A THOUSAND WORDS

STORY & PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

In But Out i I’M BACK IN THE plein air saddle again, although I might get an argument about that. There are plenty of people for whom painting an interior doesn’t qualify as plein air because the term means “outdoors” in French (give or take). But those of us who think saying “Painting the actual thing while you are standing there” is cumbersome, know that addressing any subject outside the studio using a portable painting kit is all the same anyway, and we tend to bandy the term about roughshod. I’ll admit, it’s not true plein air. Sue me.

It’s been asked if painting a landscape out a window qualifies as plein air. You might turn it around and ask if standing outside under the sun while painting an interior through a door or window is any better. We could call it plein in. Nobody who I want to listen to cares about that stuff. It’s all just our response to the effects of light on form.

I don’t get to work outside of the studio as much as I used to, but it still excites me. This subject required painting two environments in the same image, describing what’s outside the window as well as the room the viewer is in, which is a big challenge. Even a camera has problems doing that.

Painting from life is more demanding than from photos, but it gives you a lot more information with which to work. For beginners, it is often overwhelming. I’m fairly experienced, and it’s still hard to establish the inside-outside thing. I can suggest with my drawing that those are windows, and there is something out there, but I don’t want the viewer to take my word for it; I want them to sense a distinct location beyond the wall. It’s a different place out there, and it requires its own atmosphere. Atmosphere puts objects in the same thought. Two atmospheres in the same painting have to cohabitate, and that’s tricky.

This room is on the second floor of an old Firehouse in Lambertville, looking out on Main Street. It’s an office at Fisherman’s Mark. The place isn’t as spacious as I made it look. I painted some furniture out of the image, and I brought the ceiling fan into the composition from the middle of the room. To create a separate “outside,” I accentuated the power lines, trees, and buildings being eclipsed by the window frame, so they must be on the other side of the wall. Overlap is a key drawing tool for simulating depth. I also used a slightly different palette for the exterior, so the color harmony seems vaguely different out there. That was sufficient. A description isn’t always helped by more particulars. Sometimes you just have to get enough right that it can’t be anything else.

Why this painting, this view? It’s a gift for Linda Meacham, who is retiring. Linda has been the executive director of Fisherman’s Mark for nine years, during a difficult period, and with phenomenal results. You know about the extraordinary role Fisherman’s Mark plays in making this area a wonderful place to live, how many people have been helped to find their way out of jams, and how vital the non-profit organization is to the quality of everybody’s life around here. It has a small staff, dedicated volunteers, and generous contributors, who all think of Linda as the heart. Those of us who are familiar with her know the hours and effort she’s put in, and we extend our sincere thanks. She has changed lives. The narrative elements were all there in front of me: Linda at her busy desk; the town outside the window; chairs for the many people she serves; and the fan, a symbol for working through adverse conditions. It hasn’t been an easy job, but it’s certainly one she can be proud of, and that’s what I want her to remember. The organization, its place in the community, and the big part she played in it. We are all so fortunate to have worked with Linda and wish her the absolute best.

When Jenn (the new executive director) and Linda saw that I was having trouble finding a good place to set up because the two tall, heavy bookcases were in the way, they jumped up from their desks, put their shoulders into it, and slid them across the room. Then they went back to work. Boom, done. Jenn won’t let Fisherman’s Mark miss a beat, and Linda isn’t going to slow down either. n