Painting Plein Air
I will be never tired painting plein-air style as long as I am able to go outside and withstand surprises of the Nature. Painting outdoors has its own charm and challenges; yet, still it is very enjoyable and the artworks have a special feeling to them. You cannot wait for too long painting under the open. The weather changes constantly, especially if you are at the ocean shore, like example above. It is my recent painting of one of my favorite places on Earth, Monterey Pacific Ocean shore. I've painted there many times and each time it comes out differently. The painting of Monterey above is free, though I "blocked" it in the ink lines to give it illustration kind feeling, e.g. I've illustrated the scene in the fast brush strokes with watercolor first and then "locked" the picture by adding rigid lines to amplify the stiffness of the rocks and power of the ocean.
Another plain air painting of Monterey shore is more impressionistic style as any of my outdoor paintings of Monterey:
Here, I didn't want to add the ink. The weather was so hot that it dried watercolor quite fast so the edges of each brush stroke were defined enough without any additions.
In comparison, the next plein-air painting of Monterey shore strives pretty much on energetic ink lines, the watercolors here are secondary. This free-style painting of Pacific Ocean shore is more a sketch than a complete painting, but it does have certain charm and spontaneity to it:
Yes, each plein air painting tells a story of that specific day, but it also speaks for the mood of the artist. As an example, here is my recent plein-air landscape artwork of the calm sunny day from this week. The Spring is taking over, the grass is bright green, and many trees are opening their blossoms. A simple, yet informative landscape that illustrates a coming of a new season:
My friend took panoramic photo of the area where we were painting that day, and I got into the picture by chance or intentionally. I don't know. But this photograph shows so well the power of a fresh air and the creating artist, The Observer, who, during the plein-air painting trip, merges with the Nature!
Cheers from
