25 03, 2022

There Is No Time Like Now

2022-03-25T12:38:41-04:00

Little tiny buds are peeking out of the flowerbeds and grass. Brilliant green is starting to come out of the otherwise dead-looking trees, and the warmth of the sun and longer days are strong indicators that spring has arrived. Bluebonnets are covering local roadsides, and soon, maybe today, I’ll be out painting them.

Like spring, I love the reckless unbridled passion of youth and its boundless hope as we bud and blossom into adulthood to take us to our careers and our purposes. 

As a young budding entrepreneur in my 20s, I was filled with passion, hope, and giant dreams. But I was also smart enough to know I did not know it all (though there were times when I thought I did). So, to grow my skills, I went to a seminar and saw the legendary insurance billionaire W. Clement Stone (1902-2002) . At the time Stone was probably 70 and filled with incredible wisdom and energy. He was the first motivational speaker I ever saw.

Desperate and in Debt

I remember Stone talking about his plight growing up, his circumstances of being extremely poor. His dad died when he was really young, leaving the family with a lot of debt, so to supplement his mom’s dressmaker income, he started selling newspapers on the corner. But money was tight, and there was never enough. Mr. Stone talked about how he was trying to figure out how to make more money selling papers to survive, and how he had the idea to enlist his friends and get them selling papers for him on commission. At age 8 or 10, he was supporting his family and bringing in more income than his mother.

Before long he started selling insurance, and just about 20 years later, using the same principle of getting others to help him multiply his income, he managed to get a thousand people to sell for him. That gave him enough money to start his own insurance company, which had a billion dollars in assets by 1979.

Leverage Is Critical

Stone told us that he learned about leverage because of necessity. Even though everyone had told him he could not survive and could not support his mom and family at such a young age, he worked smart instead of just working hard. 

I remember him saying that no matter how hard he worked by himself, his income was limited because there were only so many hours in the day and only so many newspapers he could personally sell. And it wasn’t enough to solve his problem. His needs were high, so he had to figure out how to get more money while working the same number of hours. Again, he was a kid of 8 or 10, enlisting other kids to sell papers for him.

A Rare Billionaire

Stone became a billionaire (unheard of at the time) by setting high goals and figuring out how to overcome the time it would normally take to hit those goals. His lessons in youth set the tone for how he did business in his 100 years of life.

Most of us who set goals, myself included, set a goal for five years out, and figure out how to ramp up over the years to hit that goal. Stone said his success was based on compressing five years into one year. 

“Everyone will tell you it’s impossible to hit a five-year goal in one year, and to them, it’s not possible. But you can do it now if you simply figure out how to leverage others to hit it faster.”

Standing on stage in front of a giant auditorium of people, he had us chanting: “DO IT NOW!”

What are your dreams? 

What are your goals?

Is there a way you can achieve those dreams this year?

Are you telling yourself it’s impossible? 

I don’t claim to be as mentally strong as Stone, and I’m certainly not a billionaire, but his philosophy has helped me throughout my career. “What can we get done this year instead of waiting a few years?” I’ve been known to say. And I’m often accused of pushing too hard to get things done early. Now you understand why.

A Series of Questions

When I catch myself saying, “There is no way I could do that this year,” I try to stop myself and ask, “How is it possible to do it anyway? If I had unlimited resources, could I do it?”

Stone taught me that “unlimited resources” is the right way to think about crushing a goal in less time. Start there, then ask yourself how you can get those resources now. Then, if it’s super expensive, ask yourself how you could get those same resources with less money, or no money.

“Most people stop asking themselves questions too soon. They simply stop with the fact that it’s impossible. But keep asking more questions, and more on top of those, and even more until you figure out a way. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. Drill down till you find answers.”

My mentor Keith Cunningham likes to say that all the answers are in the questions, and that if we all spent more time thinking, we would save a lot of time with answers that often speed up our progress.

What about you?

A Major Goal Accomplished

A couple of years ago I declared that I wanted to teach a million people to paint. “But how do I reach a million people?” I asked myself. My answer was to buy advertising. But then I told myself I could not afford it. So, once I came to that conclusion, I asked how I could do it for free or with a low investment. The answer that came was a daily Facebook/YouTube live broadcast, which during COVID reached far more than a million people. (In fact, I was in Mexico last week when I was stopped on the street by a local man who watches me on the Internet.)

If you pose the questions, the answers will come. If they don’t come, ask more questions. Eventually the impossible becomes possible. 

Belief Trumps Doubt

  1. Clement Stone told a room of a few hundred people that some of us would go home and do it now, and the rest of us would never believe it’s possible and may never realize our dreams.

But those who do will live rich lives with a lot of satisfaction, having lived their dreams.

His advice: Do It now. Find a way.

Eric Rhoads

PS: The pandemic kicked us all in the gut. In my case, my business was on life support, my live events were canceled multiple times, and I’ve been anxious to bring them back. Thankfully, the Plein Air Convention WILL happen this May in Santa Fe. That is great news because we can get the gang back together. The bad news is, I’m being restricted. I can only have 750 people because they still want us to socially distance. So, by the time we add up the people who are registered, the faculty and staff, as of today, I have exactly 97 seats left. 

If you’ve always wanted to go or are planning to go, I highly recommend you grab your seat and hotel room now. 

Here’s what’s happening at my company Streamline at the moment…

Our next virtual event, Pastel Live, is happening in August. About 40% of the people who attended PleinAir Live have already signed up. It’s going to be fun, fun, fun!

There Is No Time Like Now2022-03-25T12:38:41-04:00
19 03, 2022

See Through Your Filters

2022-03-19T20:39:40-04:00

Peacefully, I sit staring out at the gnarly oaks, twisting and moving in all directions. In the distance, a barely visible gray mountain and a dull white sky. Soon sprinkles begin, and the mountain disappears as the clouds move toward this old porch overlooking the vast Texas land. Suddenly, I’m disrupted by barking dogs, tearing off my red wicker couch to chase a rogue squirrel who dares to dart into their territory. Sniffing and barking, they look aimlessly around, not understanding the squirrel went up a tree. It’s entertaining the first time it happens, but by the fifth time, it’s a little disruptive.

The Camera Lens

Years ago, when I was in my early 20s, I supplemented my radio DJ income as a wedding photographer. I had studied under Rocky Gunn (1940-1983), who was considered one of the best. He taught me a ton of techniques to make spectacular and interesting photos, one of which was the use of filters. For instance, I had a filter that made the photos look dreamy, another that colored the entire photo in a color like red or blue, another that made the sky darker. Anyone who knows photography knows filters.

But most of us don’t know about the filters that color our lives. We each have a set or two, and as in photography, if we were to use the same filters in every shot, our photos would have no variety and everything would be the same.

Recently when I spoke of disruption, I mentioned that rarely can someone “inside” come up with disruptive ideas because they are too close to things. That closeness is a filter.

Reinventing Radio

In 1999, when I started RadioCentral, one of the very first Internet radio companies, I had success raising money from people outside the radio industry (and raised millions). But those inside the industry, who had the most to gain, were reluctant to participate. They could not see (or admit) that they would be disrupted by music online. Their lens was colored with the idea that radio has to be delivered through a transmitter, and they thought consumers would never get their music through their phones — people wouldn’t want a small speaker, they couldn’t easily listen in their cars, and the cost of data for music streams would be too much. Costly it was, at the time, but soon – like so many things — it no longer was. Though I was unable to keep my company going after the 9/11 recession, other disruptors came along, following in my footsteps and doing it better. Those disruptors could see things even I could not see, and as a result companies like Spotify approached things with a very smart membership model. I was too close to it and did not believe people would pay for their music. I was wrong because of my filter.

Golden Light

Our filters create a bias. For instance, ever since I became an artist, I see everything through the eyes of an artist. One day, at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, I had gone to dinner with two or three friends who owned radio stations. We were walking down the street in Boston right as the golden afternoon light was washing the red brick buildings. I saw the light, saw its beauty, and thought about how I would paint it. When I pointed it out to them, they glanced and moved on, thinking I was just weird. One of the biases I fight is that I tend to make decisions in my business based on what artists need, which helps me relate and give people what they want, but it can also keep me from seeing where things are going and how things should be done.

Roadblocks

In my art marketing classes, which I hold annually at our Plein Air Convention, I’m teaching a room of a thousand or more artists, and I try to get them to embrace new ideas about selling art. Usually about 10 percent in the room embrace them, and the others cling to “that’s not the way things are done.” The bias is like handcuffs, preventing them from moving forward. That same bias has gotten in my way many times, even though I’m aware of it.

Angry and Negative

We also have emotional filters. Tony Robbins is the first I’ve ever heard point this out, in his new book, Life Force. Some of us have angry filters; we’re just angry at the world. Others have skeptical filters and are skeptical about everything, and others have loving filters, believing that everyone is loving and therefore treating everyone with acceptance.

Emotional filters can serve us well. There are times when being a skeptic is a good thing, times when accepting everyone is a good thing. But when these filters are applied all the time, it can hurt us. Ever know a Negative Nelly, someone who looks at the world and finds something negative to say about everything?

This Is Who You Should Hate

We also have filters based on our beliefs. At the moment, the filter is that Russians are bad and Ukrainians are good. Those filters are being reinforced by the images and video we’re seeing. And in America, we’ve always been told Russia is the enemy and is bad. When I started visiting there to paint, I changed my perception because of some of the amazingly sweet people I’ve met. I did not meet anyone who fit the narrative we’ve seen in the movies. My filter now tells me that some Russians, or Russian leaders, or Russian oligarchs, or the Russian Mafia, are bad, but the people I know in that country are just as upset as we are.

Finding Common Ground

Tony Robbins was teaching when the Twin Towers were hit on 9/11, and there were people in the room who worked in the towers, people who later found they had lost family, and a few people from other countries who were ambivalent about the action or even called it “justice.” The conflict was polarizing. And because they were all stuck there anyway, he helped them see how their filters were preventing them from seeing the viewpoints of others. Once they opened up and saw other perspectives, they understood one another and came to peace.

The One and Only Way

Religions — or the lack of belief — are also filters that color our biases and perceptions. The media has often portrayed Christians as nerds and bigots, yet I’ve found the opposite to be true. In America some have portrayed Muslims as different or maybe dangerous, yet through my daily broadcasts with international artists, I’ve made friends in Egypt and other countries only to find them to be sweet people. We are brought together by our commonalities, and though we might not see eye-to-eye on who our God is, or what happens to us when we die, sometimes our filters prevent us from being willing to listen to one another and see others’ point of view.

Blue Vs. White

Filters run deep because of our upbringing. Think of the differences in the ways you might perceive the world if you grew up as a blue collar worker in a union town, versus growing up middle class with parents who worked as executives. I’ve had people tell me that all corporations are evil, and that “the man” is out to get them, to squash them down. I’ve also had people tell me blue collar workers are lazy and deserve their low income because they are not willing to step up and do anything extra to get ahead, they just want to put in their eight hours and go to the bar. Neither is accurate, but our filters influence our thinking.

Stupid People

Our world is polarized because of our political filters, and the media we follow tends to distort things, finding and highlighting the worst examples. Too often we look at the other side with pity, or we mock them for their stupidity in believing what they believe. But what if we gathered information on our own, did not believe everything we’re told, and were willing to listen to our friends on the other side? We’re all too quick to judge. Families are divided because one cannot tolerate anyone with a different opinion. How sad is that?

I’m not suggesting you change all your filters. Our filters make up who we are.

But what if a filter is preventing you from doing something that will make life better?

What if it’s preventing you from seeing something that would strengthen your business, your job, or your artwork or hobby?

Awareness is the first step to not allowing our filters to control us.

Finish this sentence:

I see myself as…

What is the first thing that comes to mind? What comes next? What’s after that?

Now ask yourself: How is this helping me? And how is it hurting me or my relationships with others?

Fresh Eyes

Since I started painting years ago, I see myself as an artist, a painter, an oil painter. I was reluctant to try other things because I still have not mastered oil painting. Yet when I created my virtual art conferences and they were teaching watercolor in one and pastel in another, it opened my eyes, taught me new things that helped me take up these other mediums. Though I was uncomfortable at first, I now happily embrace these mediums and techniques, and they have given me new freedom, new ideas, and made me feel more balanced.

You can tell from the paragraph above that my lens is that of an artist, yet tens of thousands of people reading this have never picked up a paintbrush, and their filters may be telling them they have no ability or talent (something I can prove wrong), or just that they have no interest.

If I were into antique cars, my filter would lead me to sharing different examples.

How are your filters serving you?

How are they hurting you?

Where are they getting in your way?

Where are they hurting relationships?

Where are they preventing you from seeing opportunity or disruption?

How do others perceive you, and are they right?

Filters prevent us from being situational. If my filter is anger or negativity, I’m always looking for problems, or always wondering why everyone does not see my viewpoint. And that could be hampering my relationships and opportunities.

The Wedding I Screwed Up

I once shot a wedding where my film was bad in many of the shots, and the only things left that came out nice were the filtered shots, which the client hated. I was not paid, and endured (rightly so) an angry lecture. Not everyone likes the filters you like.

Over the years, some filters remain while new filters are added. My interests in photography, technology, marketing, radio and TV broadcasting, podcasting, etc., have made me more well rounded, yet during those periods in my life, I saw everything through that lens, and it discolored opportunity.

Your filters are who you are, but they don’t have to be.

Eric Rhoads

PS: Last week I mentioned the need for spontaneity, so Laurie and I got on a plane (the first in a long, long time) and headed to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. It made me realize how much I’ve missed travel and exposure to new things. Today, we return home, with our brains having been exposed to new things, new perspectives, and added filters.

My next big adventure will be our annual Plein Air Convention in Santa Fe. We get beginners, people who’ve never painted, as well as experienced pros. We learn from top people on four stages teaching oil painting, watercolor, pastel, acrylic, and other things. We go paint together (which is loads of fun). If you’ve never done anything like that, and if you are in a high-stress job, or you are just looking for more in your life to add filters to your bag, take the risk and join us. You’ll easily meet others, make friends, and gain a new perspective on life. Don’t tell yourself you can’t do it (a filter getting in the way) but that you should try it and find out.

Here’s what’s happening at my company Streamline at the moment…

Our next virtual event, Pastel Live, is happening in August. About 40% of the people who attended PleinAir Live have already signed up. It’s going to be fun, fun, fun!

See Through Your Filters2022-03-19T20:39:40-04:00
11 03, 2022

How to Put Excitement in Your Life

2022-03-11T12:51:53-05:00

Brilliant lime green blades of grass are popping up among the old dry winter grasses here at my Austin, Texas, property. Little buds are starting to force their way through the dirt, and if we’re lucky, some colorful spring flowers will soon decorate our flower beds. Warm bright sunshine is providing nourishment to my light-starved soul, which is ready for winter and frigid temperatures to take a vacation for about eight months.

An Exhausting but Fun Week

If you see a typo or two this morning, forgive me. I’m dragging. Exhausted from hosting four days of 8-plus-hour days on a live stream for our PleinAir Live event, which had a massive audience of landscape artists. We had over 30 top instructors doing demonstrations, and people tuning in from all corners of the earth. If you were a part of that group, I deeply appreciate your participation. I’m totally ready for a vacation. Maybe I’ll be spontaneous and take one.

You Wanna Go Where?

Decades ago, when my wife worked for an airline, spontaneity guided a hectic travel schedule. Though I was busily starting my business and working 17-hour days, seven days a week, if my wife got a weekend off or a long weekend, we would take an unplanned trip. On Thursday afternoon or Friday we would drive to the airport, look at the monitor overhead, pick an interesting flight to someplace we had never been, and if there was space, we would board the aircraft and fly for free. We could even upgrade to First Class for an extra $50 at the time, and if it was an overseas flight, we could upgrade for $150. (We rarely did that because we had so little money.) We would then arrive and visit a hotel that had discounts for airline employees. We always managed to find a room. When I’ve told friends about this, they’ve often reacted with a gasp. “I could never do that! I plan my travel months in advance.” 

When I was a kid, we rarely took a family vacation because of my dad’s busy work schedule. But one Saturday morning Dad woke us all early and said, “Pack a bag — we’re going to be gone for a week. We’re leaving in one hour.” He did not tell us where we were going.

A Lifetime Memory

We got in the old blue 1964 Oldsmobile and drove east, but he refused to tell us where we were going. My brothers and I kept guessing as we would see road signs, but we were always wrong. After about two days of driving, we saw a sign for New York City, and we drove into Manhattan, pulled up at a swanky hotel, and Dad said, “We’re home.” We then went to the 1965 World’s Fair, which was very cool.

Wanna Move?

I suppose my spontaneity gene came from my dad and our frequent last-minute adventures. Laurie and I had someone come to the door wanting to buy our house, and three weeks later we were living in a different city because we thought it would be fun. We’ve told ourselves we wanted to move about every decade. We get to know a city, make friends, then go elsewhere and do it again. Though we may be missing out on the security of a lifetime in one place, we’ve been invigorated by change.

What about you?

What invigorates you?

In what ways are you spontaneous?

Nuts for Ruts

We all have our routines that become ruts. We tend to repeat the same routines daily — we go to the same restaurants, we hang with the same people, we go to the same church. Sometimes we’ll go weeks in a rut, and I’ll just want to scream, “Get me outta here!” Then I’ll look for something I’ve never done before, just to break the ruts. 

Boredom Drives Me

People sometimes ask how I’ve built so many businesses, and the answer is simple. I get bored and have to find new things to occupy my time. I still love them, I never let go of them or sell them, but if I don’t have a new project every couple of years, it drives me insane. And my team will tell you I drive them nuts because I’ll drop in a few spontaneous projects a year. Sometimes they are a waste of time and a distraction, and sometimes they are a success. But in every case, I’ve broken my boredom and I’ve learned something.

In the last two years we’ve seen more change than ever. “Life is short, then you die” has been a little too close to home. 

What have you never done because you lacked the courage?

What do you have to lose?
How will you feel when you look back from your deathbed, not having completed that dream?

What are you waiting for?

You are capable of almost anything. You don’t even have to know how to do it, you simply have to commit to it and start. The answers will be revealed to you as you seek them. 

I want to encourage you to be spontaneous, to have some fun, to get out of your rut, and to revisit your dreams, and then launch them. You can do this — no special skills, no special gifts.
If we were all a little like Elon Musk, who comes up with ideas and then drives them to the moon, we would have a richer, more meaningful life.

Oh, and it’s not about money (though it can be). What drives people like Musk is the challenge of proving to himself and naysayers that the impossible is possible. That has always driven me.

I can look back on billion-dollar ideas I had that I never acted on, only to see someone else do it five years later. I’m done doing that. I’m going to go for it.

Are You READY to Be Spontaneous?

Spontaneity requires an idea, then a bold move to go forward. Do one thing today that is completely fresh, new, and spontaneous. You’ll get addicted. Trust me.

Eric Rhoads

PS: Years ago I had this spontaneous idea to create a giant dinner party with a few hundred artists. I dreamed we would all sit around a huge table, eat together, paint together, and the best would teach the rest of us. When I awoke from that dream, I pulled the trigger immediately and started working on my dream for the Plein Air Convention, a five-day event of painting, training, and lots of fun and friends. Naysayers were critical and shot the idea down. People told me no one would ever come, yet this May we’ll be sold out, and probably have 1,200 people, our biggest yet. 

Some people have told me, “I’m not good enough to come,”  or,  “I don’t know anyone,” or, “I’m not good at plein air painting,” or “I’m not sure I’ll fit in.” Stop the excuses and be spontaneous. You’ll never regret it.  

I’ll be wearing green this week on Thursday. I think I’ll go paint something green. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

Here’s what’s happening at my company Streamline at the moment…

Our next virtual event, Pastel Live, is happening in August. About 40% of the people who attended PleinAir Live have already signed up. It’s going to be fun, fun, fun!

How to Put Excitement in Your Life2022-03-11T12:51:53-05:00
4 03, 2022

Seasons of Passion

2022-03-04T10:55:39-05:00

Bright light burns into my retinas as I step on to the back porch in my bare feet. The sky is intense, shining brightly after days of gray soup, sleet, and ice. Goosebumps pop up along with the hairs on my bare arm as I leave the warm air inside to be assaulted by the cold outdoors. Yet hope for a warmer day and early signs of spring are on today’s agenda.

I Met a Girl

As a young teen, probably 14, I saw a girl at a party, and she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I watched and stared until I got up the courage to ask her to dance, and we danced to “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Slow dancing, with a beautiful girl, was something that had never happened to me. The feeling was incredible. 

Soon my mom was dropping me off at her house — supervised, of course. I remember one day, after a harsh winter, at the first sign of spring, probably 50 degrees, we walked to a local park and laid out on a blanket looking up at the sky, celebrating the return of warmer air and sunshine. The park was filled that day with others doing the same, as if it were summer. All celebrating spring in unison.

Old Flames Die Out

My time with that girl ended at some point, I’m not sure why, but to this day I hold that first innocent exposure to boy-meets-girl dear in my heart. Like many of our old flames, I sometimes saw her on Facebook. We were both in a local “Up with People” group back then, where we developed a lot of friendships. She married one of the other boys, and after decades together, he passed a few years ago. She seems to have disappeared. 

One Sunday, while I was still seeing this girl, we hopped in the car, drove an hour or two with her mom, and drove through the gates of a big property with lots of red brick houses, a vivid memory. Soon we were sitting and talking with her dad. Until then, I had no idea he was in a rehab facility. It was my first realization that alcoholism existed and that it could tear families apart. But weeks later, he returned home, and things felt back to normal.

Other Passions

Not only was I in love with his daughter (at least I thought I was), I had fallen in love with radio. I had managed to get a Saturday and Sunday radio show on a local college station, and so anything to do with radio was cool to me. Knowing that, her dad found and restored an old radio as a gift to me. That led me to a lifetime of collecting antique radios — a passion I lost a decade ago, selling most of them off, but keeping a few favorites. That one I’ll never sell.

Looking back on my passions, my interests, and even my love interests, some stuck, while others lasted only a little while. Some I loved so passionately, I made deep commitments, but others were shed after a season.

Few Things Stick

In almost every case, I had told myself that this interest, this passion, would never die, but only a few things have stuck throughout my life. It’s why, when I’m coaching my son about his passion for a girl who does not seem to share his feelings, I can lend the perspective that she probably won’t be the only one. But to him, as it did with me, it seems like the end of the world.

Love Lost, Again

I can remember sitting on the edge of my bed, sobbing, with my grandmother comforting me over the loss of another girl who was, at the time, my great love (there were many, till I found my true great love). It was the end of the world, I could not go on without her. But I healed, and when she came back to me many years later in hopes of getting together again, I had moved on. She popped in to explore getting back together several times over the years, perhaps realizing that she did feel the same for me as I had for her. Even toward the end of her life, she approached me again, but I was in a better place.

Floating in the Clouds

In the moment, we lose perspective, we are smitten with passion, we are addicted to the dopamine rush — there is no better feeling than floating on the cloud of new love. Practicality rarely enters the room when new love is present. But eventually it rears its ugly head, at which time we realize it’s either time to go, or time to stay. And if we’re really lucky, we realize that there is more to life than fresh and new, and it’s replaced by stable and secure, with the realization that the depth of love isn’t fireworks, but a small burning candle that never goes out, even when the trials of life and child-rearing take their toll. There are times when the wind is blowing and the flame flickers, and there are moments when it briefly seems to die but soon reignites itself. True love is an eternal flame. I’m lucky to have found that.

Fields of Flowers

Springtime, like fresh love, brings new hope. Soon, here in Texas, fields will be covered with bluebonnets as far as the eye can see, followed by fields of orange flowers called Indian paintbrush, followed by the LYFs (little yellow flowers). 

And spring will come to you soon. After the harshness of winter, spring renews our spirit. Life isn’t all springtime; we have to endure all the seasons, including the autumn, when the leaves of love and passion fall, and the winter, when everything freezes. But when facing those moments, there is hope knowing that spring and summer are around the corner, even though sometimes it seems the winter moments in life will never end. They always do. 

Eric Rhoads

PS: Lately I’ve been doing a lot of playing. Last week I tried my first portraits in watercolor. Though not terribly successful, I learned a lot and became inspired to master the medium more (using much of what I learned at Watercolor Live). This week, I bought about 50 pounds of Monster Clay and I’ve been doing my first full-size bust of a head, just to see if I can do it. I’m having a lot of fun trying things I’ve not done before, and it’s making me more excited about everything else. I encourage you to play, to get outside your comfort zone, try something new, get out of your routines.

This week, starting Wednesday the 9th with Beginner/Refresher Day, is my virtual conference called PleinAir Live. If you don’t know the term, plein air is a French term that has come to mean outdoor painting. This virtual conference is all about landscape painting (studio and outdoors), and it features 30 of the best landscape painters alive, including people teaching from other countries. We will have a massive audience, a chance to learn for three days, March 10-12 (four days if you do the Beginner/Refresher day on the 9th, which you can sign up for without the rest of the event). And there are replays you can watch if you can’t make the dates or if you want to rewatch. This might just be the thing you need to pull you out of your comfort zone.

Also going on at Streamline this week…

Plein Air Salon Entry Deadline

$30,000 Art Competition/Deadline: March 31, 2022

Annual Winners Will Be Announced Live at PACE on May 17 in Santa Fe, NM.

Enter this monthly online competition to win cash prizes and recognition. Monthly category winners will be entered into the Annual Competition where the Grand Prize is $15,000 cash and the cover of PleinAir Magazine. Enter one of our 18 categories in plein air and in studio painting.

Learn more. Share

3rd Annual Plein Air Live Virtual Conference

Virtual Event: March 9-12, 2022

Beginners Day: March 9

March 6 is the last day to save up to $300 on a ticket

Replays available if you can’t make the date.

PleinAir magazine presents Plein Air Live, a 4-day online training event featuring 30 of the world’s top landscape and plein air artists doing demonstrations and presentations. Join thousands of artists from around the world to take your work to the next level and learn about the plein air lifestyle and how to become a part of it.

Learn more.

Seasons of Passion2022-03-04T10:55:39-05:00