Quickdraw 2025 - Saturday March 15

Windmark Beach Community

Port St. Joe, FL

Registration Information and Rules

  • ARTIST REGISTRATION- Online registration now closed register in person on Saturday

    We ask that all artists please pre-register online. After reading the rules and instructions, click on the link below to do this. The registration fee is $20. You will choose either the Professional or Open Class for the competition. Deadline for online pre-registration is Thursday, March 13th at noon.

    On site registration is allowed after online registration closes and begins at 8:00 am EST on March 15th. Registration and check in location is at the Windmark Beach Community Village Center, Goodmorning Street off of Hwy 98 in Port St. Joe. The event is open to anyone over the age of 14 who wishes to participate and has their own supplies and easels.

    Artists may use any medium, but must paint in the plein air tradition. Canvases must be blank, and design work cannot begin prior to the 9 am horn.

    Contact us at info@forgottencoastenpleinair.com if you have questions about this.

  • DATES AND TIMING

    Saturday, March 15 - 8:00 am - 8:45 am EST: Artists check in at the registration desk, pay if they haven’t already paid online, have their blank canvases stamped, and pick up their title & price label. No canvas will be stamped if painting/design has been begun prior to the starting time.

    Saturday, March 15 - 9:00 am EST: A horn will sound and artists may begin painting en plein air style on any subject. The Quickdraw artwork must be created during the Quickdraw time frame. Any violators will be banned from future events. You are allowed to paint in another nearby location as
    long as you are back at the check in location when judging begins and have your painting and easel set up by 12:00 noon EST. Be aware that Windmark is located very close to the point where Central and Eastern time meet and your phone may not always display the correct time.

    Saturday, March 15 - 11:30 EST: The closing horn will sound and the Quickdraw artists bring their just completed artwork and easels to the exhibit/sale area for the judging and sale. Artists are responsible for returning on time even if they are not within hearing distance of the horn. Paintings must be framed and ready to hang before judging begins and set up on your easel as directed by volunteers. A select number ofpaintings will be chosen for the exhibit and need to be wired to hang immediately after selection. There is little turnaround time, so please be prepared with a title and price when the Quickdraw volunteer visits you.

  • JUDGING/AWARDS

    All artists must be set up for judging by 12:00 noon EST.

    Judging will begin at 12:00 noon and end at 1:00 pm EST.

    The Quickdraw Awards are announced and ribbons are awarded. The judge will make comments about the winning paintings selected and reception will be held at the Joe Center of the Arts, located at 201 Reid Avenue in Port St. Joe at 6:00pm that evening. All paintings selected as winners and to be included in the exhibit will hang at this location.

  • SPECIAL QUICKDRAW EXHIBITION

    A special exhibition of a limited number Quickdraw works will be selected and hung at the Joe Center of the Arts during the next few days of the event. Please note that all paintings must be properly framed and ready to hang at time of judging. Volunteers will be available to assist, but artists must provide their own frame, so plan in advance and bring one with you. The exhibit will be open each day from 11 am to 5 pm, March 17-19, 2025. It will close at 5:00 pm on the 19th. There is no additional charge to participate in the exhibit and sale if your painting is selected. Each artist selected for the exhibit will be required to fill out a special form before leaving that afternoon to have your painting returned to you if it is not sold in the exhibit.

  • SALES

    Each artwork is required to be for sale and to have a title and a price written on the provided label. Each participating artist should consider Forgotten Coast en Plein Air his or her gallery. There will be a 50% commission collected from the proceeds of each Quickdraw sale to fund this event; any violators will be banned from future events.

    Proceeds from our annual plein air event are shared with communities along the Forgotten Coast.

QUICKDRAW JUDGE

Mary Erickson

Raised along the New England coast in Connecticut, conservationist Mary Erickson has been painting since childhood. Erickson studied at the University of Bridgeport and Sacred Heart University, and initially followed a career in business management. A move to Florida in 1986 stirred the desire to pursue her love of art. She began an intense, self-directed study of nature and painting, supplemented with week-long painting workshops with contemporary artists. Through dedication and hard work, she realized a long held dream, and in 1993 Mary began painting professionally. An interview of her artistic journey is here: https://artbizsuccess.com/?s=mary+erickson

Preferring to work on location, she portrays the landscape and shoreline with commitment to the subject and captures its essence. In the tradition of Roger Tory Peterson and Audubon, Mary's passion and devotion to the marine environs and shorebirds that inhabit it pay homage to her deep love and respect for her subjects.

Plein air painting tours have taken Erickson to Spain, France, Guatemala, Argentina, Ireland and throughout the United States. Mary’s day begins before sunrise, and ends after the last sunset painting. A week-long painting tour will end in exhaustion, and the unique accomplishment of creating anywhere from 10 to 20 small paintings for each artist! Whether solitary excursions (like scouring the coast of Maine for painting sites with her rescue dog, Maggie) or group efforts with other professionals or students, Mary believes these painting trips are essential to an artist’s career and growth. Future trips are planned to Italy, France (again!), Costa Rica, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Australia and New Zealand.

Mary is a Founding and current president of the American Tonalist Society, Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA), Artists for Conservation, Plein Air Painters of the Southeast (PAP-SE) and the Society of Animal Artists. Mary has served on the board of Big Brothers / Big Sisters, and as an advisor to several national plein air events, and is available for lectures on conservation and avian art.

Since 1998 Mary has maintained studios in Marshville, NC and Venice, Fla. She is the founder and organizer of The Nanatuck Group. In the summer (since 2010) she rents a large house in Port Clyde, Maine and shares the experience with other professional artists. Hosting up to 60 artists each summer, daily painting excursions and art talks into the night typify the weeks into early September. She has introduced over100 artists to the beauty of the St. George peninsula.

Her award winning work has been exhibited in the U.S. Department of State Art for Embassies Program; Cornell Museum of Art and American Culture, FL; Burroughs-Chapin Museum of Art, SC; Mobile Museum of Art, AL; Art Museum of Southeast Texas,TX; Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, MD; Art Museum of South Texas, TX; Museum of the Southwest, TX; The Haggin Museum, CA; Coos Art Museum, OR; Minnesota Museum of Marine Art, MN; and Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, NJ.

Mary’s work is collected throughout the United States and Europe. Her largest project to date is the creation of artwork for the WaterStreet Hotel in Apalachicola, Florida. This luxurious waterfront property features Mary’s original oil paintings and reproductions in the hotel lobby and each of the suites.

A lifelong conservationist, Mary’s 39 acre residence in North Carolina is slated to be left as an artist retreat and bird sanctuary. It is listed on the North Carolina Birding Trail, and can be seen at www.HighRidgeGardens.org