Come and step into the illusory moments of plein air painting captured by local artists.

Orcas Art Studios is hosting a free “Landscape Painting Demo” at Eastsound Waterfront Park on Thursday, July 10 from 3 to 4 p.m. with Seattle artist Barbara Noonan.

The demo will be followed by “Plein Air Summer!” show reception at Orcas Art Studios from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring landscape paintings of nine local artists. The gallery is located at 286 Mt. Baker Rd. Suite A4 – Airport Center.

“En plein air,” a French expression for “in the open air,” has been practiced for centuries, but became popular with the help of French Impressionists.

Plein air painters set up their equipment on location and, in the limited amount of time they have, capture the essence of the scene that inspires them before the sun moves too far and changes the light completely.

“Everything that is painted directly and on the spot has always a strength, a power, a vivacity of touch, which one cannot recover in the studio… three strokes of a brush in front of nature are worth more than two days of work at the easel,”   wrote Eugene Boudin, one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.

For more information visit www.orcasartstudios.com/gallery/ or email info@orcasartstudios.com.