Plein Air Painting

This article written by Lil Leclerc. Lil has be represented by Gallery of Dreams for over two years.

Plein Air painting is painting oil, watercolor, pastel, or a sketch that is done in entirety in the outdoors, usually in one sitting. A painting may be done over several days because of the largeness of the canvas. I use a small board 6x8 inch or 8x10 inch so that I can finish the painting in one session, usually in 1-2 hours. I use a limited palette so that I get color harmony in my paintings. I also do not want to carry a lot of equipment or paints with me. I like to keep my supplies limited to less than 10 pounds in weight.

My palette is ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow light, or medium, lemon yellow, Alizarin crimson, cadmium red medium, Naples yellow, and titanium white. I use Liquin to help in drying the paint. Colors right out of the tube are usually harsh and will not give you the emotion or statement that you want. They will give you a harshness in your painting. With the colors blue, red and yellow I can mix the whole range of colors, an get harmony in my painting. It is important to practice mixing or identifying colors before you go out to paint. If you have a problem get or make a color wheel to help. I often use a color wheel to help me mix a particular shade of a color. As everyone knows primary colors are blue, red and yellow. Secondary colors are produced when primaries are mixed: B&R=purple, B&Y= green, R&Y= orange. Tertiary colors produce degrees of gray (brown grays or black grays, red grays or purple grays). When you try and portray atmosphere and depth you will gray the colors the farther away from you the subject is. . So this means that the closest to you is the brightest and the purest of color. There are exceptions to the rule when you want to illuminate a particular subject or want to focus on something that is in mid ground or farther away.

In plein air painting I will use large value spaces. This means that I will use a large brush, a # 6 or # 8 filbert or flat to apply to canvas the scene in front of me, by using color and value to produce a recognizable scene. I do not do great detail to the painting. My goal is to paint the shadows and light areas, as quickly as possible. Most plein air paintings are used as a reference painting to reproduce another larger painting in the studio. Today’s plein air is often detailed enough to be in competitions and shows. The longer you practice the faster and better you will get.

I use gessoed board, or home made canvas boards for painting. When I do a paint study I may use a canvas sheet, such as “Yes” or a linen canvas. The gessoed board is excellent for transporting and is sturdy enough to handle the rough handling a plein air painting sometime has to endure. The ease of transportability is what I am looking at. I have several ways to transport wet boards. Homemade transport boxes serve as well as store bought boxes. Cardboard storage boxes, as well as cereal boxes work well. There are many ways to transport a painting. I have transported a painting on the dashboard of the car only to drop the painting in the dust at the studio. The painting was allowed to dry and them the dust was brushed off the painting. It was one of my better paintings.