Rosemary Lewis
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How I went from Studio to Plein Air painting -  6 steps that helped me prepare for the challenge of painting outdoors

28/4/2019

4 Comments

 
For a studio painter, the thought of lugging all your gear outside and dealing with rapidly changing light and complex scenery can be a little daunting.

Although I was already reasonably competent at drawing and painting still lifes in the studio, when I first tried to paint outdoors many years ago, I was really unhappy with the results! I realised after those first few frustrating attempts, that I still had an awful lot to learn.

So I decided to break this new challenge down into smaller, more achievable steps.

1. I learned what I could from books and other sources about the effect of different light, atmospheric perspective and typical value schemes of outdoor paintings. I studied the composition of landscape painting.
2. I painted what I could see out of my window: rooftops, chimneys, clouds and trees. I kept painting still lifes, and improving my drawing accuracy.
​
​ 3. I went outdoors with my sketch book and made pencil drawings of trees and other landscape elements. I also made colour sketches on my phone.
4. I used what I had learned so far from these studies to improve my studio landscapes, although I was still using photographs as my main reference.
5.  I built a mental checklist and rough idea of the process which I would use to complete my first plein air oil painting. I did some mental rehearsing. I knew that the big challenge in plein air painting is speed - to catch the light before it changes, so it helped to have a good idea of what order to do things in. 

6. I got together a simple outdoor painting kit and practiced setting it up indoors. If you have a garden maybe you could to try it out there. I made a checklist so I wouldn't forget anything important.

By this point I felt reasonably prepared, and the next step was to go out and learn on the job. For my first outing I chose a familiar spot that was neither too public nor disconcertingly quiet, and chose a simple subject on a sunny day.
Picture
This is one of the first plein air paintings I made after returning to it once I had worked on the steps above.
​I still work on steps 1-5, because I want to keep learning and improving as much as I can.

Picture
I love the exhilarating feeling of creating work outdoors, and I still enjoy the calmer pace of studio work.  I'm so happy that I can now do both, and I hope this post can help you if you are planning to get outdoors to paint.

Watch out for future posts where I will break down each step further and give more information on how I went about each stage.

You can sign up for updates using the form at the end of this post.

I’d love to know if you have any questions or comments - what are your experiences of plein air painting?  How did you get started, or are you yet to take the plunge?


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Realist Plein air impressionist oil painting of River Thames from Twickenham to Richmond Hill, showing the Eel pie Island on the right, with moored boats on a hazy May morning

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4 Comments
steven piotrowski
2/5/2019 11:41:56 pm

Thanks for an interesting insight into your process. I'm a little intimidated by painting plein air. I use a lot of layering so it's not suited to the out of doors action but I'm intrigued by the immediacy ~ I may have to do some homework...

Reply
Rosemary Lewis
3/5/2019 10:57:18 pm

Yes I think it’s a good exercise, makes you think in a different way altogether than if you know you are going to layer. Although I’m sure you could use your knowledge of layering here too and add layers to a plein air start - could get some really nice effects that way. Thanks for commenting!

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Marilyn link
8/5/2019 11:15:07 am

Rosemary I had just the same experience as you - maybe a bit over prepared but full of enthusiasms then took very similar steps - painting in the garden is such a good one - I too tried to keep things familiar to cut down the difficulties. One can see it really paid off for you. You handling of oil paint is very nice.

Reply
Rosemary Lewis link
8/5/2019 01:11:42 pm

Hi Marilyn
Thanks for commenting. It’s great to hear you had the same approach as me. Throwing yourself in at the deep end seems to work well for some people, but I found it too frustrating. I actually enjoyed all the preparation as well!

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    About me

    I am a realist painter, working in oils, painting landscape and still life. 
    ​Based in Twickenham, London, UK. 
    My oil paintings have been exhibited in several open exhibitions in London including the NEAC, ROI, RBA and Discerning Eye. 

    You can follow this blog from my Facebook page

    Please have a look at my Etsy shop where I sell my small paintings.

    My larger paintings are available at Newbloodart.com


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