Plein Air Blog

Playing Studio Detective with a Monet Painting

Mitchell Albala — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:30:00 GMT

If there were any artist, past or present, into whose studio I could magically transport myself and observe him paint, it would be Claude Monet. I have always been intrigued by his painting style, especially his highly textured and complex surfaces. When...(read more)

The Cosmic Dance en Plein Air

johnandann@theartistsroad — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:58:00 GMT

Spring in the Hills II by John Hulsey, 5 x 7, oil painting. Whenever we get to feeling that there is nothing really new to be discovered in art or the world, we have to keep in mind that the "undiscovered country" often lies in our own backyards...(read more)

Don't Let Your Plein-Air Skills Grow Cold

Jennifer King — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:37:00 GMT

Don't give up your plein air focus over the winter months. Try to paint from life indoors and keep sketching. ( Melting Snow by Ben Fenske, 60 x 75, oil on canvas.) For some of us, winter weather is just a bit too unpredictable and chilly to spend...(read more)

Such a Diversity of Shapes in Her Landscape Paintings

Mitchell Albala — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:45:00 GMT

Turquoise Sky 3 , acrylic on panel, 5 x 5. All works by Lisa Snow Lady. I give a lot of credit to professional and semi-professional artists who seek out ongoing training or the advice of peers, even after their initial successes. I firmly believe that...(read more)

Free Video Lesson on Color Strategies in Plein Air Painting

Mitchell Albala — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:15:00 GMT

This short video is excerpted from a demonstration I gave at my annual plein air painting workshop in Skagit Valley, Washington. ( Gage Academy of Art , July, 2010.) The video talks about painting strategies in general and gives specific examples of the...(read more)

This One Is From the Heart

Jennifer King — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:32:00 GMT

Lake Tahoe by Albert Bierstadt, 1868. In their day, the Hudson River School landscape painters were so popular with the public that people would line up and pay a fair amount of money just to view a single painting. So I think it's safe to say that...(read more)

Paint the Place You Call Home

Jennifer King — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:30:00 GMT

We plein-air artists seem to put a lot of emphasis on traveling to far off places to paint, don't we? The fields of Tuscany, the rugged California coast, the farmhouses of the Cotswolds all seem to beckon. And heeding that call can be fantastic. I...(read more)

Don't Set Yourself Up for Failure from the Start

Mitchell Albala — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:56:00 GMT

Optimal Orientation of Subject and Artist in Plein Air Before the first daub of paint is squeezed out of the tube and brush is put to canvas, many plein air painters have already set themselves up for failure. How? By selecting a site that doesn't...(read more)

Tricky Stuff--Limit Your Focus & Expand Your Painting Options

Mitchell Albala — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:35:00 GMT

Demonstration: Exploring Composition Through a Limited Focus A "limited focus" isn't limiting at all, but expands our options in composition The first compositional move any painter makes is to apply a limited focus. Whether it be a still...(read more)

Capturing a Sense of Place--What Does It Mean To You?

Jennifer King — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:32:00 GMT

When discussing landscape painting , we often hear the phrase "capturing a sense of place." What does that mean to you? To me, it means so much more than just recording the physical attributes of the location. It goes way beyond suggesting the...(read more)

A Very Different Kind of Landscape Painting

Jennifer King — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:54:00 GMT

Ernest Lawson (1873 - 1939) came to maturity at the dawn of the 20th century, so his work was modern and gritty and real. His are not the idyllic landscape paintings of Corot , nor are they the dazzling light shows in Monet's plein air paintings ...(read more)

Please Forgive Me If This Sounds a Little Harsh...

Jennifer King — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:18:00 GMT

But I think it's time for some straight talk. I've participated in many, many plein air painting critiques over the years, and I can't begin to tell you how often I've been faced with landscape paintings that are a little off. Perhaps...(read more)

Landscape Painting Lessons from the Masters: Inness

Jennifer King — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:34:00 GMT

These four oil paintings have something in common. Yes, of course, they were all painted by George Inness (1825-1894), one of the greatest American landscape painters of all time. But there's something else, an incredibly valuable lesson. Have you...(read more)

Plein Air Paintings Created By Torchlight & Preserved Forever

johnandann@theartistsroad — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 03:10:00 GMT

Drawings of horses in the Chauvet caves. We recently watched the Werner Herzog film, Chauvet: Cave of Forgotten Dreams . Herzog made the film about the prehistoric, 30,000- to 32,000 year-old cave art discovered in 1994 in the Ardeche region of France...(read more)

Landscape Painting Lessons from the Masters: Corot

Jennifer King — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:39:00 GMT

Recollection of Mortefontaine by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, landscape oil painting, 1864. One of my great heroes in art is Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), the world-famous French artist who is still considered one of the best landscape artists...(read more)