THE PLEIN AIRE COTTAGE ARTISTS AND THE ULTIMATE LIFETIME HONOUR

Plein Aire Cottage Artists Mary Rose Holmes, Violetta Chandler and Helen Tilston painting en plein aire at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida.

 Twenty seven years ago at Iindian Rocks Beach, Florida three painters who love to paint outdoor, en plein aire, met and their friendship began.   Violetta Chander, Mary Rose Holmes and Helen Tilston were enamoured and captivated by the beauty of the old fashioned seaside town of Indian Rocks Beach (where they resided)with her historic cottages, flora and fauna.  They took their French easels to the streets and painted the historical cottages many were being demolished without thought and large moders McMansions were being installed without regard for local planting.  Mary Rose Holmes felt, if uncontained, this could become The Great Wall of Florida  and pointed out that "if one cuts down a tree, one can plant another - but if you smash a cottage it is gone forever".  Local residents and those who live among us as visitors at Indian Rocks Beach asked how they could help "we suggested they attend Planning and Zoning Meetings at City Hall and that each cottage that was demolished needed Planning and Zoning to gain permission to build a much larger faceless large condo".  As the saying goes "It takes a village" .

Mary Roe Holmes and Violetta Chandler in front of one of the 26 art reproductions permanently installed at Indian Rocks Beach Florida.

   

Florida Trust For Historic Preservation awarded The Plein Aire Cottage Artists with an Achievement Award. This is the first to artists, an award normally given to architects, city planners and designers.  Each year The Plein Aire Cottage Artists present two bronze Preservation Awards- one to a business and one to a residence who rather than selling out, renovate  and maintain the old fashioned seaside town vibe.

Tilston, Holmes and Chander received an invitation to exhibit 60 paintings at the Cabinet Meeting Room in Tallahassee at the request of Jeb Bush Governer.

In 2006 while painting in Venice and Tusacny the Plein Aire Cottage Artists were juried and invitted to exhibit at the Florence Biennale (ofter referred to as The Olympics of the art world). We exhibtied and have a lifetime invitation.

Plein Aire Cottage Artists Mary Rose Holmes and Violetta Chandler alongside Permanent Art Installation at Indian Rocks Beach.

Each year, The Plein Aire Cottage Artists annual art show at Indian Rocks Beach is an event not to be missed.  All our paintings are one of kind, original and painted en plein aire.  We do no reproductions of our work.  The energy and vibrancy of our oil paintings contains the love of Mary Rose Holmes, Violetta Chandler and Helen Tilston aka The Plein Aire Cottage Artists. It is a living piece of art and when it goes into your possession it taken on your DNA in the painting (not so with a reproduction which has a plastic coating)

Two PBS documentaries have been filmed and aired "Save Our Cottages Artists with a Cause in 2018 and 2020 Canvas With a Cause.

The Plein Aire Cottage Artists have been granted the ultimate honour and The City of Indian Rocks Beach are installing 27 large permanent replicas of our paintings throughout the City of Indian Rocks Beach.  These paintings are being installed in the exact spot where painted or as close as possible. 18 of these permanent replicas are currently installed for viewing with the remaining 10 being installed as I write. We thanks the major museums, directors and Cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa for reognizing and bestowing The Plein Aire Cottage Artists with this enormous honour.  To our knowledge only one group of artists have been bestowed and that is the Fauve Movement in Collioure, France where the paintings of Henri Matisse and the Fauve members are permanently displayed.   A big thank you to you for your continued support and to our collectors who pay us the ultimate honour by displaying our original oil paintings in your home.  We are eternally grateful.  We welcome your commissions.