Mitch Billis became a Plein air painter long before he heard the term. In 1973, while a Mathematics Professor at Montana State University, he bought some watercolors and paper, and began painting outside, and has been doing so ever since.

Mitch Billis' children grew up watching him paint and also developed a passion for the "art life." Mitch S. does mockups for larger sculptures from life and Chris paints plein air. The artists we've invited to join the gallery do the same.

During the early 80s, while a single parent, he turned to oils. In 1987, while painting along the west coast, he stopped in Ferndale, CA, for a cup of coffee and stayed for a year. Not only did he like the area, but a romance developed between him and Kathleen, the owner of the B&B where he was staying. An artist in her own right (watercolors, poetry, and music), while sitting on the tail gate of Mitch's pick-up and watching him paint, Kathleen quickly developed a love for painting oils, plein air.

A year later, they married and moved back to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where they have continued to paint at every opportunity, not only in Maine, but in the rest of the United States and in Europe, in particular, Italy.

Mitch is a founding member of the Northwest Rendezvous group and still paints the west. He has won a number of awards and both he and Kathleen have been included in many prestigious collections.

• Mitch's Plein Air Paintings >> 
• Kathleen's Plein Air Paintings >> 

Mitch and Kathleen taking a break in Portofino, Italy.	Carol & Clyde Aspevig, Mimi Litschaurer, and Mitch & Kathleen Billis at their cabin in the Tetons after a day of painting, 1995.
Kathleen painting after a Maine snow storm, 1997.	Kathleen painting in Downeast Maine.
Mitch painting at Ocean Point, 1996.	Mitch painting Montana hay bales, 1995.
Kathleen painting on a Montana back road, 1999.	Mitch painting a watercolor, 1978.