about the award winners
Maarten Platje
Maarten Platje was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His first artistic training took place at the Leiden painting and drawing society Ars Aemulea Naturea.
After graduating from high school, he sailed as a sailor on ships of the Royal Navy for 5 years. Undoubtedly, those years at sea further developed his talent for portraying the sea on canvas in all its manifestations. Meanwhile, his national fame grew and his paintings were regularly featured in various magazines and books.
In 1996, Platje was invited, as an ’embedded’ artist, to document international operations in the waters around former Yugoslavia on board a Dutch frigate. In the years that followed, Platje started to depict the great sailing voyages of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in his oil paintings.
Platje exhibited in Nantucket, London, New York, Monaco, Florida and The Netherlands.
In 2018 he won two awards at the Anual exhibition of the R.M.S.A in London.
Beth Bathe
Beth Bathe is an artist residing in Strasburg PA. Primarily painting in oil en plein air since 2013, she participates in more than ten high profile competitions from Maine to Washington State a year. Her paintings have won numerous awards and honors and most recently was a featured artist in the 2025 August/September issue and an article on water mixable oils in the Dec/Jan 2020 issue of PleinAir Magazine.
Beth is an Artist Ambassador for Royal Talens North America, Dynasty Brand Specialist for Dynasty Brushes, Signature Member of Art Society of Marine Artist (ASMA), Signature Member of the Mid Atlantic Plein Air Painters (MAPAPA), Salmagundi Club, Oil Painters of America (OPA), Outdoor Painters Society (OPS), National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPS), Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters (SVPAP) and Daily Painters of Pennsylvania.
She is currently represented by Vermont Artisan Designs in Brattleboro VT; Crystal Moll Gallery, Baltimore MD; Red Raven Fine Art Gallery, Lancaster, PA; McBride Gallery, Annapolis MD; Trippe Gallery, Easton MD; Fine Line Designs Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Sister Bay, WI; Charles Fine Art, Gloucester MA and Square Pear Fine Art Gallery, Kennett Square PA and Blue Raven Gallery, Rockland ME.
Jeanne Rosier Smith
Jeanne Rosier Smith is a Sudbury, Massachusetts based landscape and marine artist working in pastel for over twenty years. She’s a designated Eminent Pastelist with IAPS, a PSA Master Pastelist, a Copley Society Master Artist, and a signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists and the American Impressionist Society. She has served as an educational consultant to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she has given demonstrations and gallery talks. She’s been recently featured in Plein Air magazine and numerous other national art publications. She served as 2023 judge for the Pastel Journal’s Top 100 Landscape competition, and is a regular contributor to the Pastel Journal and other publications. She is currently represented by nine US galleries and her work is in collections worldwide. After teaching in-person workshops at home, nationally and internationally for almost two decades Jeanne now offers her workshops and videos on demand via subscription through EpiphanyFineArt.com.
Tim Kelly
Tim Kelly is a lifelong Baltimore area resident and graduate of The Maryland Institute College of Art. Initially an illustrator, in 2007 he became focused on painting from direct observation and has avidly pursued this method of painting since then. He has participated in many plein air events in the Mid Atlantic area, winning numerous awards. Tim’s plein air work prioritizes observational fidelity and often has a documentary flavor. Urban themes in particular have been a frequent subject in his oeuvre. In recent years, Tim has added studio and portrait painting to his artistic pursuits as he continues to follow the plein air muse.
Mary Pettis
Mary Pettis’ oil paintings stand on the cutting edge of the International Contemporary Realism movement. Her decades of training and the experiences are a catalyst for a symbolic visual language of expression that celebrates the beauty, dignity and worth of this world and its inhabitants. Mary and her husband Randy live along the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. Find her work and more information at Gallery 366 and marypettis.com.
Sheri Farabaugh
I am grateful I found this amazing past time. After leaving the business world behind I began taking classes at the Art Students League of Denver and Scottsdale Artists School. I am represented by Abend Gallery in Denver and Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder. In addition to ASMA I am a Signature member of the Oil Painters of America and a Master Signature of the American Women Artists. I’ve been featured in Fine Art Connoisseur, Art of the West, Southwest Art and International Artist.
Ken Stetz
After graduating from the Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship in 1976 and working aboard a US flag container ship, Ken decided to pursue a career in art. He majored in Pictorial Illustration at the Spectrum Institute for the Advertising Arts, graduating in 1981, and studied oil painting in the studio of noted American artist, Frank E. Zuccarelli. Following his time at sea and his formal art education, Ken settled down in the heart of the NJ shore and began his pursuit of a career as an artist.
Working as an independent artist since 1985, Ken’s work included graphic design, packaging design, and creating illustrations for books and magazines, including Highlights for Children. Over the last 15 years, he has turned his attention to drawing and painting marine subjects. His paintings mostly depict the area from the New Jersey Shore to the southeastern Maryland shore. Occasionally he creates work from visited places such as California’s coast, the Oregon coast, coastal Maine.
In July 2024, Ken received the prestigious “George Gray Award” for outstanding artistic achievement from the U.S. Coast Guard for his painting “Absorbing the Roll”, now part of the Coast Guard’s permanent collection.
Richard Sneary
A resident of Kansas City, Missouri, Richard Sneary started painting as a water- colorist, primarily en plein air in 2011, after 40 years as an Architect, architectural illustrator, and educator. He is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, American Impressionists Society, Missouri and Kansas Watercolor Society, and the Outdoor Painters Society, Faculty at the University of Kansas Department of Architecture 1977-1985, Faculty Artist at the 11th Annual Plein Air Convention & Expo 2024 & Plein Air Convention & Expo 2016, and Faculty Artist at Streamline’s 3rd Annual Watercolor Live 2023. He has been the Featured Artist in Plein Air Magazine, “Playing With- in the Lines”, February/March 2022; Special Feature in Plein AIr Magazine, “Deep In The Heart Of West Texas”, June/July 2020; Featured Artist in Plein Air Magazine, Aug/Sept 2014.
Recent awards include Grand Prize at Lighthouse Plein AIr 2022 and Artists Choice in 2024; Best Body Of Work at en Plein Air Texas 2021, Best Of Show at Stems Plein Air 2020 & 2011; 2nd Place Artists Choice at Telluride 2018. Richard is represented by Art Gallery Prudencia, San Antonio, TX, Studio B, Easton, MD, and McBride Galley, Annapolis, MD.
See information about the other accepted artists: