Nature, creativity and competition collide at Fish Creek Park on Saturday

A local art organization is launching a competition aimed at putting Canadian plein air painting on the map, and the public is invited to watch.

Artists from across Alberta will head into Fish Creek Provincial Park on Saturday for Calgary’s first plein air painting competition — a live art event where nature, creativity and competition collide in real time.

Hosted by Canada Paints Plein Air, the event will feature eight juried finalists alongside a group of wildcard painters, all creating original artwork outdoors during a timed challenge. The public is invited to observe the artists in action and browse the “wet paint” sale immediately following judging.

The scene to be painted — selected within the sprawling city park — won’t be revealed until Saturday morning. Artists will have from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to complete their pieces.

Doug Levitt, a Calgary artist and one of the competition judges, says painting en plein air forces artists to adapt quickly and work with what the natural world provides.

“Painting outdoors in different situations is a brilliant thing to do,” he said. “It teaches me what light is doing in reality. I don’t have to make it up.”

Levitt, who was painting beside a creek in Fish Creek Park during his interview, said working on location also pushes artists to understand light in a more immediate way.

“When the sun’s shining, you’ve got 30 minutes to 45 minutes tops, before the shadows have moved so much that you’re starting a new painting,” he said. “It teaches you a lot of things. It’s a very disciplined teacher, but it’s also — if I can say — fun as hell. It’s the most fun I think you can have as a painter.”

The competition will award cash prizes to the top three juried painters — $1,000 for first place, $500 for second and $250 for third. The top wildcard entrant will also receive a prize and automatic entry into a future competition.

Major milestone

Victoria Zyluk, a Calgary artist and the president of Canada Paints Plein Air, said the event marks a major milestone for the newly incorporated group.

“We have a brilliant team who’s been working on this for just a little over a year,” she said. “Everyone — it’s comprised of a lot of people with different skills and talents — and we have a shared vision.”

Zyluk said the event is open to the public and designed to be accessible, even for those who have never picked up a brush.

“Watching someone create something from nothing — there’s a magic in that,” she said. “It’s engaging, it’s calming, and we can pass that on to generation after generation.”

The eight featured finalists were selected from a group of applicants earlier this year.

Wildcard painters can still register on-site at the Aspen Shelter, near the Glennfield entrance to Fish Creek Park, between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. on competition day. Registration is $35 and cash only.

Zyluk said Canada is largely absent from the well-established plein air circuits in the United States and Europe — something this event hopes to change.

“We want to make sure that more people are aware and build a Canadian presence in the plein air painting practice,” she said. “We certainly have a beautiful country. We all should be out enjoying it, especially in the summer when we don’t have to freeze our paint off.”

Plein air hub

Levitt agreed Calgary’s unique geography makes it a natural plein air hub.

“We’ve got desert out in Drumheller, not even an hour from my house. We’ve got rolling ranch lands with old barns, tractors, you name it,” he said. “Our city is beautiful. It’s a clean, gorgeous city with beautiful architecture. Fish Creek being one of them. I mean, this is an absolute plein air mecca.”

He said hosting a live sale right after judging, while the paintings are still wet, adds to the excitement and offers the public a rare opportunity to witness the artistic process from start to finish.

“You can just buy the piece and have the cool feeling of knowing they painted that two hours ago, or they painted that one hour ago,” he said. “And the more we can get the public interested in fine art is a good thing. I think a society has to focus on culture. We need to be thinking about higher minded things.”

More information on the event and group can be found here.