Thank you to PleinAir Magazine for sponsoring this category.

This year we have introduced a new 9^th category for Plein Air Painting in the 13^th International ARC Salon Competition. This represents 44 entries out of the 135 works entered into this category. Plein air painting is about painting on site and creating beautiful scenes fully from life in a natural setting. Its origins started centuries ago as a way to capture color and light, and works created in this method were often used by artists as reference sketches when creating academic studio works. However, this style of painting took on a life of its own, becoming a favorite of the French Impressionists. Their desire to paint light and its changing, ephemeral qualities, married with the creation of transportable paint tubes and the box easel, allowed artists the freedom to paint "en plein air," which is the French expression for "in the open air". Although this category is most often associated to landscape paintings, figurative works that were also painted en plein air, are encouraged in this category. We are proud to add this important historical genera to the ARC Salon.