3 Reasons to Paint Outdoors

Landscape painters are an unusual lot. Many painters only paint indoors and don't feel they have the time or speed to paint outdoors, but here are three good reasons to pack up the equipment and go
outside.

Being in the environment makes you feel the scene.  If all your time is spent racing around collecting photographs to use later, you're paintings will never have the sense of place and time. You need to smell the earth, feel the breeze and hear the birds before your studio painting will feel alive to the viewer.

Cameras cannot capture color or shading correctly. Today's digital cameras are great, I carry a Canon camera and I use it everyday but I know the limitations. When I use photos in the studio I only print black and white images and use them only for shape references. I use my field paintings as color references for studio paintings. If you are working on a large studio painting, consider making several plein air works of various details. You might have to spend 2-3 afternoons in one spot but when the snow is 2 feet deep and your into a large summer painting you'll thank me.

Depth perception is better outdoors. Once again, the camera cannot replace the depth you feel on site. You need to experience subtle changes in light and color in order to make your viewer feel like they are standing there with you.