“In the Moment” by Gail Braccidiferro

Shauna Shane said she had already sketched a tranquil Connecticut River scene that she had intended to paint when a couple entered the park where she had set up easel, canvas and palette on a postcard-perfect late summer Sunday.  They inspired her to alter her plans.

“It was kind of a surprise,” she said after finishing the painting.  “I did drawings of another couple on a park bench, but when this couple set out their blanket, they became such a great part of the light pattern there.”

The couple, Precious Williams of Houston and Ore Owodunni of New York City, said it was just by chance they were visiting Essex, the historic shipbuilding village, on Labor Day weekend, when 15 professional artists were painting a variety of scenes there.

The artists are members of the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society, which on Sept. 4 kicked off a two-month series of events celebrating the Connecticut River, the artistic tradition of outdoor impressionistic painting, and the integral relationship between the state’s outdoor artists and the river that inspires so many of them.

Ms. Williams and Mr. Owodunni, the couple who helped shape Ms. Shane’s artwork during the wet-paint event that launched the Connecticut River Plein Air Invitational, left Essex with unique souvenir – a framed painting 14 inches high by 18 inches wide featuring a version of them gazing toward the Connecticut River’s Middle Cove as they relaxed in the village’s Main Street Park.  They paid $850 for the painting.

“I had no idea they’d be one bit interested in the painting,” Ms. Shane, the artist who lives in Ashford, said during a post-painting cocktail party organized by the Connecticut River Museum.

It is such instantaneous inspiration, along with the ever-changing natural light and its play on outdoor hues, that sets plein-air painting apart, said the artists who work in the tradition of 19th-century French and American masters such as Claude Monet and Childe Hassam.  Money and Hassam are among a group of artists who caused a stir in the art world when they first moved canvases and easels out of their studios to work outdoors.

“When you are painting outside, it is always about the light,” said David Lussier, a Woodstock artist who has been president of the Connecticut society for three years.  “It’s not really about the scene itself.”
Jane Zisk, a Wethersfield artist, founded the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society in 1995.  In much the same way as plein-air painters formed art colonies in Old Lyme and Cos Cob around the turn of the 20th century.  Ms. Zisk said she wanted to bring contemporary outdoor artists together for companionship and mutual support.

Society members now frequently paint and exhibit together, as well as conduct juried art auctions and painting demonstrations.  The group has 75 general and elected members.  While general members include part-time painters, the elected members who are participating in the Connecticut River Invitational are full-time professional artists whose work is represented by galleries throughout Connecticut and in many other states.

The invitational was not the first time the society had participated in events that showcase its artists’ works while highlighting the need to preserve the unique landscape on which they depend.  For three summers, for example, the group participated in the Connecticut Farmland Trust summer Celebration of Connecticut Farmlands.

Proceeds from art auctions at the events were donated to the trust.

The Connecticut River Plein Air Invitational, a joint effort of the society and the Connecticut River Museum, is one of the most ambitious projects the group has undertaken because it is longer and includes several events, Ms. Zisk said.

“We’ve all painted along the Connecticut River many times,” said Katherine Simmons, the Glastonbury artist who helped organize the invitational.  “David Lussier made the connection with the museum.  It was a perfect marriage of interests.”