The landscape artist’s aim is to capture the effect of light on colored surfaces, to represent somehow the atmosphere of a particular place at a particular time.
Painting en plein air is not for sissies. It requires carrying all the necessary tools of the artist – paint, brushes, canvas, and easels – out into nature, where one must deal with insects, curious passers-by, and changes in light and weather.
Because natural light changes rapidly, landscape painters take photographs while on site as memory aids back in the studio. The given wisdom seems to be, however, that time spent painting outside is critical for developing observation skills. This is because photographs distort color and value.
Human movement is also ephemeral and changeable. It seems to me that time spent doing live observation in close proximity to one’s subject is also critical for developing analytic skills. This is because video also distorts the scale and clarity of effort and shape qualities.
There may be a way around this. Find out more in the next blog.