The Coachella Valley’s history of plein-air painting dates to the mid-1880s, when the Southern Pacific Railroad put down tracks through the desert and allowed artists to ride in exchange for their paintings, which the railroad used in advertisements promoting travel to the West. Many top artists of the era came through the desert. Some continued to the emerging artist colonies along the California coast — Laguna Beach, Santa Barbara, Carmel — and others settled into the otherworldly beauty of the Coachella Valley and the nearby Mojave Desert.
California Desert Plein Air — organized by the nonprofit Desert Plein Air Association in collaboration with Palm Springs Life and presented by the city of Palm Desert — begins anew. The event opens with four days of paint-outs at scenic locations in Coachella Valley, Box Canyon, the Salton Sea, and the Mojave Desert. More than 80 artists will pick and study their vantage points, paint on site, and submit their canvases for the exhibition and judging at the Artists Center in Palm Desert. The award reception is set for Jan. 15th. The exhibition, which concludes on February 8th, includes a category of desert landscape paintings completed in the artists’ studios, expanding the scope of paintings available to view and purchase.