Autry Masters of the American West Paintout 2104 - Descanso Gardens

Saturday, October 25th, 2014 marked the 10th outing of the Masters of the American West Paintout and was held for the first time at the beautiful Descanso Gardens in La Cañada-Flintridge.

The Paintout began as a collaboration between the California Art Club and the Autry National Center.  John Geraghty, the primary force behind the Autry's Masters of the American West  worked with CAC Executive Director Elaine Adams to come up with an event which allows top collectors from both the CAC and the Autry to enjoy the day watching and getting to better know these top flight artists.  The Autry has produced the event since the inception while artists participating in the event come from the ranks of the Masters of the American West and top California Art Club artists.  For the past several years, fellow Autry Trustee Calvin Gross and I have served as the Co-Chairs for the event.

John Geraghty and Molly Campbell

About the Organizations

The Autry National Center is host to the annual Masters of the America West, one of the largest and most successful exhibitions and sales of fine western, southwestern and California art in the world.  Every year, collectors from around the country gather together to compete to purchase paintings and sculpture by some of the very top artists of this genre, producing several million dollars in sales in a single evening.  The works of art remain on exhibit for a month or more at the Autry Museum.  The upcoming Masters of the American West will be held beginning January 31, 2015.

For more information see: Masters of the American West.

The California Art Club is one of the oldest and largest professional artists organizations supporting artists who paint and sculpt fine traditional representational art in the tradition of the great California artists of the early 20th century.  Founded in 1909, the organization hosts multiple artists workshops, exhibitions, dinners and other functions every year.  The CAC's top exhibition is its annual Gold Medal Exhibition.  The 104th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition will be held beginning March 29th at the Fisher Museum of Art on the USC campus.

For more information see: California Art Club.

The Paintout

The annual Masters of the American West Paintout has grown from humble beginnings into a highly anticipated annual event. The first Paintouts were held at Malibu Creek State Park where artists and patrons enjoyed the beautiful natural setting and enjoyed box lunches at rustic picnic tables.  Over the years, the Paintout has shifted locations to the Abalone Cove Shoreline Park in Palos Verdes, the scenic Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains, the incredible Ventura Farms estate (owned by Dole Foods CEO David Murdock) in Thousand Oaks, the lovely oceanside Montage Resort in Laguna Beach.

This year's Paintout was held at the beautiful Descanso Gardens in La Cañada-Flintridge.  Many of the 25 or so artists situated themselves around the Japanese Tea Garden while others spread out to other areas around the 160 acre botanical garden.

Stephen Mirich painting at the Japanese Tea Garden

Michael Situ and Peter Adams painting the colorful orange bridge

Z. S. Liang painting the entrance to the Tea Garden

Michael Obermeyer at wor

Lynn Gertenbach painting at the duck pond

Brittany Weistling painting a rose

Morgan Weistling painting next to Brittany

JoAnn Peralta with CAC Chief Operating Officer Cathy Crowser

Gayle Garner Roski painting ducks at the pond

The grounds had their share of other attractions.  Deer roamed through the forests, ducks floated on the ponds, we came across little waterfalls and large displays of autumn decorations.  All were potential subjects for the artists.

Come noontime, all of the artists and collectors gathered together back at the Van De Kamp Hall where a luncheon was served to the 160 artists and guests.  Many of the artists displayed their finished and partially finished paintings around the edges of the room. Collectors were free to discuss purchase of individual paintings with the artists and several paintings were sold.

The photographs presented here show only a small selection of the artists, guests and paintings that were present at the event.  A full selection of photos are posted on a gallery here.  If you would like to know about next year's Paintout, send me an email and I will be sure to let you know when the invitations come out!

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/Autry-Paintout-2014

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