It's all part of the first-ever Los Gatos Art Fest, a "plein air" painting competition. For this inaugural event, 32 preselected artists, as well as dozens of guest painters, including Los Gatos High School art students, will paint in the "plein air" tradition—meaning "painting in the outdoors"—around the town of Los Gatos. The selected artists will come from more than a dozen California cities, including Los Gatos and Saratoga, and from as far as Southern California. They will compete for special recognition awards and $5,000 in prize money and offer up their works for live and silent auctions that will benefit community arts programs.

The three-day event will kick off Sept. 30 when the 32 artists will meet at the Art Museum of Los Gatos to register and enjoy a private reception.

"The Art Museum of Los Gatos has been very generous in donating their facilities as a place for us to have a base for the artists, as well as a place to hold a special reception for them," says Elke Groves, president of the Los Gatos Art Association and chairwoman of the event. Some participants may choose to begin painting on this day, as they have until between 5 and 8 p.m. on Friday to turn in up to three paintings, but organizers expect that the majority of painting will take place on Friday in any places around town that strike the artists' fancies.

"Some artists are expected to emerge on the town as early as sunrise, in hopes of capturing the perfect lighting for the scene of their choice," says Groves.

Los Gatos resident and juried artist Maralyn Miller has tentatively scoped out locations up and down Main Street for her plein air painting, which she plans to do in pastels.

"I'm looking forward to it. Being a first-time event, I think it's very exciting with so many artists and students making a weekend of it. It sounds very festive," she says. Miller has been painting all of her life and also creates jewelry and cards. She has been painting full time since she retired and sold her three art supply and picture stores, called Accent Arts, in 1989.

The Art Fest culminates in a big event on Oct. 2 at Testarossa Vineyards Winery. At 11 a.m., an exhibit and silent auction of the completed paintings of the 32 juried artists will be on display. At 4 p.m., an awards ceremony and reception will begin. Paintings will be judged on qualities such as demonstration of technical proficiency in the artist's chosen medium, good composition, lively color, and subject matter expressed within the tradition of plein air.

Bob Gerbracht, a master pastelist, notable artist and long-respected artist who has taught many in the local area, will be the official judge.

In addition to cash prizes, a nonmonetary prize will be awarded to one lucky artist, whose art will be selected for a one-week exhibition at the Tercera Gallery. The winner of this honor will be chosen by Michele Scott, M.F.A., the gallery's director.

Nick White, a longtime member of the Los Gatos Art Association and juried artist in the upcoming competition, hopes that while this is the first Art Fest, it will not be the last.

"My dream is that it will be an annual event," he says. "It's a great opportunity for plein air painters to show their work, and often there aren't many opportunities. It would be great if we could expose the community to more outdoor painting like this."

White spearheaded a plein air group from members of the Art Association a year and a half ago, which now regularly paints in the outdoors every Monday at noon. They paint different locations in Los Gatos, Saratoga and Santa Cruz, and even as far as Capitola.

Saratoga artist Dan Tellep, one of the 32 juried artists, says he has always loved painting plein air, especially for the challenge and variety it brings.

"I'm looking forward to it—the people who live here wander around while you're painting, and they offer multiple interpretations of what your town looks like through the eyes of others," he says. Tellep says he dabbled in painting for around 20 years and has been more serious about it since retiring seven years ago.

The Los Gatos Art Fest has been more than a year in the making. The $5,000 in prize money came from proceeds from the Los Gatos Art Cat project, which took place in the summer of 2003. Fifty fiberglass cats were designed by 50 different artists, displayed in local businesses and then auctioned off at the Lyndon Bandstand Celebration. The project brought in $48,000, which was distributed among nine different local charities, with $5,000 set aside and earmarked for a local plein air art competition.

Groves then approached Teri Hope about helping to organize the event. Hope and Los Gatos Councilwoman Sandy Decker then raised money through the Los Gatos Morning Rotary Club, a major sponsor of the event, and preparations began with a group of volunteers including Valerie Hopkins, Tonya Carpenter, Marilyn Dorsa, Sue Lucas, Nicki Huber, Ginger McDonald and David Stonesifer.

"It's coming along fabulously; we're really excited about it," says Groves.

For more information, visit www.losgatosartfest.org. Admission to all Los Gatos Art Fest events is free to the public.