"En plein air" is a French term for "painting out of doors." The warm summer days of June were perfect for our plein air painting studio.
Our introductory plein air class was all about creating at least one outdoor painting while making decisions along the way, such as:
Finding an appropriate subject.
Finding a good place to sit to paint chosen subject. And getting comfortable.
Using a viewfinder to find the best view of chosen subject.
Choosing appropriate art media for the painting, such as watercolor, pastels, or colored pencils.
Organizing and managing art supplies around the artist for ease of use.
And finally, deciding how to get started, beginning with a sketch of some kind.
Things we learned along the way:
Balancing and working effectively with water and a drawing/painting board.
The value of wearing sunscreen and possibly a brimmed hat when painting out of doors.
Our first experience with plein air painting was a valuable one for these young artists.
They had the freedom to learn on their own about the challenges of creating art in an outdoor environment without straying beyond their own backyard (or in this case, my backyard).
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