Quick, draw! Laguna Beach plays host to outdoor speed-painting competition

It was the roughest, toughest and most colorful showdown this side of Laguna Canyon.

A Quick Draw competition broke out at Heisler Park on Sunday, but the face-off wasn’t between rough-and-tumble cowboys armed with pistols — just paintbrush-wielding artists participating in the 21st annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational.

Corona resident Calvin Liang, left, and Suzie Baker of Houston sought inspiration in the Laguna Beach sand as they took part in the Quick Draw competition.

(James Carbone)

Thirty plein air artists from all over the United States were invited to participate in the week-long invitational, a celebration of creating art outdoors.

For two hours Sunday, artists painted along the coastline from the upper end of Main Beach to as far north as Diver’s Cove.

The paintings were later framed and sold in a silent auction at the Festival of Arts grounds.

Patrick Saunders of St. Louis works on his entry in the Quick Draw competition on Sunday in Laguna Beach.

(James Carbone)

The competition was one of the events scheduled as part of the invitational, which began Saturday and continues through this weekend. For more information, visit lpapa.org/2019-invitational-events.

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