Plein Air Painting, (Pointers and Predicaments).

N.B., Click on images to zoom.

'Sketch (near Aberystwyth)' 

Acrylic on Paper. (About one and a half hours).

Click here for comments by other artists on this work, or to order cards/prints.

When I was selected as the artist to represent the Snowdonia area for 'Artists and Illustrators' magazine, I was asked by the feature writer if I had any advice for artists working outside. 

My mind went blank. I suppose because I don't like giving advice to other painters, - I always start from the presumption that they know what they are doing and may well have a different approach to mine, and so any advice from me would be superfluous.

However, on reflection, I should have considered that some artists, particularly beginners, can always find something or other that may be useful in a few suggestions, (and other more experienced artists can simply ignore what may seem obvious to them).

I once quickly skimmed around the net, to see if there were any clever pointers about plein air. Blimey, - I wished I hadn't bothered. There is so much advice that it take only a minute to reach overload. Advice on techniques, materials, planning, conception, - even on personal motivation.

Well, believe me, I don't need motivating. After having been out in the open air simply painting what is there, provides sufficient motivation. 

So I've limited my points to ten. Ones that have been useful to me. The pros and the cons.

The tips and the wrinkles. The Pointers and the Problems.

Five pros, tips, pointers...........

Take the right materials.

• Don't expect to get them right the first time.
• Work out what's best for you and stick with it.
• Keep your plein air kit separate from your normal art materials, ready to go.
• Keep your kit light (to carry) and minimal (three brushes instead of twenty?)

Know what you want the session to be about.

• This can simply mean having an idea in your head about what you want to achieve during your session, eg, a finished coloured sketch; or a detailed study of details which can be used for working up an image back at home.
• Don't confuse this idea of having a clear intention (or 'brief' as it is sometimes called), with a mental-preconception of the finished image (see below).

Composition and Mass.

• Go for the jugular, i.e., in the initial stages of any drawing or painting just put in the broad masses, with no detail.
• Frequently 'squinting' at the subject helps to see the masses without details.
• Adjust the shape and placement of these masses until an acceptable composition is found.
• Then start thinking about details, and only include those which are necessary.

Think about a limited colour palette.

• There are a vast if not infinite number of greens that we can see in nature, so careful choice of a small range of mixable paints is necessary. 
• When painting in oil I only take Bright Green Lake, and Permanent Sap Green.
• But then I also take Ultramarine, Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, and of course a black and a white, so the mixing possibilities are endless.

Use good quality materials.

• This tip should really be a golden rule across the range of an artist's work.
• Using cheap materials (because "it's only a quick sketch") is self-defeating.
• Imagine how you'd feel if, after many tries, you produce a really cracking drawing which has some internal magic even though it only took ten minutes, but then the crummy quality of the paper and some cheapo pencils drags the whole thing down.

Five cons, wrinkles, predicaments...........

I can't possibly go out today 'cos it's chucking it down! 

• Solution -  Sort out the clothing. Layers. Waterproofs. Fingerless gloves. Boots, etc.
• Check the weather report beforehand, then prepare. 
• Sit and paint from the car.
• If it's too hot, wear a hat and shorts, etc.
• Insect repellant spray. 

I can't choose a subject to paint because everything looks boring! 

• Solution -  Even the simplest and least promising subject will become interesting and exciting when you look very carefully and simply paint what you see. (One revealing exercise is to just take a square yard of ground, anywhere in the country or the town,  put chalk line around it, and paint it as faithfully as possible. If carried out rigorously, it will move from daunting to exciting in no time at all). 
• If poss check the site out beforehand, this will save time on the day. 
• Think about what part of the day you want to work (consider the light). Remember Pisarro said that there should be sufficient subjects to paint for a lifetime within five miles of one's own home!
• If you get really stuck, come and live in North Wales, you'll never be lost for a paintable subject ever again.

I can't handle this because the light keeps changing! 

• Solution -  Work quickly. (But with great focus!) 
• Use larger brushes and broad brushstrokes at first, and smaller brushstrokes only if you have the time.
• Within a short time (certainly here in Britain), the light will have changed and therefore the whole composition.
• Accept that if you can't complete your sketch within a quarter of an hour or so, and you want to keep going, it may have to be an image which is an amalgam of different lighting changes.
• If you really want to get an accurate representation of the light at one moment in time then take a photograph, which you can use later for information if you plan to complete a 'studio' painting.
• Take other photographs of different angles around your subject. These will help with context.

It's difficult to cover all the white bits on the paper ! 

• Solution -  Prepare your 'support', (the thing you paint onto) before you go.
• Eg., Masking tape a piece of paper to a board, paint over the paper with a neutral-ish mid-toned ground (let's say, in acrylic). 
• This ground will solve any white-paper problem.
• The ground could be pre-textured using a rag or some crumpled paper, before the acrylic paint dries.

I can't seem to get it to look like that great painting that I've just seen! 

• Solution -  Forget about other paintings!
• When working from nature, only take nature as the guide.
• Look very carefully and only put down what you see. 
• Any visual preconceptions can kill the value of plein air working.
• The reason that all those old clichés ('what you see is what you get', 'truth is beauty', 'keepin' it real', etc) have become clichés, is because they're usually right.

See you there !

 . . . . NEWS . . .  . NEWS . . . . 

25th July to 5th September

133rd Annual Summer Exhibition

of Academician’s works. 

The highlight of the year at the Royal Cambrian Academy, when most of the Academicians show, and is an opportunity to see and buy the wide variety of work being made in Wales.

(I have three oil paintings on show. Please drop in if you can).

Royal Cambrian Academy, Crown Lane, Conwy. LL32 8AN. 01492 593413

The Gallery is located in the centre of Conwy just off the High Street behind Plas Mawr.

The nearest train station is at Llandudno Junction, 3km from the Gallery and served by the North Wales Coast route. Services run approximately hourly throughout the week. The Arriva Cymru (service 5) bus stop is 200m away from the gallery and runs at 30 minute intervals on weekdays and hourly on Sundays.

And to see the 'Red' Virtual online competition/exhibition here is the link :-

http://www.gallery25n.com/RED_Art-2015.html

             quiz  quiz quiz  quiz  quiz       “details, details............”    quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz          

Who are these dogs accompanying, and who painted them?

(The answer will be in the next posting.)

And here's the answer from the last posting -

'Femme Cousant (Young Woman Sewing in the Garden).  

by Mary Cassatt, 1880-82, Musee d'Orsay, Paris

             quiz  quiz quiz  quiz  quiz       “details, details............”    quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz  quiz          

"Without atmosphere a painting is nothing." 

Rembrandt.

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. . . . and now, a Recommended Read . . . .

A History of God - Karen Armstrong.

A brilliant book, now an international best-seller (it's been translated into 30 different languages) which gives an overview of the way that conceptions of God have changed through the ages. Karen Armstrong was a nun for seven years, and is now an academic and writer on matters religious.

'Aloof and intelligent, Armstrong stands on the shore and gives a brilliantly lucid account of those capsizing, floundering and even drowning in the divine ocean. She has written a splendidly readable book. . . . Armstrong has a dazzling ability: she can take a long and complex subject and reduce it to the fundamentals, without oversimplifying.'    Sunday Times. 

Published on Vintage

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