Plein Air
Gearing Up for Plein Air Painting - It's springtime Painting on location, out of doors.

For all you painters or even non painters, the term "plein air painting" is a French term that gets a fair amount of questioning - just what does it mean? Simply put plein air painting is a reference to painting out in the open air, outside on location in a field, a forest or rocky shoreline and exposed to the elements.

Springtime really begins the season for painting on location for most folks in the Pacific Northwest. Locally I find that artists generally will work indoors at their studios or in classroom environments late fall through early spring. Once spring arrives they migrate out-of-doors to locations where they're inspired to work directly from the landscape views.

Painting in an outdoor setting has its difficulties when deciding what part of your materials to include or not include, and it takes trial and error in getting it right. An experienced painter might know what brushes and colors they need to get a general layout from a one to two hour session, but it's a little bit more difficult if you're just beginning to paint and paint out-of-doors too. For this reason I spoke with two local plein air painters who work in different mediums to see what they pack up to paint out in the field. I found that both of the mediums - oils and pastels have their specific needs, but that the equipment used was varied according to taste. The one item they both claimed as an essential to carry is a hat, which not only helps keep light from your eyes, but depending on how broad the brim may be will also offer protection from the hot sun on your face and neck too. We'll take a look now what equipment the two artists carry for their specific medium.

When it comes to using your pastels outside, I figured a serious plein air painter as Steve Hill from Lopez Island to be an excellent source for equipment. He works predominately in soft pastel, and occasionally in watercolor, and tells me that his gear varies slightly from when he's closer to home than when traveling to Europe on painting excursions. The one thing Steve emphasized about packing up equipment for painting plein air, is the need to pack it so you can take it to your location in just one trip - sounds like good advice to me, especially if you are unable paint from where your car is parked. For this reason he relies on a special artist canvas tote bag with great big handles and several internal compartments. He claims that it actually holds half of his studio, which I find to be particularly amazing!

The artist tote bag itself has a special bottom compartment that holds a paint pallet flat, and it works best if the pallet is stored inside a flat plastic container, making it a big plus for any painting medium. Inside the canvas tote he packs the following art supplies; a large bag of pastels, pastel paper, drawing board, and tape to hold down the paper. The personal items he packs into the tote include his lunch and drinking water, and hat. His easel however, is not a large item and when folded down can be placed in a backpack. The other two items of choice are a three-legged folding stool and a solar umbrella. I was certainly curious about the solar umbrella, and as Steve explained it to me, the solar umbrella has a somewhat permeable fabric that allows for some wind to blow through the fabric itself, which alleviates the problem of it tipping over, or worse yet becoming a sail. Can you imagine being in 20 to 30 mph winds and loosing your umbrella to the water or down a rocky shore? Well, Steve tells me he's painted near the shore being totally exposed to the elements and the umbrella works wonderfully. For those of us who might tend to feel a little cool on spring days you'll like knowing that this umbrella can also warm you while you paint, since it also acts as a solar catch for sunlight - my favorite part.

Now, if you're working with oils, which tend to be a bit of mess, whether or not you've refined your packing to paint on location. Always you have the choice to paint from your vehicle, I've done this and know many others who have done so over the years, but if you're going where your car can not, then you'll need to rethink your packing strategies into a carrying mode, which is why I've consulted with Matt Dollahite who has lots of experience with packing his painting gear for weekend plein air painting. An interesting point I learned from Matt is he has moved into using water-soluble oils as a means to eliminate using or carrying harsh solvents in the field. A great idea since he tells me that these also mix well with other traditional solvent oil paints. As for equipment, Matt mostly uses the Jullian Plein Air easel, also known as a French painters easel, which he considers to be top of the line in hardware, noting that it's the movable parts that are likely to breakdown first. These easels have a nice drawer in which to store your paint tubes and brushes, and with its shoulder strap it makes for easy carrying. Since he's using the water-soluble oils he takes a large container of water to clean bushes while he works, and says the large used plastic Folgers Coffee containers with hand grips make an excellent choice for the trip.

Of course since he's often seen painting in the company of Steve Hill, you probably could guess he uses a canvas artist tote, of which I'm convinced is a smart choice for plein air art miscellany. When Matt packs up to go paint he also packs this painters pallet into the totes separate bottom compartment, and in the totes main compartment he packs in his lunch and up to three canvas panels, which he makes himself and are no larger than 16" x 20" then adds a roll of paper towels for cleaning just about everything he takes. I was curious about paint choices Matt might consider as essentials, and learned that he takes along twelve 37ml color tubes, two pallet knives; one a mixer and the other for painting, and only five brushes, which get packed into the French easels slotted drawers. As for only taking 12 colors, he says there are four that always get packed in the drawer; they are viridian, burnt umber, French ultra marine and yellow ocher. As for outdoor seating Matt prefers to stand and paint rather than sit, which allows him to move back away from the painting so he can view his work as it progresses, because of this he doesn't take a folding stool along as Steve will do if he has the room to pack it, it's just a matter of personal preference.

I'm sure all of you aspiring plein air painters are just ready to start digging into art supply catalogs for your very own artist canvas tote, and possibly a solar umbrella, and then you'll be looking for a place to paint. We can all just look outside our own doors for the easiest access, but if you're ready to go venture beyond your own yard, or neighborhood, Steve and Matt have extended an invitation for you to join them on Sunday plein air painting excursions. Steve informs me that they are very low-key trips and they like to rotate to different island to painting. They have great access to unusual spots on both Lopez and San Juan Islands, but they are in need of a resource and access to areas on Orcas Island. If you would like to inquire more about this opportunity give Steve Hill on Lopez a call to join in on the experience - it seems to me the more the merrier and a great way to get a little art critiquing in on top of the whole experience, if that appeals to your sensibility.

Happy plein air painting!