I am drawn to landscapes (no pun intended); not sure why, it has just happened.

My first painting was a still life, but, that was for an instructional class. Have tried figurative work, but it more resembled free flow abstracts (think Pollock). Maybe, nature is the one thing that still really dazzles me. Or, it could be in my genes, it's certainly on my jeans and everything else I touch, as Kathy will attest. 

Working as a landscape painter requires going outdoors, painting from memory or looking at a photo or two. You will miss much if you don’t go out and paint in the environment, do what is called “Plein-air” painting. Once you try painting outside, you understand why it can be so impactful. 

But, plein-air art is not so much about the location of your easel or tablet, but the manner and style of your painting. The term traces its origin to mid-19th century France. It was then for the first time that artists attempted to capture the luminous effects of natural light and atmosphere by leaving the studio. Painting had been inside, frequently under artificial light, and from the imagination. Going outdoors changed the direction of landscape art, especially for the adaptation to light.  The sun’s light is “white” in the mid day, emerging from magenta and violet hues in morning and returning to those hues again at night. The sun is also moving, slowly dancing shadows across the countryside. Capturing these momentary displays of light and tones are what Monet sought in his Notre Dame works, and Matisse in his haystack paintings. Those dramatic effects can’t be observed from inside.

Each studio has its own light environment, but it’s seldom the white of the sky. A studio's color cast is determined based on how its light originates. If from incandescent bulbs (it’s yellowish), fluorescent tubes (which can vary in color, but tend to be slightly yellow or blue), halogen (it’s near white),  LED (more bluish/white), or some combination of these, plus any light from an open window. That mixture can distort what you think you are actually painting on the canvas. Almost all of my paintings are finished in the studio, staying aware of light is critically important. Many times, I am pleasantly surprised at how well my choices show up on work when taken to a gallery with a large wall of windows.

Setting up in the outdoors can be fun. However, finding public access and paintable landscapes together is a challenge. Once found, these settings come, of course, with gnats, mosquitos, ticks and a random dog or two; so, it not always favorable to completing the work there. Most of the time, after a few sketches, maybe touched with watercolors to capture a tone, I take a couple of photos and then retreat to the studio to complete my work.

Does the end result from such a process qualify as plein-air? Maybe, if my work tries to capture the "luminous effects of natural light and atmosphere" (a Wiki statement), but who is checking? Hopefully, not the site manager of the Plein-air site, where I post my paintings. It's the way my plein-air work has evolved.

This month’s cover image and the painting below, are recent works, that I classify as “plein-air” though they were painted in the process described above. This scene along Brunswick, Georgia's waterways, was quickly sketched while we drove the I-95 link along the Georgia coast, stopping  for a moment here and there. I also used random photos taken from the passenger seat as nature flashes by me. Both, were finished in the studio and the work below is oil painted on black canvas.  The black canvas seems to give a unique contrast in the work.

 Brunswick Overpass at 70 mph, 10"x10" oil on canvas

My paintings can be seen at Woodfield Fine Art, 2253 Central Ave, St Petersburg.

Coming up this Winter : I will be conducting a one day workshop in Cedar Key, FL. Details are being worked out: dates and specifics will be posted. The workshop will be open to the public. I will be demonstrating the use of a squeegee and other tools to create unique results in oil and acrylic.