new ONLINE art lesson
PLAIN AIRE PAINTING by DG Wilson Copyright Sept. 2008
Plain Aire is a French term meaning "Out of Doors." This is when an artist works from life outside. The difficulties are tremendous... but you wouldn't think so at first.
We the artist have to actually battle the elements like wind, location, equipment, animals and the bugs.
That is what makes the paintings so tremendous. When one looks at the painting they imagine the artist there before the subject in the scene painting furiously before they lose the light.
One of the greatest challenges I find is the light. The world is lit uniquely every second of every day. It is never to be repeated. From sun angel due to season, climate, location to clouds there is a constant shift in your light source.
You need to find the median between these to create a good painting. A believable painting is all about the light, color and the design of both. In a studio we can control them. Outside they are up to God.
Basically you need to establish the subject and the basic light as you first saw it and were inspired to paint. Then as you work try to remember the basic patterns as you first saw them.
As you near the end of the painting and get to the details stage the time painting to get to that point has been so long that the sun shifted and the light to moved. This causes different shadows and colors on your subject. At this point IGNORE the shift in color and start to lay in what you remember from your inspiration. Use the light and color that you see now at the later stage of the painting as a GUIDE to make what you remember more believeable.
Use them as a guide RATHER than trying to paint what you CURRENTLY see because what you FIRST saw in the colors are all different, the shadows too. If you tried to paint them at the later stage in the painting you would basically have an ETERNAL painting because you will NEVER be able to capture in an instant what you see with paint. The process of painting is just too long.
That is one reason why Plain Aire paintings are relatively simple in detail.
The best thing to remember is that painting is fun, and this is a challenge to the fun. Once mastered you can paint anywhere at any time. It is simple as that!
Get out there and paint the world that you see!
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