It's all about the work for Fulton artist Brian Mahieu, who can describe the work of other artists as well as he can eloquently put his own imagination to canvas.
On Sunday evening at a reception at the Art House in downtown Fulton, winners of the annual Callaway Plein Air Competition were celebrated. Fifty artists descended on the area late last week and began painting at locations around the county in the style known as plein air.
"I've been doing this for 30 years," said Mahieu, one of the founders of the non-profit Court Street gallery and organization. "It's kind of like running naked through a dinner party."
He was speaking of the qualities that come forth when painting out in nature as opposed to in a gallery under manufactured lighting. This style of painting, he said, exposes the truth of a moment in time which the artist sees and feels, then recreates.
Bringing the work back home, however, exposes a different feeling - perhaps one of insecurity, Mahieu said.
"You bring it in from out in the field and think, 'that tree (needs fixing),'" he said, adding plein air artists need to trust what they saw. "Our left brain is going to lie to us and tell us all kinds of things."
Painting, he stressed, is a right-brain activity.
"The right brain is our creative brain," Mahieu added. "People who can read (the paintings) respond, and it's a visceral response. We're creating records of a moment in time."
As the crowd enjoyed wine and sandwiches and inspected the still-wet paintings, the smell of linseed oil hung over the gallery. First-place winner Susan Rogers said this was her first time coming to this activity in Callaway County. Mahieu said her painting was evocative.
"It was the complexity of colors that she used," he said.
Rogers came to Fulton from her home in Belleville, Illinois, with a friend. When her job as a CAT scan technologist was eliminated earlier this year, she became a full-time artist, she said.
"I can remember taking art in kindergarten," she said, laughing.
Tom Williams of Millersburg was at the reception supporting his artist wife, Corrine.
"I'm a musician, so I'm a different kind of artist," he said. "Everyone here has a support system because we all feel art is important."
Williams said he feels Fulton will play an important role in the future.
"I think this area's on the cusp of something very important," he added. "I would like to see this area become an artists' community, and I feel Fulton is poised for that."
Mahieu, who is about to move out of the state with his husband, Tom Harris, announced one of his paintings is going into the permanent collection at Missouri's State Historical Society.
"The reason we're all here is to celebrate plein air art," he said, saying when paint went into tubes, that technology was a game changer. "You could be portable and go outside."
Linda Hoffman placed second with "Prairie Trust," and Catherine Mahoney took third place with "Mokane Peace and Rest" and received the Paint the Town award with "Rainy Night, Brick District."
Other award winners were:
Non Landscape/Direct Observation: "A Walk in Memorial Park" by Marty Coulter.
Sunrise/Sunset: "Evening Light" by Michele Wells
Quick Paint: "John's Delorean" by Marty Coulter
Honorable Mentions: Debra Scoggins-Myers, Ellen Heinslen, Daniel Fishback and Cindy Logan.
Art will remain on display at the Art House, 531 Court St., for several months.