In the tradition of the Barbizon School and the Impressionists,
painting “en plein air” is about capturing the light and atmosphere, time of day
and sense of place. I try to keep it to an hour or so because the light changes
so fast that the colors and values change, and a painter must stay
focused on the original intention of the painting or he/she will be chasing the
light and the painting will never be resolved. Challenging and great fun, I
paint in all kinds of conditions, from standing in the cold in the snow in the
late hours of the night, to the sweltering heat of the tropics, to sitting in
the back of the car with the hatch open because it may be raining or snowing (or
the hatch is closed because of the windy conditions.) Mostly I am painting on a pochade box but sometimes I use a French easel if the work is larger than 11x14
or 12x16. For a landscape painter, working plein air allows one to become part
of the landscape, the painter and the painted to have an intimate connection.
