Artist Shelby Keefe chooses Greens N Grains’ “Big Purple” to commemorate in a pleine air painting.
The Door County Plein Air Festival presented by Peninsula School of Art celebrates the tradition of outdoor painting with some of the finest painters from Door County and across the country. Over 40 artists are putting brush to canvas, capturing the summer light over the waters and fields of Door County, Wisconsin. Painting the landscape has long been a Door County tradition. The festival’s painters bring a fresh eye to the changing light and colors, and a variety of styles that draw from the rich traditions of plein air painting.
On Monday, July 22, 2013 we were pleasantly surprised to find Shelby Keefe working diligently, easel set up on the sidewalk outside the Cafe entrance. Shelby is an artist who is unafraid to paint in front of people and is inspired by an audience. After retiring from a career in graphic design in 2005, she operates her own art studio and exhibition space in Bay View, on the south side of Milwaukee.
Her award-winning urban landscape paintings have earned her participation in prestigious national juried shows, plein air painting competitions, and arts festivals as well as garnering commission work for a variety of corporate clients and private collectors. Her oil paintings are found in collections such as The Bradley Foundation, Acuity, Northwestern Mutual, Ozaukee Country Club; WE Energies; University School of Milwaukee; and other businesses around Milwaukee, and in private collections in Wisconsin and around the country.
