After several months of hiatus, the Plein Air blog is back! Our new Artist Daily editor, Courtney Jordan, and I have worked out a biweekly schedule to get the Plein Air blog back on track, and I’m excited to resume coverage of the artists, events, exhibitions, tools and tips, and conservation issues that matter most to you as painters and interpreters of nature.

I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that plein air painting is something artists of all styles, subject matter, and strengths can enjoy. Throughout history numerous landscape approaches have emerged either in tandem with or in opposition to the stylistic movements that were being pioneered indoors by figure, portrait, or still life painters. Whether those plein air paintings were used as preparatory sketches for larger studio pieces or considered finished works in their own right, working outdoors from nature at some point in the process was, and continues to be, of supreme importance to a great many landscape painters.

As the Hudson River Valley gears up to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage, landscape painters are remembering the famed 19th-century Hudson River School painters who put the Hudson on the map and are celebrating with plein air events and exhibitions of their own.

Joseph McGurl grew up under his talented father’s artistic tutelage while cultivating a passion for boating and a love of the sea. This early influence, coupled with years of hard work and practice, have made him one of today’s foremost landscape painters, and in this interview he shares his knowledge, experience, and insight on the art of painting nature.