30 Master Painters Race the Clock in Today's Quick Draw as the 28th Plein Air Invitational Opens

Thirty of the nation's top plein air painters are working the Laguna Beach coastline this week for the 28th Annual Laguna Plein Air Painting Invitational, which opened Saturday and runs through Oct. 11, the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association announced.

The week's centerpiece for spectators happens today. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Heisler Park, the 30 invited artists race a two-hour clock to complete original paintings in the free Quick Draw competition. The wet canvases are then transported to the Festival of Arts grounds from 3 to 6 p.m., where visitors can meet the painters, see what they made, and bid in a silent auction, according to LPAPA's announcement.

Mermaid Beach at Heisler Park, one of the coves the 30 invited painters will work across the nine days.

Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The Invitational closes with two ticketed and free finales. The Collectors Art Party on Saturday, Oct. 10 brings the unveiling of more than 250 original paintings to the Festival of Arts grounds, with live awards, hors d'oeuvres and sweet bites by Chef Lindsay of Nirvana, and a craft mocktail bar. Tickets are $250, or $225 for LPAPA members, and online sales close at 10 a.m. Oct. 9. The Laguna Plein Air Art Festival on Sunday, Oct. 11 runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the same grounds, free to the public, with live demonstrations, fresh paintings added Sunday morning, and the "Sunday Best" small works award ceremony at 11 a.m.

Two midweek events round out the schedule. Painters work downtown after dark at the free "Just Plein Happy Nocturne Paint-Out" on Tuesday, Oct. 6 beginning around 5 p.m. On Wednesday, Oct. 7, Plein Talk at the Laguna Art Museum brings artists, collectors and art experts together to discuss the genre's past and future, preceded by a wine and charcuterie reception at 5:30 p.m. and followed by a panel with audience questions from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with tickets through the museum.

The rocky Heisler Park coastline, the kind of subject matter the Invitational's master painters chase through changing light.

Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

LPAPA said this year's celebration looks different than planned. With the Coast Film & Music Foundation's Concerts in the Canyon series rescheduled to 2027 and a change to beverage service at the Festival of Arts grounds, the association said it reshaped the program while keeping the Invitational on course, replacing the usual bar with a craft mocktail bar at the Collectors Art Party. "Resilience is part of plein air painting. Light changes, weather turns, and artists keep painting. LPAPA has carried that same spirit through 28 Invitationals," said LPAPA Board President Toni Kellenberg in the announcement. "When given lemons this year, we made lemonade, and created an on-trend craft mocktail bar for the Collectors Art Party."

LPAPA describes the town as the historic birthplace of California Impressionism, the art colony where plein air painting took root on the West Coast more than a century ago. The LPAPA Gallery at 414 North Coast Highway is closed today and Oct. 9 through 11, reopening Oct. 15, according to the association's event page. The full schedule and tickets are posted at lpapa.org/2026-invitational-events/.