by Julie Dodd
Plein Air Smokies 2024 will bring 20 invited artists to spend a week painting the beauty of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sept. 21-28.
This is the third year of the event held by Friends of the Smokies as a fundraiser for the park. The first two years of Plein Air Smokies raised more than $160,000.
Plein Air Smokies includes a Quick Draw, a two-hour painting competition, that will be held in downtown Knoxville on Sept. 28. The invited artists will compete in the event. An open Quick Draw competition encourages other artists to register and participate. The winner of the open competition will become one of the invited artists for Plein Air Smokies 2025.
Susan Waters – 2023 Quick Draw winner
For Susan Duke Waters, the winner of the 2023 Quick Draw open division, the possibility of winning and becoming an invited artist was a major motivation in her entering the Quick Draw.
The day before the Quick Draw, Susan and her husband, Ray, drove to Maryville, the site of the Quick Draw, from their home in Rockmart, Georgia.
On the morning of the event, Waters chose to paint beside a stream in a park, where the event was held. As she painted, a lady stopped to watch her paint.
“She told me she wanted to purchase my painting, even before the painting was completed,” Waters said.
At the end of the two-hour competition, the judge selected Waters’ painting as the First Place winner.
“I really love being with fellow artists,” Waters said of painting in Quick Draw competitions. “I find it a bit like a theatrical performance. Once you’ve done it and your work is lined up, you’ve bonded with the other artists.”
Part of the bond also is with those who watch the artists paint. Waters recounted that the woman who purchased her painting called out excitedly, “That’s my painting” as Waters received the First Place award.
“There was a real camaraderie.”
[Waters and her winning painting, titled “Pistol Creek Eddy,” are featured at the top of the page.]
Having just two hours to create a painting causes a mixture of emotions, Waters said.
“It’s exciting. It pushes you,” she said. “If I can avoid thinking about the competitive thing or about the time, it’s thrilling.”
Life-long interest in art
Her interest in art was with her since childhood, Waters said. But she had not immersed herself in art due to other obligations.
“I had lots of pulls, and I was concerned The Great Muse would take over if I got too involved in art,” she said. “I did bits that I could fit in with family life.”
Over the years, she created paintings for friends or for community projects, such as painting backdrops for the local chorus,
One of her projects was creating a life-size papier-mâché nativity scene of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus for her church and for a float for the city’s Christmas Parade.
Over six years, she expanded her “O Holy Night” nativity to include shepherds, wisemen, camels and angels. “O Holy Night” now is on permanent display at the Arthur J. Moore Museum at St. Simons Island, Georgia. (And she created another nativity family for her church.)
Setting goals as an artist
She set goals for herself as an artist. To paint outside as often as she could. To paint as many paintings, typically in oils, as she could. To enter art competitions. To enter a plein air event at least once a year.
Art became a bigger part of her life when her children were grown and when an art group in her community asked her to meet with them to share art lessons.
Working with the art group led to her to participating in her first plein air painting event at St. Simons Island. The third year she participated in the Open Quick Paint, she placed second.
The last two years have been her most successful, she said. In addition to winning the Plein Air Smokies Quick Draw, she won First Place in the prestigious Olmsted Plein Air Paint-Quick Open Category in 2023. She was an invited artist for the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational in May 2024, painting for six days in Atlanta and the surrounding area. Her painting of Stone Mountain received the “Spirit of Atlanta” Award.
Advice for Quick Draw painters
Waters offered several tips for artists entering the Quick Draw.
Be as prepared as possible is her overarching advice.
Know your tools and make them as simple as you can. Don’t incorporate a pigment in your palette that you aren’t familiar with.
Scout out the area ahead of time so you’re ready to paint from the start of the two hours.
Paint something that speaks to you. Waters said that in the two-hour time limit of a Quick Draw, it’s best not to paint something that is too complicated.
Do not paint too far away from the staging area. You don’t want to lose valuable painting time because you have to quit painting to return to the staging area that is a distance away.
Time yourself. Waters sets her timer for 30 minutes. When the alarm goes off, she resets it for the next 30 minutes. “The last part is really important for you to assess your work and pull it together.
Have your frame and hardware ready to go so you can slip your painting into the frame and tighten it.
Breath and have fun – even if it may not feel like fun in the moment.
Plein Air Smokies information
The Quick Draw will be held Saturday, Sept. 28. Registration for the event closes on Sept. 20. There will be no on-site registration.
Artists may paint in a location of their choice in the downtown Knoxville area. The Quick Draw is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Artists must bring their framed work and their personal easels to the stage in Market Square for display and judging. Judging will begin at 11:30 a.m., with prizes announced at noon.
Note: This year’s quick draw will have a soft start. Artists may begin painting after check-in and canvas stamping, which will take place from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. All painting must stop by 11 a.m.
Each Quick Draw artwork must have a title and price, and is required to be available for sale. Friends of the Smokies will take a 45 percent commission from each work that sells, and monetary transactions will be handled by event staff.
You can learn more about the Quick Draw and register online.
Check the Plein Air Smokies website to learn more about the invited Plein Air Smokies artists, the days and times the artists will be painting in the Smokies, and the Collectors Soiree. Make plans to be part of this year’s Plein Air Smokies.