Imagine watching dozens of artists painting on Broad Street on a beautiful October day. In the evening you check out their “wet” work displayed in historic downtown. Then on the last night of the event you have an opportunity to buy your favorite piece from one of the artists you got to know during social events and classes. 

Sound like fun?

Well, this is what the community and tourists will get to do when the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAP-SE) come to Thomasville from Oct. 4 to 7 for the Plantation Trace Plein Air event. This affair will be hosted by Pines & Palms: The Georgia-Florida Artist Association, a new non-profit based in Thomasville.

An exhibit of 12 paintings by three members of PAP-SE opened Feb. 25 at the Visitors Center and will run through April 10.

Holly Scott Lybrook, a Pines & Palms board member said: “This show will give collectors a chance to see the quality of art that will be available in October, all of local scenes. I hope art lovers will check out the show and be excited for the treat that we all are in for this fall. I plan to take advantage of the classes and plein air demonstrations that will be going on all week, and I hope other beginning artists will do the same.”

“Thomasville is a well-known cultural center, and this just gives us one more way to remind people about the beauty of this area,” said Bonnie Hayes, director of Thomasville Tourism.

The Plantation Trace painting sites will be in southern Georgia and northern Florida. PAP-SE painters are excited about the wealth of natural beauty from bucolic farmlands and ranches to deep forests of pines, palms and ancient oaks. They also are drawn by this area’s architectural elegance: antebellum homes, old churches and courthouses steeped in history.

PAP-SE President Katie Dobson Cundiff, a master plein air painter who teaches at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, suggested that the prestigious group hold its yearly paint out here after painting in Boston last year at the Cotton Pickin’ Paint Out.

“This area has done a wonderful job or conserving its plantations, hunting preserves and historical structures,” she said. “I know these elements, along with the beauty of the region in October, will inspire beautiful paintings. The warm welcome I always feel here is very much appreciated.”

An excerpt from PAP-SE materials describes the passion of their artists this way: “Plein Air painters prefer to paint outside from life, in an effort to capture the fleeting beauty of the landscape. Our goal is to translate the complete essence of how the scene looks and feels to us at a certain moment in time — a study technique which drives us, again and again, to leave our comfortable studio space and brave the unforgiving elements. We typically work in areas that are unfamiliar and often ill-equipped for painting. Yet, painting outdoors can offer an irresistible and exhilarating feeling: To stand at the easel when the skies turn golden and the distant mountain ridges or coastal salt marshes glow with a warm, ethereal light is to witness the magic of nature’s artistry.” 

Dee Beard Dean, along with a handful of fellow painters, founded PAP-SE in 2001. The mission of this early core group of painters was threefold: 1) to hone their painting skills through the demanding rigors of painting outdoors; 2) to enjoy the camaraderie and shared knowledge of fellow plein air painters; and 3) to raise awareness and appreciation of this traditional method of painting among art collectors and connoisseurs. 

For more information about the event or how to get involved in plein air painting, call Sandi Shaw at (816) 309-5131.