2022 Plein Air Festival

Lorrie Beck is a Dallas, Texas native. She is an alumna of both Baylor University where she holds a Bachelor’s in Fine Art and the University of Colorado from where she earned a Masters of Business Administration. Throughout her life she has enjoyed drawing and painting, but has concentrated almost exclusively on western and wildlife subjects. Drawing has always been a passion for Beck, using pencil to combine her love of art, horses and the outdoors, though in recent years she has expanded her medium choices to include pastels and oils. 

My style grew out of commercial illustration mixed with a new-found joy of Russian impressionism. I have concentrated to develop the merging of the two styles to create the bold and vivid paintings for which I am known for. I find that plein air painting brings a great opportunity to develop an emotional connection with the viewer. The beautiful thing is that the painting is a very personal statement of who the artist is, once a painting is completed. As an example, the simple yet bold brush strokes may take a painter a lifetime of painting to find their unique voice that only they carry. “Our lives are are about passion. My work is an attempt to bring that passions into our daily lives and to share it with others. In each piece or collection, I’m attempting to emote passion from the gazer’s stare and to bring him into the emotional journey that has crescendoed to that moment that is captured on canvas.”

In 2022 Markowsky, “The Plein Air Nomad” retired from teaching full time and is currently traveling across North America painting and living a nomadic life. He also Illustrates and serves as an Ambassador for the outdoor recreational clothing company American Backcountry. Markowsky won the Grand Prize at the 3rd Annual Saint Augustine Plein Air Festival in 2019. He was the 2018 Grand Prize winner of the Lighthouse Art Center 5th Annual Plein Air Festival in Tequesta Florida and returned in 2019 as judge. He won ‘Best Water’ category for the 2019 January/February Plein Air Salon. He is a member of The Oil Painters of America and was juried in to the 2019 Eastern Regional Exhibition in McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland.

Carol’s art career began in 1972 after graduating from Art Center College of Design with a major in illustration. Since that time she has illustrated over 150 children’s books for every major publisher in the U.S. as well as publishers in England, Greece and Korea. When she is not working on books, she is painting the scenery, wildlife, and people of Colorado. Her watercolors are exhibited in galleries and shows across the state and the U.S. Carol has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Carol is a signature member of the Colorado Watercolor Society, and the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, National Watercolor Society. She is married to Tom Newsom, also an illustrator and artist. They live and work in Idaho Springs, Colorado.

Originally trained as an Architect, Cindy worked for 16+ years on civic, medical, commercial and residential projects. She also taught Architecture, Engineering and Interior Design coursework to college students. When her husband’s career took them to rural Italy for 5 years, Cindy went to the local hardware store for supplies and began to paint. She enjoyed exploring the Italian countryside and capturing “le viste belle!” After returning to the USA, she has continued to grow and develop as a full-time impressionist artist over the past decade. To learn more about Cindy, including gallery representation and recent awards, visit cindyshawfineart.com.

Ellen Sklar is both an accomplished artist and a professional illustrator with a degree in media arts. She studied fine art at the Quater Art School, Tucson Arizona, a classical atelier, under mentor Florence Quater, a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, for five years as well as at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She furthered her tutelage under the late master artist, David P. Curtis, Essex, Massachusetts for six years. Curtis studied and taught at the Guild of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts under Ives Gammel, one of the last American realists. She continues to advance her studies and paint and show at every opportunity. She currently lives in beautiful Longmont, Colorado with her part-time art assistant and critic, soulmate and life partner, Charles.

Cathleen Windham is an American artist whose work encompasses several mediums including oils, gouache, paper collage, and upcycled leather seating. She got her start as a fine artist in about 2005 with a two-day weekend “starter” oil painting class in Nashville, Tennessee, with artist Dawn Whitelaw. Since then, Cathleen has continued to grow her skills and in 2018 relocated to Denver CO to paint the West. Her painting travels have taken her from the balmy coast of the Carolina’s to the glory of the Tetons to the vineyards in Italy. “Painting from life is perhaps the best way to ‘Be Here Now.’ ” Much of her work is done in plein air, out of doors. “There’s nothing I value more than being able to work outside and attempt to do my subject matter justice. This is where I cut my teeth as a new painter, day one. Years later, it’s truly a challenge, every time.” Her work is in private collections across the U.S. She currently resides and works in the Denver, CO area, and is represented by American Contemporary Gallery.