Artist of the Month for May, 2026 – Barb Thoms
Barb Thoms is a founding member of MPAA. She has worked tirelessly for our group and instrumental, along with Leon Holmes, in bringing the Plein Air Down Under Outdoor Painting Festival to Mandurah. This festival is Australia’s longest running Plein Air Festival having started in 2019.
Alongside her amazing organisational skills, Barb is a well established artist on the Mandurah Scene. She attends our paint outs weekly and always produces some exceptional paintings in oils (although she did use Gouache earlier this year).
Barb is a dab hand at making a palette knife seem easy – and creates some beautiful interpretations of the world around us. Her plein air work is amazing and we all love to see what beauties Barb gives us each week.
Her studio sits on the canals with a breathtaking view down the water. This year’s visitors to Mandurah Open Studios would have seen a glimpse of this glorious view, alongside some beautiful paintings.
Congratulatons Barb on being our Artist of the Month for May 2026.
About Mandurah Plein Air Artist of the Month
Artists Sketching in the White Mountains by Winslow Homer, 1868.
In order to continue to recognise and celebrate our members, we will be chosing a “Virtual Artist of the Month’. Information on the artist will appear here as well as on our Facebook Page. If you would like to be considered for Artist of the Month, make sure your profile is up to date with recent artwork of yours to share with the wider community. Feel free to share your page for friends and family to view.
Mandurah Plein Air Artists 