California artist Bill Perkins helped co-found the Plein-air Artists of California in 1983, and has been a member of the Plein-air Painters of America since 1985.
Perkins is a recognized teacher. He has taught at the Art Center College of Design and Associates in Art and is currently an instructor at Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.
I wrote about Perkins in 2007, when I emphasized his career as a concept artist and art director for companies like Walt Disney Feature Animation, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, ILM, and 9th Ray Studios.
Perkins has a production design studio called High Street Studio. Unfortunately, there is not a site devoted to his plein-air painting. His Bill Perkins Studio site hasn’t been updated since June of 2008. There is an article about both aspects of his career on Articles & Texticles.
Perkins will be giving a one and two day “Plein Air Painting Workshop with Models” in the Pasadena area on September 19th & 20th, 2009.
According to Thomas Brillante, who is apparently helping to co-ordinate the event, “This workshop covers plein air techniques with focusing on changing light and capturing light. There will be lots of demos through out the day and personal instruction.”
The workshop will be limited to about 12-14 artists a day. Contact information is on the flyer posted here.
I learned something very interesting from this post. One of my favorite authors about Mexico is Francis Hopkinson Smith. Among many other talents he possessed that of a very accomplished water color artist. He wrote a book about his travels in Mexico titled “A White Umbrella in Mexico”. After reading your post and looking up the meaning of “plein-air art” I understand the significance of the “white umbrella”. Thank you :)
Thanks for the tip… The paintings you’ve posted of Mr. Perkins’ work are gorgeous. Now I’ve got to find out more about him by clicking the rest of your links!!
Interesting note. Thanks.