Lopez Island artist, Steven R. Hill, was awarded “Best of Show” at the 5th Annual San Juan Preservation Trust and Plein-Air Washington auction held last Saturday at Turtleback Mountain Preserve.

He said his jaw dropped to the ground when he found out he had won.

Hill’s painting “Swift Bay Farm Barn” was done on-site, in early July, at Dave and Barbara Thomas’ farm, overlooking Swift Bay. The piece sold to an Orcas Island collector at the show.

Hill was giving a live class demo in pastels, when he painted the award winner and he attributes its lively colors and spontaneous character to the fact that he really was in a hurry to produce art for his students to observe.

“It’s the essence of plein-air work, to be able to quickly grab all the elements, changing light, colors, and form, that make or break a piece,” Hill said. “When people ask me how long it takes to do a plein-air painting, I reply, about 35 years and one or two hours on-site . . . it really only comes with an immense amount of practice, to be able to use quick expressive strokes to get to the essence of visual communication with a live, moving subject.”

Plein-air is a 19th-century style of painting outdoors with a strong sense of the open air.

In the last seven months, Hill has won three “Best of Show” awards in major international and national juried art competitions.

He has also been selected to participate in The Carmel Art Festival, for his third consecutive year.

This December, his work has also been selected, as one of 11 artists representing the U.S., in The Florence Biennale.

He will also be sending a series of lively wild river paintings to Italy, all done from reference studies in his native Idaho during a two month plein-air trip last fall, and will also be in attendance for the special ten day event in Florence.

This fall, he will be published for the fourth time in “The Best of the Best Worldwide Pastel Artists” by Kennedy Publications.

Fifty percent of the art sales from the auction, go straight to the trust.

“After all, the barn and farm I painted here, all belong to the trust,” he said. “As do so many other sites I love to visit and paint.”

Hill shows his work locally at Crow Valley Pottery and Gallery on Orcas Island, as well as Windswept Fine Art Gallery on Lopez. His work also shows at Agora gallery, NYC, Art on the Boulevard, Vancouver, Wash. and the Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay Ore.

To view his work, go to www.windsweptstudios.com.