Thoughtful and friendly, Christine Lashley shares with Tim and Marie her journey as an artist and her approach to her art that is very introspective and optimistic.  While the conversation never closes the loop on being chased by a bear, we do discover the surprising poignancy of her first painting of a rooster.

Christine is an American artist known for her colorful and dramatic oils. Christine has been involved in the arts all her life, with early years sketching outdoors and watching her mother and grandmother create sculpture. She spent several years in the high fashion world of Europe, and then worked in graphic design and creating murals. She began painting professionally with watercolors but moved to oils in 2009. Most of Christine's art ideas are gathered by painting outdoors (plein air). The beauty of a moment held in memory and fusing reality and the abstract are key elements of her style.

With a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and prior study at the Sorbonne and Parsons in Paris, Christine continued her art education with workshops from prominent artists. Her awards include Best of Show at: Plein Air Telluride, Bath County, and En Plein Air Texas. Other awards include the Bold Brush Award, ARC salon, Plein Air Salon Top 5 Annual Finalist, and numerous Oil Painter's of America (OPA) awards. Publications include the cover of Plein Air Magazine. She has taught workshops and classes for over 25 years.

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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.

 

May Klisch made her Plein Air Easton debut this year and won the judge's choice award for her work "The Font of American Farmers".  Tim and Jess talk with May about how she failed art in high school, her gratitude for those that helped her rediscover the artist in her, and craft beer.

Someone once remarked of my work: “I see why there is as much breadth as there is depth; as much whimsy as weight; as much energy as tranquility. Her work reflects her, her facets, passions, and life’s journey.”

The movement and growth in my work are time bridges; each phase is at once new, and old, and forever…like the stories we collect, but that also collect us. I am a Singapore-born Midwestern American artist working with a variety of media exploring contemporary art expression.

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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 Podington Bear.

 

Despite being a relative new-comer to plein air painting, Mick McAndrews won 3rd place at the 2022 Plein Air Easton festival with his piece "Good Morning Oxford".  After having technical difficulties during our first interview with Mick, Tim and Jess sat down with him again and this time discuss identifying as a "capital A, Artist", why Mick loves watercolor, and golf as a metaphor for painting.

"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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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.

First time Plein Air Easton juried artist Marilyn Rose sold very well in 2022 and joins Tim and Marie to discuss her experience.  Through that conversation, they debate what qualifies as "art", how she returned to art after a career in graphic design, and the careers of the OTHER Marilyn Rose's in the country.

Marilyn Rose, a NJ resident, is a signature member of the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, the Northeast Watercolor Society, New Jersey Watercolor Society, Garden State Watercolor Club and the Baltimore Watercolor Society. Her paintings have won numerous awards in statewide and national exhibitions and have been juried into numerous shows and plein air competitions. Her paintings are in private and corporate collections across the U.S. and Canada and her illustrations have appeared in national magazines. She teaches at the various locations, including her home studio and Art School at the Old Church in Demarest, NJ, runs a plein air workshop each summer at the Landgrove Inn in Vermont.  In 2013, Marilyn was selected to be an artist in residence in Bryant Park in NYC and continues to run workshops there as well. 

While her paintings take the natural world around her as their subject matter, they are really about edges; the places where things meet: paint and paper, light and shadow, pigment and water, reality and abstraction. They document an inner journey and an outer journey simultaneously. Marilyn’s work takes a traditional medium, and pushes its boundaries, with a boldness and exuberance, which she invites the viewer to share.

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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 Podington Bear.

It's been a few months since this year's festival concluded and the team has had a chance to breathe and reflect on what all went down.  Tim, Marie, and Jess chat about all of the festivities and how the changes in the economy can impact the arts.  Whether or not you were able to attend the festival in person, this conversation provides an insider look at how the competition operates and how adjustments and changes are made from year to year.

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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 2022, Tim and Jess talk with alumni artist Robert J Simone. Robert discusses professional art organizations, his love for boats, and how he found himself returning to his love of art.

Simone derives inspiration from coastal scenery and marine subjects.  He loves color and the natural harmonies that surround us.  He's also fascinated by the many ways humans give shape, form and function to the world's raw materials.  That's what draws him to the maritime, transportation and industrial subjects he paints so well.  But his first love is the coastal landscape of West Central Florida.

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

This episode is sponsored by JFM Enterprises, providing distinctive ready-made and custom frames & mouldings to the trade since 1974.

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

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2022, Tim and Jess talk with alumni artist Georganna Lenssen. This fascinating dive into Georganna's career covers her work painting African dogs, cardboard cakes, and her pen pals in prison (something her grandmother inspired her to do).

 

"My work is the culmination of response, absorption and interpretation of place or content. A thread of commonality exists—from exquisitely patterned African wild dogs to densely sensual frosted cakes to the evocative nature of abandoned structures and the secrets within—the multi-faceted richness of imagery. Opacities, transparencies and iridescences offer a myriad of painterly opportunities. Here is where instinct, memory and sensation merge for me, creating a visual language of mark-making, color interaction and finally the landscape of the painted surface."

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

This episode is sponsored by JFM Enterprises, providing distinctive ready-made and custom frames & mouldings to the trade since 1974.

Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions & Podington Bear.

LIVE from Plein Air Easton 2022, Tim and Jess talk with alumni artist Julie Riker. They discuss her early years as an artist and how her career in architectural restoration influenced and informed her painting technique.

 

"I consider myself primarily an observational painter, painting mostly from life, and often outside ‘en plein air’. Painting in one session, “Alla prima” keeps the surface fresh. I like to look for interesting compositions and often don’t know what I will choose to paint until I get to a location. Sometimes what attracts me is simply a light effect and, though my work is representational, it is often the abstract patterns of shadows that get me started. I paint a vast range of subjects, and am always looking for a new challenge."

 

Pennsylvania artist Julie Riker studied Illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  After graduating she became involved in the historic restoration of the PA State Capitol, replicating original decorative painting, stenciling and applying gold leaf and ornamental plaster finishes. In 1996 Julie started her own decorative painting business creating artwork for individual homes and businesses. Working out of her Camp Hill studio she specializes in custom art, decorative painting, murals and faux finishes for walls and furniture. She has travelled from New York to Florida for commissioned projects, and has even created and painted wall finishes for the PA Governor’s residence in 2002.

When not working for a client, Julie enjoys painting outdoors. Often these plein air paintings serve as inspiration for larger studio pieces, but some stand on their own as observations of the beauty and variety of nature. She has participated in many national plein air events and won several awards. Recent accomplishments are First Place at Paint Annapolis, Artist’s Choice Award at Paint Snow Hill, People’s Choice Award for Quick Draw at Finger Lakes Plein Air, Plein Air Magazine Award at the Wayne Plein Air Festival, Plein Air Salon Finalist, and Feature Artist juried into Plein Air Easton.

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

This episode is sponsored by JFM Enterprises, providing distinctive ready-made and custom frames & mouldings to the trade since 1974.

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

It's our season finale and the kickoff of PLEIN AIR EASTON!!

As the event coordinator for Plein Air Easton, Marie Nuthall is truly the belle of the ball during the hottest week and a half of the summer in Easton.  Today hosts Tim and Jess turn the mic around on her and find out what brought her to the planning side of the largest outdoor painting competition in the country.  All three share their excitement for the festival they feel in the preceding days and give some details regarding what is new and exciting for the 18th year.

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

This episode is sponsored by JFM Enterprises, providing distinctive ready-made and custom frames & mouldings to the trade since 1974.

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

Dan Weiss, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, served as the judge of the 2021 Plein Air Easton art competition.  As we worked with Dan during the festival, we found him to be a passionate, kind, and easy-going man that was able to say incredibly intelligent things in a way that felt connecting when other wise people may sound exclusionary.  He joined us virtually from quarantine to share the story of how he became such a uniquely qualified candidate for his role at the Met and express his love for Plein Air painting.

A scholar of art history and a seasoned leader of complex institutions, Dan Weiss was previously President and Professor of Art History of Haverford College and, from 2005 to 2013 of Lafayette College. He holds an MBA from Yale and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in western medieval and Byzantine art, where he joined the art history faculty and in six years rose to full professor and then chair of the department. Three years later, he became the James B. Knapp Dean of Johns Hopkins’s Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. He holds a BA in Art History and Psychology from The George Washington University.  The author of six books and numerous articles, Weiss has published and lectured widely on a variety of topics, including the art of the Middle Ages and the Crusades, higher education, museums, and American culture. His most recent books include In That Time: Michael O’Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam (2019), and Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (2013). Earlier in his career, Weiss spent four years as a management consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York. The recipient of fellowships from Harvard University, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Weiss received the Business and Society Award from the Yale School of Management, the Van Courtlandt Elliott Award from the Medieval Academy of America for scholarship in medieval studies, the Distinguished Alumni Award from George Washington University, and he was inducted into the Society of Scholars at Johns Hopkins in 2018.

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

This episode is sponsored by JFM Enterprises, providing distinctive ready-made and custom frames & mouldings to the trade since 1974.

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