Plein Air Washington started out in 2001 when Sylvia Carlton was encouraged by
Ned Mueller to organize a group of Plein Air Painters in Washington State.  The
original group ‘Washington Plein Air Painters’ started out as a scattered Puget
Sound group with a nucleus of 6-8 Bainbridge Island Painters. As word spread and
regular paintouts occurred the small group grew. By 2002 many new painters from
all over the west side of the state joined the ranks of ‘weathered’ painters,
taking workshops together and painting out solo or in small groups. In the summer
of 2003 enthusiasm had increased and weekly paintouts were started, membership
spread. In October 2003 we held our first annual public show and sale. Twelve
artists participated contributing 62 pieces of quality Plein Air artwork. Since
then membership has snowballed to well over 70 participating artists and growing.
The 2005, 2nd Annual juried Show had 40 artist’s contributing over 140 paintings;
with 28 artist’s and 41 paintings selected to be shown. In March 2005 we launched
our web site promoting our art, informing our artists, and reaching out to plein
air painters.