More than 200 artists will spread across Western Australia’s Peel region this September for Plein Air Down Under, Australia’s largest outdoor painting festival. Taking place September 22–29, the event invites artists to paint the region’s waterways, coastline and heritage streetscapes in the open air, transforming the landscape itself into a temporary gallery. Visitors can watch artists work, attend demonstrations and participate in art activities alongside live music.

The festival offers an unusually intimate way to experience Mandurah/Mandjoogoordap and the wider Peel region, shifting attention from conventional sightseeing toward observation and creativity. Rather than viewing the destination through a camera lens alone, visitors can see how artists interpret the same landscapes in real time.

The Curated Take:
Plein air painting encourages a slower way of seeing a destination. For travelers, the attraction isn’t only the finished art but watching artists respond to the light, water, architecture and atmosphere of the Peel in real time. It turns a regional landscape into both subject and experience.