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Maria Anderson, Denise Beuselinck and Kathy Pugh will exhibit their plein-aire artwork at Washington State University Vancouver Mar. 10 to May 30 in the Engineering and Life Sciences Building gallery.

The three women in this exhibition have in common a colorful and painterly style that shows brushstrokes and the texture of thickly applied paint. They also draw inspiration for the natural beauty of the Northwest and practice plein-aire painting, a method that requires painting on location. Although their techniques are similar, each woman’s work is distinct in flavor and subject.

Anderson studied graphic design, and while taking required lessons of fine art decided that was her true talent. The work she is showing at WSU Vancouver is rendered in pastels, watercolor and oil paint.

Beuselinck describes her work as contemporary and expressionistic. She has studied a variety of styles and techniques at Clark College and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Her art work is influenced by the French Impressionistic artist Pierre Bonnard and the paintings of the American artist Milton Avery.

Pugh discovered an outdoor painting group in the Portland area that forever changed the way she saw art. Before that everything had been painted from photographs. It’s a little like running a race, she said, “You are trying to catch the light in your painting before it changes.”