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.

If You Paint Outside, The Ideas Will Come

Wednesday night, May 1st was The Overlook Gallery's first officially un-official  plein air paint-out for 2013. We  went to Big Bend Campground on Hwy 128, along the Colorado River for some evening painting. It had been windy all day and the weather was threatening to ruin the evening. We got to the picnic area in the campground and was delighted to find the wind was fairly light and the color on the river and canyon walls was stunning.

Getting in the car and heading out to a location is half the battle of painting outdoors. We can usually find 20 excuses to stay indoors rather than just loading the car and making an effort to get in the field. Even if the weather is rotten on site, at least you saw some country with fresh eyes and can take a few photos or thumbnail sketches home.
As we were driving out I noticed tents on the side of the road were getting thrashed by the winds, but I kept going because you don't know what will happen when you get there. As it turned out we had a great evening on the river, followed by a spectacular sunset. The next paint-out is Wednesday May 8, at the Monitor and Merrimac overlook on Hwy 313 (Canyonlands N.P. entrance north of Moab). Meet at The Overlook Gallery at 5pm. For more info: (435) 259-3861 or info@theoverlookgallery.com


Tim Morse at Big Bend, Colorado River



Tim Morse plein air Big Bend

 

Morning Gossips by James McKew

Morning Gossips

Painting No. 7-D-13

8"x 8" oil on canvas panel

James McKew

The weather has been getting hotter everyday. I drove to Arches National Park this morning and painted at the Courthouse parking lot. I got there 10 minutes before a tour bus full of visitors from China arrived. It was a little dis-arming to have 50-60 people crowd in behind you to watch as you paint and take your photo, but it's part of being in the Park. After they left I met a nice father, mother and daughter from Shanghai. The father also paints, so we talked about art through his daughter....kinda fun.
This is always a great morning location and every time I paint the gossips I see something new.

April Showers

April Showers

James McKew

Painting No. 5-D-13

8"x 8" oil on canvas

Rain settled into the Moab region this morning with localized heavy showers. In the early afternoon I drove north of town to a favorite sky location and painted this study in about an hour.

Sticking It Out

            I headed up Potash Road on Tuesday afternoon, scouting painting locations. It was partly cloudy and fairly warm when I left the gallery. As I drove I noticed our old friend the wind was picking up. I was determined to paint, regardless.

            I’ve found that when wind is an issue, I can get at least some deflection by parking my vehicle facing the prevailing wind, open the back, set up the French easel kind of low, and sit on the back bumper to paint. On this day, I also hung an old blanket partly attached to a rear window wiper to shade my painting surface from direct sunlight.

            The wind started playing tricks on me, shifting directions and getting down right chilly. The sun went behind a now overcast sky, depriving me of strong light and shadow contrast, but I was determined to stick it out and managed to produce this little 6”x8” of “Jug Handle Arch”.

Jug Handle Arch

6"x 8" oil on canvas panel

Tim Morse

Still-Life: Oaxaca Pot

Pottery Study #1

Painting No. 3-D-13

6"x 6" oil on canvas panel

James McKew

 

When the weather turns bad, the last couple of days it has snowed and rained, we often stay indoors and create small still-life paintings. This is a small Oaxaca pot that is for sale in the gallery which makes for a nice subject.

Arches National Park

Balancing Act

8"x 8" oil on canvas

James McKew

2013

Arches National Park is one of the premiere plein air painting destination in the world.

Tim Morse and James McKew are lucky enough to paint here nearly everyday that the weather is good. This painting is a typical scene in Arches; in particular, this is the east side of Ham Rock, near The Garden of Eden, and was painted in the warm afternoon sunlight.