The Solomons PleinAir Festival is an exciting plein air competition for both artists and viewers.

The event takes place on Solomons Island and the surrounding communities of Solomons and Dowell.

The area is unique in that it offers the painters such diversity of subject matter to choose from. Solomons Island is an historic maritime community where working boats of the Chesapeake Bay were built in the 1800s. It is located just an hour from the Beltway in D.C. at the "other end of Pennsylvania Avenue" where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay.

The landscape offers a picturesque mix of workboats, pleasure boats, marinas, old fishermen's cottages, rural farmland, and quaint architecture with a few shops scattered amongst historic waterfront buildings. Stand in one spot on the Solomons Riverwalk and you can paint any of these things and more.

Artists enjoy this competition because the town is so hospitable and welcoming.

Social events are planned for the artists nightly and the businesses and restaurants welcome the artists with open arms.

A number of families "Adopt an Artist" and open their homes to the artists during the event.