Frequently Ask Questions 

What is plein air?  

Plein air is painting “in the open air” on site and generally finishing the canvas in one sitting “alla prima “.  Plein air painters face a host of difficulties first of which is the intense light of the out doors. This is overcome by one use of an umbrella to cover the canvas and two by grounding the canvas in a mid tone color as deep red or ochre. The second difficulty lies in the movement of shadows and the rapid changes of light.  The plein air artist must work very quickly to capture the light  and usually works on small canvas.  Painting in midday and under some shady spot can greatly help with these obstacles.  Some other difficulties are wind, heat, cold, uneven ground, bugs, noise, and the most troubling is the disappearance of open spaces in southern California.

 Claude Monet is the most well know of plein air painters.  His approach was to set up in one location and paint on one large canvas for 20-30 minutes then change to another canvas then another.  Capturing the light as it fell during a curtain laps of time. He would return to that spot multiple days to finish his canvases.   This method is called as serial painting.

 Another technique is to painting in plein air is the use of sketches on paper or canvas that taken back to the studio.  The sketches are then used to paint a large canvas having worked out the composition and coloring.  Many artist paint in plein air and use that knowledge and experience to work from photographs.

 Painting in Plein air would seem like a lot of trouble in the age of color photography.  Yet photograph rarely captures the mood or air of natural light. The photograph captures every detail but not always the feeling that a place may hold.  The eye can only focus on one object at a time and responds to color emotionally.  Most of us have taken a snapshot of a landscape only to find that what drew us to take the picture is not there in the print.  This is especially true of seascapes.

 Do you paint plein air?

About half of my paintings is done in plein air.  Most of my large pieces are done from onsite study paintings.  One of the main reasons I like painting in the studio is time.  I like to paint without being in a rush or distracted.  Another reason is the soft light gives me more of a feeling what the piece will look like hanging on a wall.  I would not call myself a plein air painter but rather a decorative painter.  My main goal are paintings that are decorative in color and composition.   

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