~~Artist Paul Bachem is no stranger to winning awards. He did, afterall, take home top honors at the first Northport Plein Air event in New York a few years ago as well as honors in Wayne, Pa., Cranford, New Jersey and previously right here in Easton. However, by winning last year’s Quick Draw competition at Plein Air Easton, Bachem’s accomplishment was truly remarkable.   The Quick Draw competition tasks artists with producing the highest quality of work in the shortest amount of time. Artists must pick a location in downtown Easton and complete their work within a two-hour time span, a particularly daunting task when the subject matter comprises many different shapes, colors and textures. Bachem’s painting ‘Red, White and Blue’ did just that. The work depicts a street scene, a narrow back road and encompasses virtually any setting one might find in an outdoor setting, with cars parked along the street and in driveways, blooming and leafy trees, buildings of various size and texture, signs, fence pickets and in just the road alone, various states of repair, shade and texture.  The work captures the every essence of the leisurely pace of life along the Eastern Shore, ironically the antithesis of the method used to create it. “It was a huge thrill for me to win Quick Draw considering the level of competition,” he says. But the competition wasn’t the only hurdle to overcome last year. The first thing which came to mind when recalling last year’s event was the heat. “It was almost too hot to do it. And the heat can affect the painting, Bachem recalled. “Two hours, believe it or not, was almost too long.”  Bachem will be back at Plein Air Easton next month and sings high praise for the event. As with many returning artists, it is the respect, treatment and overall high esteem paid to the art and artists. “They do it right. It’s a wonderful event,” he says. “It’s a beautiful area and there is so much to choose from (in terms of subject matter). It’s always different. I love being out in the field with an easel.”  But it is no vacation. “These events can be grueling,” he says. “Especially in Easton. It’s five or six hard days, that’s for sure.” But, he says, there are many rewards for that hard work, one of those being the famous crab cakes at the Robert Morris Inn in Oxford. “I love going down to Oxford. It’s such a picturesque town. There is no shortage of subject matter there.”  With its early American history, beautiful water-based landscape and well-to-do demographic, Talbot County is not unlike Bachem’s hometown of Locust Valley, NY., a hamlet along the north shore of Long Island which, due to its location, rolling hills and inherent natural beauty became a retreat for New York City’s wealthy more than a century ago. And it is the beauty of the landscape and its relation to the natural light which drew Bachem to the wonders of plein air painting.  The artist feeds off the light, using its life-affirming and ever-so-slight though constant changes to capture his subject matter is such a way as the viewer had probably not noticed in the past. But light alone can not turn a painting into a work of art. Bachem’s eye for finding just the right subject matter, the right shapes and depth, allow his brush to create just the right texture.  Again, take last year’s Quick Draw winner, which can be seen on his website, paulbachem.com. The large green trees of ‘Red, White and Blue’, seemingly off in the background, nearly jump off the canvas with the thick, ridge-like strokes used to create their foliage, giving depth and context to the buildings underneath. The brush work in this painting is reminiscent of some of the great impressionist masters.

When you’re strolling through Easton at next month’s Plein Air festival you can be sure to find Paul, with his easel up, hard at work on one of the area’s most interesting spots.