Artists paint in the open air

Twenty-three adults and 11 children were drawn to the Metolius River on Saturday for the second annual Plein Air Paint Out.

Artist Kathy Deggendorfer was approached by the National Forest Foundation, the non-profit arm of the

U.S. Forest Service, last year to support trails events in the Sisters Country. She was excited about doing it, with one caveat: she wanted to incorporate the arts.

Thus grew the first paint out, which was held on Whychus Creek as part of a restoration project. This year the Metolius is garnering a lot of attention.

"When I spoke with Betsy Johnson, a family friend," Deggendorfer said, "she was very excited about doing the paint out."

The Johnson family property at the Head of the Metolius is not normally open to the public, but conservation efforts to preserve the Metolius have long been a Johnson family mission.

"Sam (Johnson) began negotiations with the Forest Service in the '60s," USFS Ecologist Maret Pajutee told the painters. "It was one of the early projects in the world of conservation."

Artists had four hours to create winning landscapes and could pick their site, selecting either the overlook to the headwaters of the Metolius, Riverside Campground, or the Johnson family property.

Children under the supervision of artist Clay Warburton painted on the Johnson property and competed for Best of Show and Honorable Mention. Like the adults, their winning paintings will be used on postcards and as promotional pieces for various forest service projects.

Sisters Park & Recreation District provided a class with Warburton the day before, giving kids the opportunity to practice painting on canvas.

"The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce really made this event possible for us," said Cindy Crowder, SPRD office coordinator. "And Karly Hedrick (Sisters Volunteer Bank Coordinator) worked to put it all together."

Founding members of the Plein Air Painters of Oregon (PAPO), Kay and Gordon Baker brought their brushes from Bend to paint along the river's rushing waters.

"When I was young I was an only child with lots of time and enjoyed drawing horses," Kay said.

A mentor challenged her to bring the spirit and emotion she put into her horse drawings into all her work. Locally, Kay's work is exhibited at High Desert Gallery in Sisters and occasionally at the High Desert Museum in Bend. Her husband Gordon was a past President of PAPO.

Another founding PAPO member, Ron Raasch shared stories about his art projects over lunch. Raasch, like most artists, has his favorite mediums. His are acrylics, soft pastels, and watercolor.

"I have been painting for 67 years. Drawing wasn't encouraged when I was young because no one could make money as a painter," said Raasch, with an "if they could see me now" twinkle in his eye.

A ranch owner from Powell Butte, he paints landscapes, scenes of ranch life, caricatures and business art.

Katy Grant Hanson is no stranger to the Metolius. A former Camp Sherman resident, she has been painting along the river for years.

"I painted the Metolius and Mt. Jefferson, and a view I did 10 years ago," Hanson said, "but I like my painting now a lot better. The grasses have grown up, but I still got the river."

The paintings were framed, stamped and gathered on the lawn on one side of the Johnson house while artists waited in anticipation for over an hour for judges Troy Collins, Nancy Stonington, and Norma Holmes to select the winning entries.

Jerry Dame, who started his artistic career painting pin stripes on everything from automobiles to horse drawn carriages, won Best in Show. Patricia Gifford, David Kinker, Nancy Misek and Nicholas Mullahey all received Honorable Mention.

In the children's competition, Adam Novotny won Youth Best in Show and Colton Seymour received Youth Honorable Mention.

Sisters Art Works, owned by Kathy Deggendorfer, is dedicating their entry gallery to exhibit the day's Plein Air paintings from September 24 to the end of October.