I think we can agree that plein air painting is challenging?

[john]

It seems like 80% of the time it's a complete disaster. For me anyhow. I just tried doing it again and it was like bashing my head against a wall. Other than that it was great. It was a beautiful place to be humiliated.

What were the impressionists thinking? Hey let's make painting even harder and drag all this stuff outside into the cold. Yeah they did that because they had no heating or AC. So why do we do it? Changing light? I can't even get non-changing light right.

 

[stlukesguild]

I only did one plein air painting... back in art school. It was an assigned project. We all went behind the Cleveland Museum of Art where there was a reflecting pond known as the "lagoon" which was surrounded by trees. I was crazy enough to paint a 3 1/2 x 7-foot canvas. Beyond dealing with the wind (I had to tie the canvas to the easel and tie the easel down) the worst thing was the gnats and mosquitos that dive-bombed the well oils en mass. Over the years I did a number of plein air drawings... but never another such painting.

 

[Enyaw]

I can't plein air either as I can"t read the colors on my palette. They all look different that when I put them on the canvas. Weird but true. I study nature while fishing and things like that. I just look and see. I can do a good winter scene now from a black and white where I could not before I mixed 3000 wrong colors. Working on still life will allow you to study what is in front of you much more advantageously to you. You have all the time it takes. Learn how to see what you want to say and then when you go outside you will have a plan and you will know how to execute it.

 

[Perry]

I agree, for me most of them don't turn out very well.
I'm guessing I've done about a dozen total. I don't do well
when I have to work quickly and the values always look
different when I get them inside. I may try again someday
but I really don't enjoy the experience.

 

[Lazarus]

the values always look
different when I get them inside

For sure. and special with the midtones.

 

[Lazarus]

Yeah they did that because they had no heating or AC

Our DNA changed. the more we try to have comfortable the more we are loosing our DNA.

 

[john]

So painting 3.5 x 7 foot doesn't help. Colors and values seem stranger even though the reason we are supposed to be doing is for the color and value accuracy. Bugs get in the paint. It's working on our DNA .

But, only by being outside can we get the real light and see the place for our perfect painting. A photo can never capture that. You have to be there freezing or eating bugs..... and then make a horrible painting. Photos don't capture the suffering and moving target conditions that you get while outside.

But I might be a little cynical right now.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Plein air is challenging .... only if you try it! I love it, my favorite way to paint and I haven't done it for over a year. What's wrong with me? Anyway, good luck. It does get easier and you learn and get so much out of it. I'm rootin' for ya.

 

[triss]

It seems like 80% of the time it's a complete disaster. For me anyhow. I just tried doing it again and it was like bashing my head against a wall. Other than that it was great.

Yes, that's my experience pretty often (my disaster percentage might be a bit higher than yours!). I do usually enjoy the challenge of the weather and the light - those elements are fun for me. What I enjoy a lot less is the challenge of juggling all my stuff and dropping boxes of pastels in a field - decidedly less fun.

Learn how to see what you want to say

But this is my biggest struggle with both landscapes and still life. Love the way Wayne's managed to sum up something so difficult so simply!

 

[E.J.H.]

Long term ambition, not really gotten around to it. Icelandic winter climate is not helping. My plan is a minimal watercolor/line and wash approach you know urban sketcher style. I am in the proces of getting a better grip on this medium and putting together a simple kit.
Of the things I made I myself mostly appreciate the stuff done from life best, so plein air would be a logical step to take.

 

[Bartc]

My experience is exactly the opposite. I almost exclusively paint en plein air these days and am very glad of it.

Certainly weather conditions and light can be challenges. But both can also provide some gorgeous inspiration, the latter being with you all the time, the former only sometimes a problem. But I do live in temperate California (deliberately for climate and scenery) and acknowledge that were I living back East again some seasons would be miserable.

My observation is that some people simply don't adapt well to it, depending upon style and medium more than anything. Lots of my painting buddies are oil painters and do fine, yet I do see that oil painters who are used to long drying times in studios seem to have the most difficulty converting.

I tell folks to just go out with a small kit (watercolor is good for this) or pencil and try it out for a bit. That way you aren't over-burdened nor over-committing to large and difficult works, while you accustom yourself to how to select and compose the subject in changing light. And you can always just start outside while planning to finish later inside. That takes pressure off.

3.5'x7' canvas near a mosquito infested water feature? Was your instructor sniffing too much turpentine?

 

[Artyczar]

I think drawings are all I'm going to be able to do. I might be too afraid I'll get bit by a snake if I get too carried away in the painting process!

 

[Bartc]

I think drawings are all I'm going to be able to do. I might be too afraid I'll get bit by a snake if I get too carried away in the painting process!

You're more likely to get bitten by the "plein air bug" if you ask me.

 

[ColorEnthusiast]

Plein air painting is more challenging, for that I agree. Especially the bugs are bothering. But there are several pros.
First you learn more as you do the composing on the spot, you feel the weather condition and then maybe you know you want to capture the heat or cold or whatever (in the worst case the bugs ).
And then often enough it is a kind of adventure, I experienced so many funny stories and met so many interesting people during plein air sessions.
Then painting plein air at a spot makes you remember this spot a lot better. I don't think I will forget spots where I have painted.
And at last, if you succeed you get a more vivid and better painting, some my best paintings are plein air.

But I only paint plein air during the summer time, in winter it is too cold where I live. When I was younger I went once during winter for plein air painting with my watercolor set and ruined my brush because the water froze in it.

What helps is to go with some friends or in a group, that helps against shyness.

 

[Bongo]

It seems like 80% of the time it's a complete disaster. For me anyhow. I just tried doing it again and it was like bashing my head against a wall.

Number 1 - if you don't use one already get a "view catcher." At $10. it's $9. overpriced but once you start using one you'd pay $20 to replace it. The first thing I discovered is that you have to set up much, much (much) further from the scene than you'd imagine. Whenever possible do sight-size painting. That's where the objects in the scene (that you composed with the viewfinder) appear to your eye, the same size that they will be on the canvas. You can use your brush handle to take measurements, find placement. Etc. Image copying from a photo that was the same size as your painting. -- same concept.

Number 2 - practice setting up and painting in your backyard, around your house until you get some of the kinks worked out.

Number 3 - binge-watch youtube videos of guys doing Plein Air. You will learn so much, and get so jazzed up and motivated. So many - watch all of them. Here are two to get you started. Michael Chamberlain, Ian Roberts.

Do those three things - not necessarily in that order then report back

 

[john]

Number 1 - if you don't use one already get a "view catcher." At $10. it's $9. overpriced but once you start using one you'd pay $20 to replace it. The first thing I discovered is that you have to set up much, much (much) further from the scene than you'd imagine. Whenever possible do sight-size painting. That's where the objects in the scene (that you composed with the viewfinder) appear to your eye, the same size that they will be on the canvas. You can use your brush handle to take measurements, find placement. Etc. Image copying from a photo that was the same size as your painting. -- same concept.

Number 2 - practice setting up and painting in your backyard, around your house until you get some of the kinks worked out.

Number 3 - binge-watch youtube videos of guys doing Plein Air. You will learn so much, and get so jazzed up and motivated. So many - watch all of them. Here are two to get you started. Michael Chamberlain, Ian Roberts.

Do those three things - not necessarily in that order then report back

View attachment 14925

Thanks Bongo. Yeah I have one those. I use my phone camera zoom to frame shots also.

My problem yesterday was a few things. It was a complicated scene even when cropped. It was cold. I was using only a painting knife for some reason. I didn't do an underpainting. It got dark I ran out of time and I rushed, got mad that so little was done that I just starting throwing paint around to cover something. And I was using a new plein air set for me and I'm still working on the pallet location. It's a forest scene and I'm more a seascape guy. Confused the heck out of me.

I've seen those two guys on Youtube. Speaking of..it sounds like Michael is speaking to me right here

LIke you said I'm going to get this scene down in the studio first and then try again.

Maybe it's good because now I'm mad.





Enjoying everyone's comments. Thanks.

 

[Bongo]

That Chamberlain video you posted is 5 years old. His new stuff is like watching a movie. He does seascapes and cityscapes to die for.
A typical day for him is to get up at 5am - head out to the coast and do some surfing - has a go pro mounted to his board. Then back to San Francisco to check in on his gallery show. Then over to Dick Blicks to buy some supplies. Then out to a spot in S.F. and do a cityscape. Then home and critique the painting. rinse-repeat-once or twice a week.

 

[E.J.H.]

Good tips Bongo. That viewfinder looks like something that could be an easy and quick DIY project (and yes 10 bucks is a steep price for such a simple gadget).
Encouraging topic, I don't have to deal with snakes, and there are hardly bugs worth to mention here. Personally I think it's a pity, always had an interest in the kind of wildlife most other people find creepy (reptiles amphibians spiders insects etc).

 

[stlukesguild]

So painting 3.5 x 7 foot doesn't help.

Actually, the painting turned out pretty good. It was the painting that led to my focus on large work from there onward... and it earned me a scholarship for the following school year. But as much as I loved (and still love) Monet, Turner, Constable, and other landscape artists, my real passion was always the human figure. Of course, if I'd seen Neil Welliver's paintings then, who knows how things might have played out:

 

[stlukesguild]

3.5'x7' canvas near a mosquito infested water feature? Was your instructor sniffing too much turpentine?

No. But I might have been. From what I recall, we had to paint a work that was no smaller than 36" in either direction. My paintings prior were all small... inspired by Netherlandish paintings of the Renaissance. For example, here's a Freshman watercolor: