California Desert Plein Air Festival
2025 Festival Workshops
Possible locations for workshops:
Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden
Ironwood Park
Randall Henderson Trail
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Entry Fee for those signed up in 2025 Plein Air competition
or Desert Landscape Exhibition:
DPAA Member: $ 90
Nonmember: $105
Those not signed up for Exhibition: $125
Pay Workshop Fee with Zelle - send payment to: desertpleinair@gmail.com
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Pay Workshop Fee with PayPal (click Buy Now)
(Only click the payment button once on the next screen when submitting the payment.)
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Thursday, January 9th 9am-2pm Workshop - Pastel Plein Air : Thomas E. Smith
Maximum Attendees: 15 www.sierrapastels.squarespace.com
This workshop will elevate your artistic journey with successful strategies for creating painterly landscapes with pastels. Tom will do a demo using various techniques. You will learn how to choose a dynamic composition with attention to values and edges. He will cover harmony, encourage loosening your painting style, as well as many other tips and tools. At the end of our day, he will provide constructive and encouraging feedback to wrap up the workshop!
Thursday, January 9th 9am-2pm Workshop - Field Sketching for Non-sketcher: Fran Calvert
Maximum Attendees: 15 francalvert@gmail.com
Are you a person who would never draw…who would say “I can’t draw a stick person”…this class will teach you the basics of field sketching (drawing plein air) focusing on using the simplest lightweight tools and techniques. Join Fran and let her guide and support your efforts and creativity. You will have something to take home and frame! Fran Calvert lives just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. She enjoys plein air painting, sketching, hiking, backpacking, and riding horses year-round in the high desert. She is a retired technical writer with a B.A. in fine arts and art history from Columbia University.
Friday, January 10th 9am-2pm Workshop - Oil Plein Air: Durre Waseem
Maximum Attendees: 15 www.durrewaseem.com
Just bring your joy for learning along with you. Whether you are a novice or an accomplished painter, you will enjoy Durre’s approachable teaching style. You will learn a lot about brushwork, mark making, and getting the different feelings of nature to standout in your paintings. The day will start with painting a demo followed by personal instruction and support as each attendee begins painting! Once registered, you will receive a detailed list of materials to bring including your easel, hat, and chair.
Friday, January 10th 9am-2pm Workshop: Watercolor Plein Air: Geoffrey Allen
Maximum Attendees: 15 www.geoffallenart.com
Learn the joys of capturing the moment, color and mood of the California Desert. This workshop will cover the basic watercolor techniques that can speed up your process, loosen you up, and increase your success in capturing outdoor scenes. The goal of the workshop is to review techniques and procedures of improving your plein air painting by focusing on visualization, simplification, and editing while accentuating expression, mood, and atmosphere. No subject is perfect but can be improve by playing with design strategies. Through watching Geoff’s step-by-step demonstration, the class will practice seeing value, connecting shape, and capturing light and shadow. Morning will begin with a plein air demo by Geoff, followed by the students painting with individual support and encouragement from Geoff. Once registered, you will receive a suggested list of materials to bring