INTRODUCTION
Painting en Plein Air You’ve found your spot and set up your easel. But before putting brush to canvas, you take a moment. The sun shines brightly over the hilltops, the trees move gently in the breeze, and the fragrance of the surrounding meadow rises to greet you. Your senses waken to the beauty of the world. Now, with great pleasure, you turn to your easel and begin. This is why you paint en plein air.
Why Paint Outdoors? Many of us might agree that painting in the studio is so much easier! You can paint in the studio any time of day, regardless of what’s happening outside your window. Weather that would strike fear in the heart of the postman causes you no concern. Plus, you can start up a pot of coffee, put on your favorite music, check your e-mail now and then, take a nap, monitor the laundry—well, you get the picture. But without the outdoor experience, your paintings will always lack a convincing sense of sunlight and natural color harmonies. Plus, paintings made “in the wild” possess a wonderful, exciting energy that those made from photos just don’t have. And if you’re a landscape painter, don’t you just love being immersed in your subject matter? I do.
Stephen Quiller, Autumn Above Goose Creek, 2014, watercolor and gouache, 18" x 25". Plein air. Private collection.
8 Introduction
Kim Lordier, California Chaparral and Oak, 2019, pastel, 8" x 8". Plein air. Collection of the artist.
Many of us work in the studio from photos, but even though cameras have come a long way in recent years, you still can’t beat the human eye for sensitivity. I can see more colors and more shades of light and dark than my point-and-shoot pocket camera or smartphone. And, unlike a camera, my brain can interpret those colors and values in many ways—artistic and creative ways. But perhaps most important, thanks to my binocular vision, I can see depth and form clearly. Cameras flatten a scene into a two-dimensional image. After years of painting outdoors, I’ve trained my eyes to give me more information than any photo possibly can. This book is here to help you with the outdoor experience and get the most from it. If you’ve never painted outdoors before, you’ll learn the basics—and as you become more skilled, the book will, in a sense, grow with you. Reread it, and you’ll always find some new piece of advice to help you along. If, on the other hand, you’re already an outdoor painter, you’ll find plenty here, too. Each of the contributors to this book is a master in his or her field and eager to share wisdom with you. They are your mentors, and they will help you find your own special path.
