Thoughts on Painting Outdoors

"Winter Light," oil, 6x8, 2018

Painting outside--"en plein air"--can be intimidating. Outdoors, the artist who is used to the solitude and quiet of his studio finds himself, willy-nilly a center of interest. Set up an easel in a seemingly deserted forest glade and in a short while you can have a group of watchers. In town they seem to materialize out of thin air. So if you're an introvert or bothered by an audience, outdoor painting might even be a bit scary.

On the other hand, painting the outdoors--city or country--becomes an exercise in seeing. Painting life before one's eyes means perceiving subtleties of color, form, value, and more while painting or drawing on the fly, striving to capture them. Painting outdoors is immediate--nature scrolls past mighty fast--and a challenge to simplicity and to the brush. Like painting portraits from life, painting the outdoors provides the artist with a bewildering array of visual and sensory inputs.You paint the thing(s) before you using a richer array of ideas, yet there is much to simplify, much to omit. To my mind one of the reasons people delight in the work of the Impressionists is that much of it was done outdoors.

"Autumn Blaze," watercolor, 5x9, 2018

My outdoor painting experience has been very small, but over the years I've certainly made attempts, though with varied results. Although not painted precisely outdoors, the small oil posted above was done in early morning winter light from the open door of my studio. The day was simply too cold--below zero--to paint outside and I wanted to capture the way the far branches and retained foliage were warmly lighted, even in such cold. So I suppose this is a "demi plein air." But it's important to note that plein air is simply outdoor painting without specification of medium. So many of my outdoor watercolors are in fact plein air work, just not in oil paint. Many use other watermedia--acrylic, casein, gouache--when painting outdoors, mostly because of better portability and convenience. And of course cleanup is easier when using water-based media.

Happily, a recent workshop with Garin Baker, an American master whose work in the outdoors has been a personal inspiration of mine,gave me an opportunity to use oils outdoors. We painted near his home studio in the Hudson Valley, spending much of our time on the famous Hudson Highlands at the southern end of Newburgh Bay. Oil painting outdoors is no different than painting indoors, except the artist must bring more gear and be prepared for mess and cleanup. We started our painting on a relatively grey day (it even rained a bit) but

"Newburgh Bay," oil, 9x12, 2019

the final couple of days were absolutely perfect. We painted from Plum Point,  which is encompassed by a state park, using the panorama of the river, Breakneck Ridge on the east and Storm King Mountain to the south. The river flows through a narrow gap there, and the wind can come whistling down the channel.The first day was tranquil and sunny, with great light and low, peaceful waves on the breadth of the river. I painted a passing sailboat against Breakneck Ridge, with Constitution Island and West Point in the far distance.

My recent workshop experience has hardened my resolve. This summer I will be doing at least two or three outdoor oil painting sessions per week along with my regular studio work. There is a wealth of potential in the beauty of the two rivers through the city, the park lands and lakes near my studio, and in the ever-changing streets of the city. More to come.