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2023  "Paint the Desert" Plein Air Festival Winners!

Best of Show - Deborah Newman

Best of Show

'Prickly Pear'

Oil

Deborah Newman

1st Place David Wolfram

1st Place

'62nd St. Approaching Jackson'

Pastel

David Wolfram

2nd Place Paul Rosiak

2nd Place

Williamsburg Award

'Twlight on Coachella Valley'

Oil

Paul Rosiak

3rd Place

Golden Award

'La Quinta Cove'

Gouache

Jolene Paige

4th Place Kathleen Strukoff

4th Place

Holbein Award

'Smokin Mod'

Mixed

Kathleen Strukoff

Honorable Mention

'1000 Palms'

Watercolor

Sylvia Smith

Honorable Mention

Blick Art Materials Award

'High Atop Highway 74'

Watercolor

Bob Hannah

Honorable Mention

Blick Art Materials Award

'Jacinto Vista '

Oil

Greg Wallace

Honorable Mention

Plein Air Magazine Award

'This Must be the Place'

Cabot's Pueblo Museum

Watercolor

Joyce Trinh

Randy Higbee Award

'Araby Wash '

Oil

Alberto Garcia

Randy Higbee Award

'Afternoon Shadows at the Preserve '

Oil

Sunny Patton

Randy Higbee Award

'San Andreas Fault '

Watercolor

Karin Harris

Show Judge Jean Stern, Director Emeritus of The Irvine Museum, and wife Linda.with Diane Moore, Co-Founder of DPAA.

Festival Judge, Jean (and Linda) Stern, Director Emeritus of the Irvine Museum and Diane Moore, Co-Founder of The Desert Plein Air Association

2023 Workshop Instructors

Janis Commentz is known for her color-intense palette and loose brush strokes of figures and landscapes.  Janis Commentz is a painter living in the Mojave Desert where she teaches classes and workshops for the Desert Institute in Joshua Tree. She has a B.A. in art and British Literature from the University of Redlands and M.A. in Education - CSUSB.

Shuang Li paints watercolor portraying the extraordinary variety of life with her unique perspective. Shuang recreates nature’s beauty by capturing moods and moments of light and color.  She is a signature member of National Watercolor Society, American Impressionists Society, Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, San Diego Watercolor Society, and Watercolor West, among others. 

Jessica Schiffman I’m in love with shapes, colors, and pictures that tell a story. I’ve created hundreds of paintings, illustrated many books for children, and painted murals as well. I’ve been teaching art classes and workshops since 2005. I studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute long ago. The learning never stops.

David Wolfram Graduated with Distinction from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1985 with a BA in Illustration.  He was employed for 22 years as a Toy Designer, and Design Manager at Mattel Inc.  Now retired, he likes to paint, when possible, ‘en plein air’.  He feels that painting outdoors is an essential activity to attune the eye to the everchanging light and conditions that influence color. Currently he divides his time between working in pastels and oils.

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