Mosteiros, Sao Miguel, Azores

These works of art were created en plein air, from a grassy bluff overlooking Atlantic breakers crashing on the black lava rocks of the Azorean shoreline of Mosteiros.

Mosteiros, acrylics on loose canvas, 12”x12”, brad betts, asma


The churning sea
like a glass
turquoise bottle
tipped with white blooms,
waving and rolling
in an open field
of blue
broken by black ledges,
twisted and sharp diffusers,
round and swirling
where the molten memory remains.

Warming skin,
soft tickle of loose tendrils,
quick touchdown
of a small fly.
The chill of a shadow
cast by the crater’s windward clouds.
Lumps and bumps,
a bed of grass
on a path
worn down by many travelers.

A ceaseless roar,
birdsong,
doors slamming,
tourist chatter.
Languages you understand
when your eyes are closed.
The twinkling
of paint brushes
spun clean,
the turquoise of the sea
left behind,
captured in a glass bottle.
— Danielle Betts

Santa Barbara

Plein air paintings by Brad Betts, ASMA, Santa Barbara, CA

West Coast

Brad completed over 45 plein air and studio paintings in the winter of 2020/21 from the beautiful seaside city of Santa Barbara, California. Please contact the gallery if you are interested in purchasing or seeing more of this west coast series.

This collection was featured by writer Lisa Kristoff in the Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspaper… read the story.

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Temporary Town

This winter, we spent time on Great Salt Bay in the “temporary town’ created by ice fishing men and women each year. We were driving toward Damariscotta and the bright colors of the fishing shacks across the water caught our eye. Great Salt Bay is not entirely frozen; only the upper reaches freeze solid in the winter and the little temporary town was huddled in this upper cove of the bay.

“Temporary Town”, 11x14 oil by Brad Betts, ASMA

“Temporary Town”, 11x14 oil by Brad Betts, ASMA

The first day we saw the town we pulled over on the side of the road and painted. We didn’t walk down into the village but spoke to some of the fishermen and women as they arrived with buckets or pulled their gear off the ice in large sleds.

“Ice Fishing Shacks” 11x14 oil by Brad Betts, ASMA

“Ice Fishing Shacks” 11x14 oil by Brad Betts, ASMA

“Ice Shacks on the Bay”, 9x12 oil by Danielle Betts

“Ice Shacks on the Bay”, 9x12 oil by Danielle Betts

Several weekends later, we packed our supplies and brought along buckets as seats so we could paint on the ice. It was a gorgeous mid-January day and even though we were sitting in nearly a foot of snow on many inches of ice, we felt warm and inspired by the sun, sky, the outrageously colorful fish shacks and the tracks through the snow that led to each one.

“Ice Fishing on Great Salt Bay”, 8x10 oil by Brad Betts, ASMA

“Ice Fishing on Great Salt Bay”, 8x10 oil by Brad Betts, ASMA

After that weekend, we went through a warm spell and the upper few inches of ice melted into a surface of water. Within weeks, the shacks were removed and the temporary town was gone for another season.

Italy: Tuscany

After 3 days in Rome, we headed north for a week in Val d’Orcia, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southern Tuscany.

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San Quirico d’Orcia, as viewed from one of the many hiking paths leading out from the town to the neighboring villages.

San Quirico d’Orcia, as viewed from one of the many hiking paths leading out from the town to the neighboring villages.

We stayed in a circa 700 stone house just outside the walls of the village of San Quirico d’Orcia.

Our Holiday Home for the week.

Our Holiday Home for the week.

Flowers were blooming everywhere!

Flowers were blooming everywhere!

A walk through the narrow winding streets of San Quirico d’Orcia.

A walk through the narrow winding streets of San Quirico d’Orcia.

From San Quirico, you can easily drive to many well-known towns in the Val d’Orcia, including Montalcino, Montepulciano, and Pienza. One of favorite days was spent hiking from town to town, starting in San Quirico and taking paths through the rolling grain fields, past long-abandoned stone structures, to finally hike up to the hill town of Pienza.

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We were very fortunate to have a private tour and wine tasting at Altesino, a vineyard and winery in Montalcino that makes, among other incredibly delicious wines, the world-renowned Brunello di Montalcino.

One of several vineyards at Altesino.

One of several vineyards at Altesino.

Oak barrels at the vineyard.

Oak barrels at the vineyard.

We could not visit Tuscany without at least one day on the coast. We spent the afternoon walking the beach and then enjoyed dinner in the hill town of Porto Santo Stefano.

One day, we do hope to return to the vast and far-reaching vistas of the Val d’Orcia!

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Dorland Mountain Arts Colony

We had the pleasure of attending an art residency in February 2019 at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula California. Dorland is located on a 340-acre nature preserve in the mountains of Riverside County, 60 miles north of San Diego and 100 miles south of LA.

With blue skies and weather in the 60s, we spent each day traveling to a state park or ecological reserve for hiking and painting en plein air before heading back to our residency cabin to watch the sunset. While much of California is, as expected, sprawling with development, we found an abundance of public lands that preserved the state’s raw and natural beauty.

Wild Horse Peak, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts. Painted from Sunset Point at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

Wild Horse Peak, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts. Painted from Sunset Point at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

Santa Rosa Ecological Reserve, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

Santa Rosa Ecological Reserve, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

We enjoyed hiking the 8,300 acres of Santa Rosa so much, we went back a second day to explore the trails leading to the top of Monument Hill, which had panoramic views of grasslands, rolling hills and distant snow-capped mountains as far as the eye …

We enjoyed hiking the 8,300 acres of Santa Rosa so much, we went back a second day to explore the trails leading to the top of Monument Hill, which had panoramic views of grasslands, rolling hills and distant snow-capped mountains as far as the eye could see .

Monument Hill, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

View from Horton Cottage, 8x10 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

View from Horton Cottage, 8x10 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

Reading in the Grove, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts.

Reading in the Grove, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts.

Watercolor study of a mountain range by Brad Betts, painted from the front porch of Horton Cottage at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

Watercolor study of a mountain range by Brad Betts, painted from the front porch of Horton Cottage at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony.

Cactus, 6x8 oil painting by Brad Betts. This was a fun study as four artists painted this cactus at the same time, resulting in four unique paintings of one subject in varying and diverse styles.

Cactus, 6x8 oil painting by Brad Betts. This was a fun study as four artists painted this cactus at the same time, resulting in four unique paintings of one subject in varying and diverse styles.

Poppies on Dripping Spring Trail, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

Poppies on Dripping Spring Trail, 11x14 en plein air oil painting by Brad Betts

On our last day, we hiked the trail to Wild Horse Peak in the Agua Tibia Wilderness. At the end of the hike, we rock-hopped across a stream and as we started heading to the car we realized we were being passed by butterflies, dozens at a time. We sat down on the stream bank for over an hour as hundreds of Painted Lady butterflies flew by, on their journey from Mexico to the north. An amazing moment at the end of an incredibly inspiring trip, we hope to return to Dorland in the future for another nature-inspired artistic retreat.