Sisters artist earns ribbon in paint-out

Sisters artist Randall Tillery received the "Cascade A&E Magazine Choice Award" for his painting "Morning in the Rock" at the second annual Smith Rock Paint Out hosted by the High Desert Art League.

The plein aire (outdoors) event started at 8 a.m. and all paintings needed to be completed, framed and turned in for judging by one p.m.

"I set up my easel on the far end of Smith Rock in the morning and did this painting in about a two-hour painting session," Tillery said.

The painting will now be part of the juried exhibition to be held at the Redmond Municipal Airport, which will run June 24 through August 17.

Tillery's paintings have won many awards, regionally and nationally; they have been used for magazine covers, and featured in the "Best of American Landscape Artists" book as well as being recently featured in Western Art Collector magazine.

"I lived for years in the beautiful surroundings of the California Gold Country but have just recently moved to Sisters, Oregon," he noted. "I feel blessed to now live here and be able to capture the beauty that I see every time I turn around. Painting the beauty of nature is really a rather spiritual feeling for me. Being able to capture and interpret the beauty that I see in nature is indeed a gift that I hold precious."

Tillery works both in his studio and plein air.

"I enjoy the change from outdoors work to studio work, but I feel it is critical that I paint from life as much as possible to maintain the freshness in my paintings," he said. "Painting plein air allows me to see the subtle value and temperature changes that are hard to detect when not painting from life. "

Tillery has been selected and participated in many regional and national plein air events over the years including such prestigious shows as the Estes Park Show in Colorado, the Carmel Plein Air Art Festival and the San Luis Obispo event, both held in California.

His works can be found in private collections throughout the United States as well as galleries in California and Oregon.

Locally, Randall's work can be seen at Don Terra Artworks in Sisters, 103-A E. Hood Ave. View Randall's artwork online at www.artbytillery.com.