This year’s inaugural paint-out in Ouray proved the old Colorado adage that “if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes.” Hardy souls Mark Rittorno, Jeanne Mackenzie, Lanny Grant, Stephen Datz, and guest Phil Wright battled 4 days of winter storms, and in Mark’s case a hellish 8+ hour drive, to “chase the sun” in Ouray, Ridgway, and the Dallas Divide area.

Ouray received 2 feet of snow over the course of the week, but interspersed between showers were some of those rare dramatic moments you only get if you’re willing to brave the weather. And by Thursday evening, the weather cleared and the amazing vistas of rugged, snow capped peaks we were all hoping for finally revealed themselves.

Despite the weather, a good time was had by all, and a special thanks to Jeanne for turning her motel room into a hospitality suite with wine and munchies each evening!

Brett Weaver will be attending this year’s Forgotten Coast Plein-Air Invitational in the Apalachicola area of the Florida Panhandle. The event runs from May 7 – May 16, and will include a full schedule of artist get-togethers, demonstrations, roundtable and historical discussions, and a Quick Draw, as well as an opening Patron’s Party on Saturday, May 15.

E. C. O'Connor, From Out of the Blue. Oil, 24x18.

A solo exhibition of works by E. C. O’Connor is currently on display at the Visitor Center at Joshua Tree National Park in California.  The works are all a result of O’Connor’s 2009 Artist-in-Residence at the park.   The show will be on display through April.

Kathryn Mapes Turner, July.

RMPAP member Kathryn Mapes Turner is showcasing new work with painter John Felsing in a show called No Limit at Altamira Gallery in Jackson, WY.  The show is on display through March 31, 2010.

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Robert Hagberg’s work was juried into the annual Salon International at Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio, TX.  The show will hang from April 10-30.   He will also participate in the Arcadia Invitational at the Argosy Gallery in Bar Harbor, ME.  That show opens August 7, 2010.

RMPAP member Don Dernovich will be participating in numerous shows this spring and summer.  From March 20 – April 10, his work will be on display in Spirits: A Celebration of Art in the Heartland, and invitational show a the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, NE.  April 23-25, he will be participating in the 6th Annual High Plains Art Festival at the Gateway Center in Oberlin, KS.  He will also take part in the Plein Air Painters of Colorado’s National Show, June 25 – July 10, at Saks Gallery in Denver, CO.

Several members of the RMPAP will have works hanging in the Oil Painters of America’s 19th Annual Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils.  Brian Blood, Linda Glover Gooch, Robert Hagberg, Jennifer L. Hoffman, Wes Newton, Dave Santillanes, Dan Schultz, Carol Swinney, and John W. Taft will all be represented in the show.  Bryan Mark Taylor, a guest artist at this year’s RMPAP show in Crested Butte, also had a work accepted to the show.  The show will be held at the Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ from April 30-May 31, 2010.

Carol Swinney, Darcie Peet, Linda Glover-Gooch, and V. Vaughan will be participating in this year’s Cowgirl Up! Show at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, AZ. This annual invitational exhibition has become the most important event in the country for women in western art, and will feature some 200 new works by 58 of the nation’s top female artists.

The show opens March 26, 2010 and runs through May 2, 2010.

For more information, visit http://www.cowgirlupart.com/index.htm