Take your creativity out into the fresh air with the age-old French tradition of plein air painting. Moving this activity outdoors is great for our health and also helps us develop a greater eye and awareness for the beauty of our surroundings.
It’s easy to draw inspiration from the beauty of nature. Plein air painting also combines well with travel. Outdoors, we’re more likely to experiment with a looser approach, focusing more on the light and colors as more of a study, than getting caught up in technique.
As we can see in Winslow Homer’s painting below, the artists are using white umbrellas to diffuse the sunlight. Harsh sunlight on a painting surface affects both our ability to match color well. While the perception of color outdoors may seem pleasing, it can look quite different once it is taken indoors, so we want to achieve a balance between the benefits of painting outdoors and having diffused lighting over the painting itself. Note the fact that it is the painting that is shaded under the umbrellas below and not the artists. We want to eliminate glare on the painting.
THE HISTORY OF “OPEN AIR” PAINTING
While artists have been painting outdoors since the dawn of humankind, it didn’t really become a “thing” in recorded history until the 1830s when the Barbizon School in France decided to depict the light and weather conditions with greater accuracy by studying them in natural settings. Over the next decade, tubes of paint became available (artists had long made their own paints) followed by pochade boxes (the same compact carrying case easels we know and love today).
First used to describe the habits of Claude Monet and other French Impressionists, “Plein air” simply means painting outside.
Most of us are familiar with Monet, who studied his subjects in a variety of seasons and lights — depicting his impression of that particular moment instead of detailed accuracy. His impressionist paintings were a departure from the traditional style, and not initially received as well as they are today.
While critics were tough on impressionists at first, modern art-lovers embrace the beauty of their work. In fact, in 2016, Christie’s auctioned off one of the haystack paintings at a record-breaking $81.4 million!
While I was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, a traveling Monet exhibit came through and I was able to see multiple grain stack and waterlily paintings up close, in person. They really made an impression on me (excuse the bad pun). I really enjoyed how mundane subject matter could be transformed into a work of beauty, simply by focusing on how color plays on it in various types of light — and capturing the nuances of various seasons, weather and time of day. They are handled like a simple study, yet when placed side by side, they are fascinating. Monet displayed this series himself in a Paris exhibit of the haystack series in 1891, displaying fifteen of them. And we can enjoy them in all their plein air-inspiring glory.
Notice in these paintings of painters, that the artists wear hats (I prefer large-brimmed to provide better shade for my eyes and protection for my neck — unless I manage to find a great spot in the shade). Most of them are seated (also my personal preference, and perhaps a sign of my age). So to take a cue from the original plein air painters: pack light, bring a hat and an umbrella or shade and make sure you’ll be comfortable for a while).
MY HISTORY OF PAINTING OUTDOORS
I acquired my first outdoor easel (pictured at the top) when my husband returned with a treasure that had literally been some else’s trash. On garbage day in our neighborhood, he’d scoped out an abandoned pochade box. “You’re sure someone threw this away?” I asked, thinking that someone must have been involved in a plein air project and left their easel unattended temporarily. Because … who would throw away such a thing? It didn’t seem possible. Patrick assured me that he’d found it at the curb, leaning against a full garbage bag (scavenger’s paradise). And yet, it was obviously in never-used, new condition. I tried without success to imagine a scenario where someone would kick such a handy item to the curb. But then, it sat in my office for months unused. I ended up giving it to my father who enjoyed oil painting. He happily loaded it up with supplies, but also never used it outdoors. When he died, my mother returned it to me. Poor unfulfilled pochade!
Pochade is a French verb, meaning to sketch. Traditionally, a pochade box is wooden, contains a palette, has storage space for art supplies and folds down to a hinged case that is easy to carry. Often, it will have grooves in the lid to store painting boards at a small distance from each other to dry. They are so very practical and yet loaded with traditional charm.
Imagine yourself in a painter’s smock and wide-brimmed straw hat … très chic (that is, very stylish)! Yet nothing compared to the three-piece suits the Impressionists sported while painting (if the paintings above are to be believed).
Now that I am writing a blog on (among other things) combining art and travel. I must use the pochade box. Mustn’t I?? (Yes, it is now on my “to do very soon” list 😉 ) While I do take a watercolor travel kit along with me whenever I head to a scenic outdoor location, it’s usually for quick studies in a sketchbook. I’m intrigued by taking on a full-sized oil landscape on a pochade box à la Monet.
MY HISTORY OF ON-LOCATION ART
To be sure, in my years as an art student I’d been to various locations to sketch — and in most (if not all) cases, I was indoors. Cue images of a pasty-skinned, black-clad, fishnet-hose-wearing artsy-girl … yup, that was me in my late teens and early twenties. I didn’t see the sun much. In fact, I frequented dusty cave-like exhibits hunched among animal skeleton specimens at places like the Chicago Field Museum (where outdoor things were brought inside to study). Apparently, I was so predictable with my sketchbook that visitors would ask me for directions to the restrooms, or look over my shoulder as if I too were one of the exhibits. But outdoors … not so much.
In many ways, this was out of character for a girl who grew up playing outdoors, camping, hiking and exploring my great aunt’s ranch. (In my defense, I have the skin of a vampire.) Then, in 1986, I moved to Florida where I spent the next 25 years conditioning my skin to a gently sun-kissed state by fishing, beach-walking, kayaking and (well, ok, not so much sun underwater) scuba diving. I renewed my love of the outdoors there. But, I digress…
BACK OUTSIDE
Since moving to North Carolina and buying a travel trailer to explore the rest of the country, my interest in plein air painting has increased. My recent tendency has been to take watercolors along, because nothing is more compact, portable and easy to clean up after. Plein air painting in the tradition of the Impressionists will take a bit more commitment, more of a set up … and perhaps a trip devoted to painting. I’ve long fantasized about a trip to Ghost Ranch where O’Keeffe painted New Mexico’s amazing desert scenes. But I’m sure there are places close by (Monet stayed within 3 miles of his home to paint his famed haystacks). Saying this here adds a bit more accountability for this pledge and I will be sure to report back on my progress in the future.
This lovely little wooden box field easel is much like my own,
yet more adorably compact (and it has a convenient shoulder strap squeeeee)!
Keep an eye on this blog and follow along with me as I transform these cigar boxes into lovely little travel easel boxes. These small (6″ x 6″ and 4″ x 8″) boxes would make perfect little travel cases for watercolor!
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