‘I love recreating the colours, light and atmosphere of nature on canvas. Painting gives me an enormous sense of well-being and connectedness’.
Improve Your Landscape Painting Skills…Paint Outdoors.
I love landscape art, especially traditional realism painting and I have been painting landscapes for many years. Whilst I paint a lot in my studio one of the things I love to do is paint outside on location in the great outdoors. This is called painting ‘en plein air’, which is a French phrase meaning to ‘paint outdoors’. Plein air painting is not only thoroughly enjoyable, and great for the mind, body and spirit, but it also helps immensely with improving your studio work.
Plein air painting teaches you to really look at the landscape, its forms, colours and tonality. It teaches you to loosen up your painting technique, improves your use of colour and understanding of composition. It also teaches you to paint quickly as the light and weather conditions are always changing.
One of the other rewarding things about plein air painting is that within a few hours you can create some beautiful, masterpieces that would be suitable to hang on a living room wall. Plein air paintings are vibrant and alive and often much more atmospheric and magical than studio paintings.
In this article I am going to explain some of the equipment you will need for painting outdoors and I’ll briefly go over some of the gear I use. I have also included a step by step plein air painting demonstration that will give you some tips on how to approach painting a landscape from life. Many of the principles required for plein air painting can be applied to your studio art work. So readers, pick up your brushes and paints and have a go at painting outdoors, I guarantee you’ll have loads of fun and your paintings will improve dramatically.
Equipment
The first time I ever went plein air painting I brought my studio easel, I quickly found that it was cumbersome to carry around with me, although it was fine to use for the first couple of times. However, I decided to purchase some equipment that would make my plein air painting experience much easier. One of my main items of equipment I use for plein air painting is my pochade box (pictured below). This is a portable easel that contains storage compartments for paints and finished paintings as well as a built in paint palette. My pochade box mounts on a standard camera tripod, making it sturdy for when I am painting and it is easy to carry around. There are many pochade box’s available on the market.
When plein air painting, many plein air artists including myself prefer to paint on loose canvas that is adhered to a panel with masking tape. This allows the artist to paint whatever size canvas they desire and it is also a cheaper way of doing it especially when you’re learning and getting to grips with painting outside. The finished painting can then be either mounted on a board or stretcher bars. Note: if you intend to mount the painting on stretcher bars it is advisable to adjust your canvas size to standard sizes and leave at least 3cm edge so it can be comfortably mounted on stretcher bars.
The equipment I use for plein air painting includes the following:
- Pochade box
- Camera tripod
- Paints
- Brushes
- Brush cleaner
- Liquin
- Paper towels
- Cloth
- Disposable nitrile gloves
Painting Demonstration – Painting Mt Talbot
One of my favorite subjects to paint is Mt Talbot in Fiordland, New Zealand. The mountains in this area are rugged, majestic and beautiful and their forms make it relatively easy to compile dramatic and engaging compositions.
If you have never done plein air painting before, it can be helpful to have a go at painting in a plein air style in your studio first of all. Please feel free to use and have a go at painting the image below.
Oil Painting: Dynamic Landscapes Lifelong Learning
Enhance your painting skills by studying landscapes via discussion, demonstration, and personalized instruction as you learn the necessary skills to develop successful landscapes. You’ll explore composition, color theory, depth, and brushwork while discovering a variety of new techniques. This course is ideally suited for those who have had basic oil painting experience.
Questions? Call Lifelong Learning at 801-587-5433 or use our online form.
Class Sections For Oil Painting: Dynamic Landscapes (LLART 398)
Fall 2023 Section 2, Starting on: 11/15/2023
No class 11/22. Taught by Alicia Finlayson. This class takes place at the University Connected Learning and Continuing Education building (540 Arapeen Drive, SLC). Students are responsible for most of their own materials. Special fee is for canvas.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/15/23 – 12/13/23 | W | 5:30 pm -8:30 pm | UUCE 138 |
Tuition: $175.00 + Special Fee: $15.00 = $190.00 Materials List
Registration for this class will close on 11/14/2023 at midnight
ONLY 3 SEATS LEFT!
Spring 2024 Section 1, Starting on: 03/04/2024
This class takes place at the University Connected Learning and Continuing Education building room 138 (540 Arapeen Drive, SLC). Students are responsible for most of their own materials. Special fee is for canvas.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03/04/24 – 03/25/24 | M | 6:00 pm -9:00 pm | UUCE 138 |
Tuition: $175.00 + Special Fee: $15.00 = $190.00 Materials List
Registration for this class will close on 03/03/2024 at midnight
You might also like:
- Robotics for Grown-Ups: An Introduction
- Portrait Drawing
- Digital Photography II
Questions? Call Lifelong Learning at 801-587-5433 or use our online form.
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