SAUSALITO LANDSCAPE FESTIVAL
Plein Air Invitational and Juried Exhibition
Paint Out Days: August 2 - August 6
Exhibition: August 5 - August 27
Two Events Celebrating Landscapes, Waterscapes, and Cityscapes
The Sausalito Landscape Festival celebrates the enduring tradition of landscape painting through two complementary exhibitions: a live plein air invitational featuring artists painting throughout Sausalito and a juried exhibition showcasing landscape, seascape, and cityscapes from California artists..
Throughout August, visitors are invited to experience landscapes through the eyes of painters who capture the beauty, atmosphere, and changing light of the places that inspire them.
Plein Air Invitational
During the opening week of the festival, a select group of invited plein air painters will paint on location throughout Sausalito.
Visitors may encounter artists working along the historic waterfront, in hillside neighborhoods, among the houseboats and nearby parks. These live painting days offer a rare glimpse into the plein air tradition—where artists respond directly to the landscape, capturing fleeting light, atmosphere, and color in real time.
The paintings created during the week will be featured in the Sausalito Landscape Festival exhibition, offering collectors and visitors the opportunity to view and purchase freshly painted works inspired by the region.
Paint Out Days: August 2 - August 6
Witness the magic unfold as artists capture the unique charm of Sausalito's waterfront, parks, and downtown area, with breathtaking views of San Francisco. Wander through Sausalito and watch these talented creators at work, transforming the scenery into stunning art right before your eyes.
Juried Exhibition
Alongside these newly created works, the Festival presents a juried exhibition from artists across California, offering a broad view of contemporary landscapes from quiet rural scenes to dynamic cityscapes and dramatic coastal vistas. Artists are invited to submit artwork that explores the many interpretations of landscape—including landscape, seascape, and cityscape works created either outdoors or in the studio.
Whether you come to watch artists painting in the open air or to discover new work in the gallery, the Sausalito Landscape Festival offers a rare opportunity to experience the landscape through the creative lens of painters from near and far. The exhibition will be on view at the Sausalito Center for the Arts from August 5 through August 27, inviting visitors to explore a rich and diverse collection of landscapes shaped by artists working both outdoors and in their studios.
Exhibition: August 5 - 27, 2026
Opening Party: Sunday, August 9:
4:30 - 5:30pm Awards Reception
5:30 - 7pm Opening Reception
Join us at the awards party and get in on the excitement of viewing artistic interpretations of our unique landscapes. Special Awards will be presented for Best of Show, 2nd and 3rd Place. Refreshments will be served as we admire the new works of art and celebrate the artists creative accomplishments. Enjoy a lively crowd of winners and collectors!
Artist Closing Reception: August 27, 3-5 pm
Exhibition Admission is free and open to the public Wed. to Sunday 11:00AM to 5:00PM
Call for Entry
The Sausalito Center for the Arts invites artists from California to submit work for the Sausalito Landscape Festival Juried Exhibition, part of a month-long celebration of the landscape held each August in the historic waterfront community of Sausalito, California.
This Call for Entry offers $1,000 in special recognition of excellence awards and highlights the many interpretations of landscapes today—from watery coastal vistas and rural environments to urban scenes and atmospheric studies. Selected works of all mediums except video and those generated using ai will be exhibited alongside paintings created by invitational artists during the Sausalito Landscape Festival Plein Air Festival. This exhibition will offer visitors a rich and diverse exploration of landscape, seascape, and cityscape painting and showing the immediacy of plein air painting and the broader possibilities of landscape explored in the studio.
Click Here to Learn More and Submit Your Entry
Entry Deadline: Sunday June 7, 11:59 p.m.
Artists Notified: Saturday, June 27 - Wednesday, July 1, via email
Artwork Dropoff at SCA - 750 Bridgeway, Sausalito:
Saturday, August 1, 11am - 2pm, or
Sunday, August 2, 11am - 2pm
Note: No shipments accepted.
Artwork Pickup: August 27 following Artist Closing Reception, 5-6pm, or Friday 8/28 10am-2pm at SCA.
Juror: Carolyn Meyer
We are thrilled to have Carolyn Meyer, reowned artist and Director of the School of Painting at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University as the juror of this year’s event. Her experience spans 30 years of Solo and Group Exhibitions with Art Galleries across the country. As an artist herself, her work oscillates between realism and abstraction, elements that are central to each painting. Through this approach, she expresses her passion for place and process. Meyer's deep affinity for the cities she inhabits and visits, especially San Francisco and New York, is evident in her artwork. She captures the unique essence of these urban landscapes at various times, day and night, depicting their varied atmospheres with a keen eye for detail and composition. Her toothsome paint application reveals her commitment to the combination of traditional technique with contemporary subject matter, painting alleys, freeways and traffic signs in the thick impasto of the old masters.
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