MANSFIELD -- Kingwood Center provided an ideal backdrop for artists like Debra Joyce Dawson to get "en plein air."

With a palette knife, Dawson blended colors on a small canvas picture that depicted a field of tulips and two sets of stairs.

"Color, color, color. Everything is so beautiful," Dawson, of Pataskala, said. "It helps you with the design."

"En plein air" is a French expression that means "in open air" and the act of painting outdoors.

Dawson, a member of Ohio Plein Air Society, joined about 17 other painters for the monthly Paintout event Saturday. Isolated thunderstorms were in the forecast, but the sun was out for the beginning of the event.

High winds challenged Norma Thomas-Herr, a watercolor artist from Wauseon. The paper and watercolors kept drying up, but that didn't keep her from enjoying the scenery.

"I don't usually do flowers, but I needed a challenge," Thomas-Herr said while painting tulips and a stone wall. "This whole area is fantastic."

Painters from all over Ohio got comfortable in the elements of nature, sketching and painting structures, landscapes and fountains.

Society member Chuck Harris, of Columbus, painted the shrubbery and brick entrance to the meeting hall.

"I like the structure and the setting behind it," he said, blending oranges and reds together. "This made a good motif, and you can show distance."

Sue McKay, of Tallmadge, signed up to join the society and spent her first paintout at Kingwood. She painted a walkway and surround- ing trees.

"I was really glad to see the sun come out. I'm hoping to get back into painting outdoors," McKay said. "This is a wonderful place."

Judy Fischer-Walton, a Richland County member and event host, said the central location of Mansfield brought many artists from across the state. The Brush and Palette Art Club held an art show in the Meeting Hall, and the Plein Air artists' paintings were critiqued at 3 p.m.

"The flowers and shrubbery are so well taken care of," Walton said about Kingwood. "You get hooked into painting outdoors."

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