*Special Note: The Plein Air Convention is not a sponsor. Just a great event and I’m happy to share my experience with you.
I just returned from the Plein Air Convention in San Diego, and while it’s all fresh in my mind I thought you might enjoy some highlights and takeaways.
I started the trip by taking the legs and panel holder off my 35 year old French Easel (16th birthday present from my parents) so it could travel safely in the suitcase with my large RedCloud 90 packpack stuffed with my palette and supplies. It ended up not traveling safely though, because the baggage inspectors took everything out, broke a piece off the panel holder – the only part that has broken on my easel – and then shoved it all back into my suitcase (yes, I flew United…).
My Masters Pallet (created by Michael) got there and back in perfect condition – and as you will see in the photos, it was pure pleasure to paint with. My pallet was drooled all over when artists came and compared it with their tiny Pochade box palettes!
Pretty soon we’ll be ready to make the Masters Pallet available to ya’ll as well, so be sure to keep an eye out for that exciting announcement to get one of your own.
When I got to San Diego Eric Rhoads started the convention with a very convincing impersonation of the beloved Bob Ross.

Eric Rhoads as Bob Ross
See the Plein Air Wars poster behind Eric in the above picture? That was a ton of fun to watch! 5 painters competed and the audience decided on a different subject for each artist, and then they had to paint with their non-natural hand – right handers with left and vice versa. At the end the audience voted by sound-o-meter and the winner received $7000 worth of prizes.
Eric ran off stage for 30 seconds and came out a new man ready for some incredible events. He kept the energy level high and insisted that learning had to be fun – which has always been my sentiments when it comes to art training as well.

Eric Rhoads Welcoming us to PACE17
By then it was time to see the sights and apply some paint to panel right outside the doors of the Convention Center.
I only had about an hour before the sun set to capture some of the fascinating colors and movement in this Flame Coral Tree.

Flame Coral Tree 12×9 plein air study by Bill Inman
Thank goodness Kristie spent the day before the convention making power foods for me so that I could conquer the packed schedule – I never took a breakfast, lunch or dinner break – just snacked during presentations and ran from morning till I passed out late at night. I woke every morning at 5 (the 3-hour time difference was not kind) for prayer, scripture study and a dose of Living Fuel (the nutrition that keeps me going), then raced to get an early seat at the Art Marketing Boot Camp that started at 6:30 where over the course of 3 mornings I learned about the 10-10-10 system for increasing our painting sales and creating a lifelong engaging artist brand.

Insights Eric gained from Jay Abraham
Michael Godfrey was the first demo Tuesday morning and it was an awesome way to start the day off with a bang! What an incredible artist and instructor – very kind and generous. Fortunately, I got to see how masterful his paintings were ahead of time over the past 3 or 4 years at the Quest for the West show at the Eiteljorg in Indianapolis.
His demo was one of the great moments for me at the Convention – he was so well prepared and organized – with a couple almost-finished example paintings to work on to teach several techniques like scumbling and glazing for atmospheric effects. He had some great insights that I’m excited to share with the Master Oil Painting community at a later date.

Michael Godfrey
Jeremy Lipking is one of the leading figurative artists in the world today and a fantastic teacher – unfortunately the lighting did not cooperate during his demo, the glare overshadowed the colors so much we couldn’t see what he was teaching. That’s one of the perils of live action.

Jeremy Lipking
Fortunately technical problems like that were a rare occurrence at the conference – Eric and Ali (Eric’s behind the scenes magician of an assistant) spent two years planning and coordinating the substantial details to make the conference a stunning event. As much as I was disappointed with the lighting problem, I was overwhelmed with the significance of learning from so many of the world’s most accomplished painters – without needing to travel the world to do it.
As many of you already know, Quang Ho is a wunderkind – I’ve been told over and over that my paintings seem to materialize from a cacophony of colors, but you really need to see Quang perform his magic. It was a memorable and inspiring demonstration!

Quang Ho
That night we painted at Old Town San Diego where we had gorgeous views, good food (thanks to Kristie and my homemade Larabars) and entertainment – a live band was singing directly in front of my easel. I tried to capture those quirky and beautifully interesting trees on the hill, but failed handily – I should have started with a simple light and dark pattern, but tried to place too many small shapes at once on the panel – it was still great fun though, and I loved the experience of painting something that I’m not super familiar with.

Old Town San Diego
James Gurney gave a presentation that was incredible, and packed full of painting wisdom! It’s a good thing they offered us the option of purchasing the raw footage from the festival because I just couldn’t take notes fast enough.
His painting, as seen below, was in the show all week – painted entirely plein air! I wish I had thought to take my books by him– Color and Light, Imaginative Realism and Dinotopia (I and II)– with me to have him sign.

Robust Robot by James Gurney
Friday was reserved for painting together at Point Loma, and what a sight to witness 900 artists spread out painting in such a picturesque coastal peninsula.

Painting at Point Loma
I had some fun and spliced together a little footage for you to enjoy. And what better way to end a blog than with a short video of one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever painted?
I highly recommend attending next year if you’re able. I had a blast meeting other members of our Master Oil Painting community at the convention and would love to have more of you join us in Santa Fe for the 2018 Plein Air Convention. And yes, I’ve already signed up for it!
Now I have a ton to catch up on after my week of Plien Air fun and learning. Emails to answer, training videos to complete (including an upcoming Cross Country Plein Air training), paintings to finish up, and of course family to spend time with.
So go outside and have a great time observing the nuances and subtleties of nature, and maybe next year we’ll get a chance to paint together at the next Plein Air Convention.
Happy Painting!
Bill
I was also at the convention which was fascinating. I didn’t see anything about purchasing raw footage? Enjoyed your post. Are you willing to share what 20 10 10 means. Made it to the early Abraham presentation but the first two.
Hi Jacqueline, the unedited footage deal was a form in the packet they gave us – I almost missed it since I barely had time to look through everything. We had to pay and turn it in at the DVD booth before the end of the convention. Call them and let them know you didn’t see it – maybe they will still let you purchase.
The 10-10-10 system I will cover a little bit once I can refresh my understanding with the videos. I don’t want to cover things to in depth though since Eric sells the Boot Camp DVD’s and I know how expensive creating art events and videos can be – we need to recoup costs as much as possible to keep it all going.
The high energy festival activities aren’t really my personality – I’m super enthusiastic about art while being a fairly mild and thoughtful type, but I understood the need to keep the energy high – a week of fast paced activity can wear a person out. I would much rather Eric keep everything on the high energy side rather than on the put-us-to-sleep overly serious side.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it – what was your favorite part or presentation?
enjoyed it also when your wife wrote her article – she must be a very strong lady and looks well after you -thankyou
Thank you – she is an amazingly strong lady – one I admire immensely! I couldn’t be a full time artist and teacher without her.
Thanks for the wonderful coverage of the event. Put me on the list for that paint box..it holds brushes and all.
How does one find out about such events?
Can you share with us the basics of the 10 10 10 system…they say teaching is the best way to a good handle on a topic.
I love Asante Fe…Bishops is such a nice place to spent some time. How far ahead does one have to sign up? Is there a registration limit? It would be to see if the Cdn $ may go up a bit? before making any commitment.
Your welcome Janne.
I love the palette – once he made it for me and I saw how beautiful and functional it was we asked if he would be willing to make them for our community because we knew many would like a large painting area like I do. The brush holder is also removable which is nice if I’m in a hurry and just want to toss my brushes into the bin quickly. The other thing I love is that it closes with small magnets worked amazingly well and he sends two hooks that attach to the larger magnets you can see on the edge of the palette for a bungee cord that wraps around the back of my easel for especially windy days – holds the palette securely without having eye hooks sticking out like I have on the palette I made myself.
As for the events – I learned of the first one from my subscription to Plein Air Magazine 6 years ago and I listen to the Plein Air Podcast. I wasn’t able to attend until any of them until this year, and even this year was a major sacrifice of time I don’t have, but we thought it would be a strong benefit for our community if I had personal experience with it – I was also excited to watch demos by some of the artists I admire so much. I was disappointed I wasn’t able to attend a couple years ago when Clyde Aspevig and T Allen Lawson were there.
The 10-10-10 system I will cover a bit in one of our webinars – once I have a chance to watch the videos and refresh my understanding.
Basically, the idea is that increasing something by 10% is usually doable – if we make $1000 this year is there any way we could increase that by another $100 – most would say yes. If we apply that to our collectors – go from 10 to 11; then increase the price of our paintings by 10% – go from $1000 to $1100; then increase our production from 10 paintings to 11 paintings – the compound effect over 10 years becomes dramatic. Even over time, if we can’t necessarily continue to produce more paintings because of time constraints, the compounding of all the parts allows us to make a living doing what we love to do
Of course, accomplishing the consistent rise in collectors and purchases of our art requires effective marketing and branding. He talked about artists who were huge names for a couple decades, stopped advertising and promoting themselves because they thought they were too well known to worry about it, and within 5-10 years were struggling to sell their art because galleries and collectors no longer knew them or their reputation.
Santa Fe is our old stomping ground – we lived in Rye about 3 1/2 hours from there and I started selling in galleries there in 1991. Kristie and I love that area and it is brimming over with amazing galleries and artists. I couldn’t resist signing up right away for that.
I think the limit for the event is 900 artists and the events have sold out before. The earlier you sign up the cheaper it is – there are early bird discounts – part of why I am already signed up – they had a convention super-early-bird discount that I took advantage of. As long as you sign up before Christmas you should be alright as far as selling out goes – that’s not a guarantee, just a probability. If signing up right away is a strain I would certainly wait. They also have a payment plan that might help for those who could benefit from that.
Please put me on the list for that paint box..it holds brushes and all.
How does one find out about such events?
Can you share with us the basics of the 10 10 10 system…they say teaching is the best way to a good handle on a topic.
I love Asante Fe…Bishops is such a nice place to spent some time. How far ahead does one have to sign up? Is there a registration limit? It would be to see if the Cdn $ may go up a bit? before making any commitment.
Eric Rhodes, is a multi millionare and an OPORTUNIST! This is why I do not subject my work for “WHOS BEST AT. . . .” Contest! It harkins back to my young days in 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade etc. Wherein I was ALWAYS the last person picked to be on a TEAM for spelling, poems, etc.
Take the entire Eric Rhodes empire. . . He states he “Just wants to help people discover painting. . . ” really. . . WHO among us, can afford $150.00 or more, per DVD on how to do X. He and ALL his companies are like Anna Wintor of “Devil wares Prada” and her Vouge empire telling the WORLD what and what not to ware!!!!
If you PAY THE PRICE, so to speak, your IN WITH THE IN CROWD. . . The WHO’s who of all of Rhodes magazines, seminars, conventions, conferences, etc. Etc.
ALL these type of things do, is make people feel BAD cause they DID NOT MEASURE UP TO so and so, or THE STANDARD!!!
GOD, gives us our talent, our abilities, OUR PASSIONS! He made us all the same, no one is BETTER, more skilled, more talented, SMARTER then anyone else!!! Knowledge is a GIFT to be shared with all who seek it, who hunger for it, WHO LONG FOR IT!! But when one person sets himself up as the DECIDER of WHATS IN, WHO’S IN, WHO OUT, WHO’S BETTER
So HE can get even RICHER, That, is NOT for me!!!!! So, you will NEVER catch me at a PLEASE EXCEPT ME convention!!
Hi Phillip,
You may be right – I don’t know him well enough to say one way or another.
I got to talk with him on the phone for an hour when we interviewed him for the blog and I had a chance to be around him a bit at the convention. My impression so far is that he genuinely loves art, artists and painting and he is doing all he can to make sure the market for good representational art thrives. He very well could be an opportunist, but what exactly does that mean?
The term ‘starving artist’ is prevalent for very good reason. Most artists I know are humble people who love the beauty of this earth and went into making artwork because of it. Whether they made money or not was irrelevant – they just wanted to create something wonderful. Some have become wealthy from it, most have not, but neither went into it with the idea of becoming wealthy.
Eric was a Silicon Valley radio entrepreneur who was so stressed out by the high pressure environment, he would have days where his body would just start shaking violently. His wife purchased an art class and kit for his 40th birthday – he took the class, felt the stress melt away and fell in love with painting.
I started trying to share my painting techniques through video in 2006 – I have the early footage still. The resolution was terrible and I didn’t share it because I didn’t think it would be very helpful. Finally in 2012 I decided the technology was sufficient to do something that would be worthwhile for viewers. That was the rose video ‘Sweet Summer Days’. It took me 5 full months to complete because I had to learn to use a lot of software and had no idea how to put it up on the internet. I have never recouped any where near what it cost in time and money to produce.
The courses we sell now are starting to produce a profit, but we have huge monthly expenses to keep it going that I never dreamed of when we decided to create the course – our email list manager Aweber is about $200/mth alone. I get up at 5 am and work till 10 or 11 each night just to keep up with everything needed to make this all work – the videos we put on the membership site take hundreds of hours to produce and I want them to be as informative and inspirational as I can make them.
I got so far behind on my painting schedule I had to figure out how to sell the course to recoup some of our costs because we couldn’t sustain it otherwise.
My son David who takes care of all the computer and internet work does so for free because he and his wife believe in what we are doing. He gets up at 4 am to answer emails and such, goes to work a few hours later, gets home at 4 or 5, spends a couple hours with his family and then does more work on our website for a few hours before he goes to bed. I could not do this without him, and yet he gets no compensation except for my love for him and his family. Kristie spends countless hours editing the videos while also trying to take care of 3 children and me.
Yet we get comments on our ads stating that we are just opportunists trying to take advantage of people.
So maybe Eric is an opportunist – I really don’t know. What I do know is that his efforts have definitely helped representational art grow and opened up opportunities for plein air and studio painters that we did not have before. He is helping to swing the pendulum back from so called ‘Modern’ art to classical training and beautiful landscape and figurative artwork. Where 30 years ago we had a couple ateliers and plein air shows, we now have hundreds.
Remember American Artist Magazine? They were around for 100 years. They put on the Weekend with the Masters Event similar to the Plein Air Convention – it was so costly it broke them – they are no longer in business.
I for one applaud what Eric is doing. To some he may seem to be taking advantage, but he is producing these events at great personal risk when the experts said it wouldn’t work. I plan to do all I can to help him keep it going because I believe it is good for all of us. If he succeeds and comes out way ahead financially that won’t bother me at all because I have witnessed the blessing his efforts have been for artists around the world!
Yeah, it is what it is; Rhoads is a businessman, not a professional artist (no harm, no foul). However most professional painters established in their careers steer clear of him and do not take his convention seriously at all. With its commercial approach, “branding” and general popularity contest-like atmosphere, it hardly has anything to do with the real art spirit. If you just want to party with friends and watch an indoor demo or two, fine; but you might want to reevaluate your artistic integrity before you buy the ticket….
Eric, I too am Eric. I don’t know if we know one another or not. Clearly I would never claim to be a professional painter, I’m not. I do love to paint as much as time permits. And yes, I make my living as a business person. I’m not sure about professional painters steering clear, we get about 80 top tier painters, the best in the business at the plein air convention each year.
I make no claims that I am right for everyone, but marketing does work for anyone who wishes to embrace it, and I’ve watched careers soar from those who tried before and were not able to make it.
The true art spirit is what’s in your heart. Your passion. And seeking a way to help others find your work isn’t evil. In fact it’s helpful.
I’m not sure if you’ve been to the convention, yeah its a party… after the serious work is done. Four stages, 80+ painters, demos most of the day for four days in a row. Hardly not a demo or two….
I’d encourage you to come check it out. And I’m happy to have a conversation about all of this so we can get to know one another. I think people who know my passion and my heart might (hopefully) have a different opinion. I’m merely trying to help anyone who wants it. But I know what we do isn’t for everyone.
Respectfully
Eric
Phillip, I appreciate hearing your feelings. I don’t believe we’ve met, don’t believe (to my knowledge) you have been to the convention. I’d be happy to have a conversation with you so we can get acquainted and you can share your feelings with me in person or by phone. And I’d like to invite you to the convention as my guest, so you can judge it from actually attending.
Clearly we are all equal and I would never date try to indicate anything otherwise.Nor would I set myself up as the decider of anything.
Lets get to know one another.
Thank you for sharing your trip! Looks like you had fun! Loved Kristie’s Blog while you were away!
Enjoy being with the family for a while- coming home is so sweet?
Take care!
Travelling is definitely more fun with the family in tow Diane. Fortunately I don’t travel too often on my own. As much as I love being an artist and teacher, family for me trumps art every time.
Looks like a pack full of information and fun ! I love the set up you had.
Can’t wait for your teaching on Plein Air Art.
Hi Chris,
It was fun, exhausting and definitely packed full of info. I love to see the different approaches to painting that professional artists have – once in a while I pick up something especially useful.
Working on the Cross Country Plein Air videos – hopefully soon!
Cross Country – Will that include a trip to Tropical South Florida?
That would be fun Julia, but alas, I went as far as Virginia and am now working on the videos. I guess Virginia isn’t on the coast, but it is pretty close.
When I make it down to Florida I will definitely let you know where I will be painting!
Bill, I was at thee convention also. And also felt that I had to see and do everything but by the time the evening sessions were about to start I was totally wiped out. The big issue was the fact that I did not have enough time to eat a good meal. The breakfast they provided was adequate for most but I need more protein to start my day. Thus my question to you….What is the recipe for the bars that your wife made for you? I looked at the web site you linked to but their recipes were for smoothies. Your’s is for a bar? Could you point me to the recipe? Cause I am signed up for PACE18 and I know I will probably do the whole “I have to see everything” bit and need to have something to keep me going longer and brighter.
Thanks in advance for your response. I have really appreciated your emails, especially this one on PACE17. I have shared it with friends so they can see what the concert was like.
Margie Larson
I will have Kristie post the recipe on here Margie.
She has suggested several times that I do a blog post on staying healthy, but there are so many opinions and contradictions about health that I don’t feel very qualified.
I am 51 and have the energy of healthy 20 year-old’s. I drink mostly water with some herbal tea occasionally – no pop, no coffee – caffeine shrinks the capillaries and ages our skin and brains more quickly (according to Dr Amen who wrote How to Make a Good Brain Great). I also believe in at least 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week. Don’t eat much sugar, get enough sleep (not my strong suit), laugh joyfully and play with kids and paint as often as possible. Throw in prayer and scripture study and you have my recipe for youthful energy!
p.s. Kristie also helps keep me young, but not everyone has access to a Kristie!
Margie…. as you know we just provide some breakfast at marketing but its not intended to be a full meal, just trying to help. We found that some want to go all day till late at night because they are there and just want to get the most out of their time there. Others opt out when they get exhausted because there is so much. But, I’d love the recipe too!
Oh, and thanks for coming and signing up for 18 in Santa Fe!
Thank you Bill for the video and article on plein air convention. I appreciate all you do to help us!!! Love you and Kristi and your Family!!
Thanks for sharing about the convention, attending is on my bucket list!
Will the Paint Box come in different sizes? I have a small strada easel.
Love all the effort you make to explain everything to anybody who asks. Thank You, Bill and Kristie…and the rest of the family. Yes, where can I find a Kristie? I have a Dave and m thankful for that but he should go into training with Kristie. Perhaps we need a full tutorial for artist spouses/significant others??? Will also look forward to paintbox / brush holder ordering and perhaps even Santa Fe but it sounds way to stressful.