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West Texas will be the centerpiece for En Plein Air

Artist from across the United States will call West Texas home as they try to capture the beauty for En Plein Air Texas.

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The West Texas landscape and surrounding areas will be what artists are drawing on their canvases beginning Saturday, Oct. 17.

Artists will from 19 states are coming to West Texas to compete in En Plein Air Texas. En Plein Air means to go outside, and the artists will use the West Texas landscape to paint their masterpieces.

One of the artists, Olena Babak, is from Maine and this is her first year taking part in En Plein Air Texas. This is also her first time in Texas.

"I was very much enjoying last night, the sun said it was absolutely gorgeous," Babak said. "That open sky is just something that takes my breath away every time so I'm definitely right place."

Babak has been painting her whole life and she has been painting En Plein Air for five years.

Coming from Maine, the West Texas landscape is brand new to Babak. As an artist, she wants to capture the West Texas beauty with a mixture of colors and one paint brush at a time.

"The colors, they're so different," Babak said. "There is something I don't know when you listen to the country songs and you can put those colors together and now, I can put those colors together and all of a sudden that makes sense."

Co-chair and coordinator for En Plein Air Texas, Barbara Rallo, is excited to see the artists come and watch them paint West Texas in ways never seen before. She said she appreciates the artwork and wants the younger generation to appreciate the beauty West Texas has to offer.

"I think our young people can get a new sense of what San Angelo is about, maybe a respect for our culture, our Western culture," Rallo said. "A respect for our land and our water that we know is so important here in West Texas."

All the paintings will be auctioned off and the money will go to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.

En Plein Air Texas starts Saturday Oct. 17 and will end Friday Oct. 23.

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