internationally recognized plein air painter with signature memberships in the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society and The Transparent Watercolor Society of America. His work recently traveled with the American Watercolor Society exhibition.  Jewell’s accomplishments include a doctorate in Art Education from the University of Georgia and a Fulbright Memorial fund scholarship to Japan. Jewell’s most recent awards include: Mountain Maryland Plein Air: Best Architecture, Gloucester Arts Festival Plein Air: Best Architecture and The Eastern Shore Plein Air Agricultural Collection museum purchase award during Plein Air Easton competition. Russell Jewell is represented by Wells Gallery at the Sanctuary on Kiawah Island, SC. In November 2023 Russell Jewell’s work was published in a feature article "Under the Sicilian Sun" in Plein Air Magazine.  

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Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Scott Gratton.

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2024, Tim and Jess talk with alumni artist Lisa Egeli. Lisa deep dives on her approach and philosophy to both her plein air work and her portraiture.

Lisa Egeli paints the people and places we care about most. 

Her ability to bring out the character of her portrait subjects has led to repeated commissions by many clients. Lisa has completed multiple commissions each for Johns Hopkins Hospital, Elon University and Washington College. Other portrait clients include but are not limited to the State of Maryland, University of California Davis Medical School, the University of Maryland Medical School, the George Washington University Law School and the Maryland National Guard.

Lisa’s land and seascapes portray the uniqueness of a place in a moment of time, capturing the light and its seemingly magical effects on the scene. Her work is inspired by her love of nature, and a belief in the need to highlight the vulnerability of our natural world.  Her penchant for travel has allowed her to build a body of work including views from around the world, working both en plein air and in the studio, most commonly in oil and often in pastel or watercolor. Her paintings have been featured in numerous exhibits and are held in many permanent collections. 

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Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Scott Gratton.

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2024, Tim and Marie talk with alumni artist Mick McAndrews. Mick discusses watercolor painting and his membership in the Whiskey Painters of America.

"I am a passionate painter who believes that time spent painting is precious. My goal is to draw and paint every day and I believe that the fastest way to artistic growth is through the activity of painting. I  enjoy painting outside to take advantage of surroundings, natural light, and the sights and sounds that influence each painter's creative nature. Outside in nature’s studio is where I find the greatest challenge and the greatest reward. I am challenged to capture the moment because light and its effect, reflection and cast shadow changes continuously. I am forced to simplify, to reduce the overwhelming complexity of what’s in front of me into only the most important shapes and values. My nature is to be spontaneous so working loose and impressionistically appeals to me. The magic of watercolor is found in the partnership between artist and medium, of finding a balance between the knowledge, technique and skill of the painter while leaving room for the magic that makes watercolor so distinctive."

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Philip Carlton talks purpose, inspiration, and marketing woes with Tim and Marie.  We recorded this compelling interview several months ago, but we weren't able to release it when we shifted our staff energy to redesigning our foundation website. Our apologies for the delayed release, but we hope you enjoy.

Philip Alexander Carlton is a self taught plein air painter who takes delight in the endless challenge of observational painting. Although his foray into outdoor painting began in the urban Midwest, his travels and artistic passion for scale and atmosphere left him enamored with the western states. He currently resides and paints most often in the desert canyons of Fruita, Colorado.

His artistic philosophy centers on the belief that painting is just as much about process as it is about product. Consequently, all of his work is started and finished on location, often over multiple days as light and conditions necessitate. For Philip, painting “en plein air” is its own form of expression and is not just a stepping stone towards creating larger works or a means by which to study an environment; creation in nature is at the core of his artistic practice.  Although his chosen subject matter may change with the season and his visual style continues to evolve, it still carries with it the same soul of his early plein air work: his paintings have always served as a visual journal of his life and travels, and as such tell a story which can vary wildly between both the classically grand and the uncomfortably gritty locales that he explores.

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Bernie Dellario come into the studio to speak with Tim and Marie.  He talks about his painting trip to Italy that caused him to miss an early Plein Air Easton event, his approach to teaching, and gives Tim and Marie a little demo on how to mix paint.

“From the beautiful to the discarded, I am inspired by many things as an artist.  I rarely know what will be the subject of my painting efforts, but once discovered, I strive to articulate my impression of that reality into a collection of abstract shapes, strong design and color”

Bernard Dellario earned a bachelor's degree from Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, PA with emphasis on finance and art history.  He studied Art at the Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia and attended several workshops with nationally known artists.  He has been a member of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters since 2003. Fondly known as WSLP, one of the oldest active artist organizations in the Washington area, Bernard currently serves as President. He teaches painting classes through several venues, has won national awards and exhibits throughout the Maryland Eastern Shore and Washington, DC regions.

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In an incredibly brave and vulnerable interview, artist Tim Beall discusses the inner battles he endures as he pursues his art.  Growing up in an environment that he describes as being synonymous with "toxic masculinity", Beall speaks to the struggle to acknowledge his drive to be creative that brought him from athlete to artist.

Tim Bell began serious painting study with the well-known portrait painter Cedric Egeli in 1994 and assisted Cedric in teaching color painting at the Cape Cod School of Art. Tim studied briefly with Maryland Impressionist John Ebersberger, who introduced him to George T. Thurmond. It was Thurmond, a devoted student of the late Henry Hensche, who Tim credits with having taught him the principles of the Hensche method of painting.

A painting trip to Scotland in year 2006 was a significant turning point in Tim’s methods and style of painting.  It brought new ideas and a fresh vision as he added tonalist color theory to his palette.  Painting trips in following summers to Cape Cod, Gloucester, and Monhegan Island cemented these color theories and a painting friendship with Robert Gruppe. Tim uses oils and a combination of palette knives and brushes on canvas to create his paintings that are a tribute to the rich artistic heritage of American plein air painting. For a period of time Tim had the unique experience of working on a fishing boat on the Chesapeake Bay.  It was this experience that gave him an appreciation of the majesty and unique history of oyster boats under sail.  The Chesapeake Bay, the skipjacks, bugeyes and schooners that ply its waters are some of his favorite painting subjects. He also enjoys frequent painting trips to New England, Scotland and Italy.

Tim’s paintings have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions. He is an active participant in plein air painting competitions and is a sought-after instructor for his oil painting workshops. His paintings hang in private collections throughout the United States and Great Britain and are also included in the collection of Frostburg State University. In 2004 Tim was honored to be juried into the "Sunlight and Shadow" exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. In the 2006 Paint Easton plein air painting competition, Tim Bell won the Grand Prize for his oil painting of skipjacks on the Chesapeake Bay. He has won many awards since then, including the 2009 Plein Air Easton Artists Choice Award and the Best Marine painting.

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