Saluda artist Jim Carson has been accepted to the Seventh Annual Plein Air Easton Festival and Competition held in Easton, Md., from July 17 – 24. Carson was one of only 50 artists chosen from hundreds of applications from around the world.

With Easton’s excellent reputation and more than $22,000 in prize money, it is one of the biggest and most competitive plein air festivals in the United States. At last year’s festival, more than $263,000 worth of original artwork was sold in just three days.

The artists will paint the vistas in the town of Easton, as well as the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding countryside.

The paintings are judged on Friday, after which there is a Collector’s Preview Party on Friday night, where the paintings will be for sale. The blank canvasses are stamped prior to the week to ensure that they were painted on site and during that week. The paintings are available to the public in shows held on Saturday and Sunday.

The Easton Festival will be featured in the summer edition of “Plein Air Magazine,” and was already featured in the spring edition, in an article titled, “What Makes a Plein Event Successful.”

Carson’s next local workshop will be in Saluda, June 2 – 4, titled “Painting Fast and Loose.” This workshop will focus on seeing values.

For more information, contact Carson at jimcarson@tds.net, visit www.jimcarson.net or call 828-749-3702.

– article submitted by Jim Carson