The following video will help you understand Eric Rhoads’ passion for building the plein air community.
A Message from B. Eric Rhoads, Publisher of PleinAir Magazine, About His Passion for Plein Air
When I was a child, my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Burket, scolded me for being a daydreamer. Though I was sent to the principal’s office for daydreaming, I couldn’t stop — dreams were all I had to help me escape the boredom. My life has been filled with dreams and big ideas, in spite of criticism from those who don’t understand the impact of big dreams.
Life Through the Eyes of a Painter
Every day of my life has been enhanced by seeing life through the eyes of a painter. I study color, light, shadow, and composition at every turn, and I see beauty in ordinary objects as I marvel at how they are struck by the afternoon sun. My non-painter friends find it odd when I comment on a glowing pink sky or the grayish blue-greens of a horizon. Painting changed my life and opened my eyes. And I would never have become a painter had I not been introduced to it by others.
Art was barely on my radar until my wife bought me my first art lesson. That one lesson resulted in a new passion for art and painting. It also resulted in the creation of PleinAir magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, and many other adventures in art, like our Art Cruises along the Danube and to Italy and France, the Portrait Project , the Art Marketing Blog, the PleinAir Salon, and the Plein Air Convention & Expo. Today we are able to expose tens of thousands of people to artwork they would otherwise never see, all as a result of that introduction to art — and because of daydreaming by my team.
Since starting PleinAir magazine, I’d dreamed of getting all the great painters in the world together in one place. I was dreaming about how much fun it would be for others to walk along and watch all the great living masters paint, and how exciting it would be to gather round all the great painters to trade stories and learn from their experiences. Most importantly, I thought it would be wonderful to expose everyone to one another, because you don’t have to be a great master to have something to teach. We all have experiences to share.
That dream happened with the Plein Air Convention, which has twice been the biggest gathering of plein air painters in one place in history. Painters have come from every state and from as far away as Russia, South America, Canada, China, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The experience of being with painters from around the world, making new friends and watching the great painters teach and paint with us, has been life-changing.
I hope you'll join me in making yet another dream for a better plein air world come true as we create the 3rd Annual Plein Air Convention. Drag your friends along, expose someone new to plein air, and you may change someone’s life forever. And I hope these few days together will be a life-changing event for you.
We have several items that are new for the 2014 convention. Browse the website for details.
Eric Rhoads
Publisher
PleinAir Magazine
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