PleinAir Techniques Freemium

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presents

Tips for Outdoor Paintingfrom Artist Daily

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Plein Air

PAintingtechniques



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Plein Air PAintingtechniques

Plein AirOil Painting

Tips To Learn How To painT a pLein air Landscape.by M. Stephen Doher ty

C as i g Wa s,b a ha , Mai

2002, l, 10 x 12. c ll t th t t.



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While formu-lating plansfor anothertravel workshopsponsored byAmerican Artist ,

I thought of Donald W. Demers aspotentially the best instructor to leadthe excursion through Spain. He has

that combination of technical skill,teaching experience, and friendly per-sonality that makes for a good work-shop leader. I knew he could offervaluable instruction as the group madeits way from cities and villages to theMediterranean coast, and also quicklyestablish a bond of friendship betweenthe participants.

I observed Demers painting andinterviewed him for an article in theJune 1999 issue of the magazine, butin that presentation I concentrated onhis professional experience and rel-egated the instructional information toa short piece in the “Nuts & Bolts” sec-tion of the issue. With the prospect of him conducting a weeklong workshop,

I wanted to know more about hisapproach to teaching and his attitudetoward helping students of varyingabilities who would be working withdifferent media and styles. I learnedduring the second interview thatDemers has more specific informationon the best approaches to landscapepainting, and he is sensitive to his

students’ need for supportive, relevantadvice tailored to their specific needs.

“All of us are intimidated by the toolsand the process, so I start out by sug-gesting to the artists that they free them-selves from that initial fear by thinkingof the workshop as a total experience,” Demers says in describing his teachingapproach. “We’re not expecting to createone great masterpiece but, rather, a total

W

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2002, l, 8 x 12. c ll t th t t.

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body of work that either reinforces ourcurrent interests or moves us ahead to anew level of ability and understanding.Some of our paintings will be successfuland some will be disappointing no mat-ter how much training and experiencewe have. The point is to learn fromwhat we do and look forward to thenext experience.”

Recognizing that students wantmore than encouragement, Demersoffers several demonstrations duringhis workshops. “Everyone has threeoptions when I do a demonstration,”he explains. “They can watch and askquestions; they can paint along with me;or they can paint on their own. If theyhang around to observe me, then I’ll talk

with them through the entire processabout everything from the mixturesof paint to my philosophy about art. If they instead want to focus on a scenethey can’t wait to paint, then I’ll catchup with them after the demo to discusswhat they’ve been doing.”

During a workshop in Maine,Demers showed how he approaches

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of the day was preceded by a wine andcheese break and light conversation asDemers set up to paint a small, quickstudy of the sunset. “I wanted to showanother approach to plein air paintingin which the artist tries to capture thefleeting light in about 45 minutes,” hesays. “I used a small panel that hadpreviously been toned with a light washof burnt sienna. That warm undertoneset up a color vibration with the cool

tones I painted over it, and it helpedquickly establish the golden light on thehorizon. The only down side to a tonedpanel is that mixing colors becomesa little more complicated because thepalette and the painting surface aredifferent colors. A mixture that seemscorrect on the palette may turn out to bethe wrong color when applied over theburnt sienna.”

During a typical workshop, Demersspends time with each student and

addresses their concerns. “I first reviewtheir paintings and find out how theyfeel about their own work,” he says. “Mycomments will only be useful if I under-stand how they approach painting andwhat problems they see in their pictures.I can then address those with specificsuggestions for improvement.”

Demers says there are commonproblems that surface in discussionswith students, and they usually involve

drawing, color, value, and edges. “Theissue of drawing comes up when thereare buildings, boats, or figures in ascene and the student cannot put thoseelements into accurate perspective,” he comments. “Color can become astruggle when people paint what theyknow rather than what they see. Thatis, they know grass is green when infact it appears as a gray or a purpleshape under the prevailing lighting andatmospheric conditions. Value is a ques-

tion of relationships, and the solutionto most students’ problems is to gaugeeach brushstroke against those alreadyon the canvas. Finally, the decisionto make an edge hard or soft usuallydepends on the way an artist wants theviewer’s eye to move around a picture.”

Another common problem stu-dents face, according to Demers, is anunorganized palette of colors. “Mostinstructors recommend their favorite

palette and suggest squeezing thepaint out in the same sequence eachtime so the artist always knows whereto reach for a warm blue, cool yellow,or whatever,” he says. “I don’t belongto the art police so I won’t fine peoplefor using colors that aren’t on my pal-ette. I happen to use two blues, tworeds, and two yellows—a warm andcool of each. Specifically, I work withcobalt blue and ultramarine blue,cadmium yellow light (or lemon) and



cadmium yellow medium, cadmiumred light and permanent alizarin(Gamblin). My white is manufacturedby Utrecht and has a combination of titanium and alkyd white that driesfaster than standard oil white. Onoccasion I expand the palette by add-ing viridian, burnt sienna, and/or

transparent oxide red.”Brushes can also be the source aproblem if student’s select ones thatdon’t allow them to make a range of marks with the oil paints. “I recom-mend practicing with the brushes tofind out how to make broad strokes,lay down hard lines, and add smalldetails,” Demers explains. “Most peo-ple sell their brushes short and don’trealize what a range of possibilitiesis available. Sometimes they buy the

wrong brush for the surface they areusing and wind up with a soft brushthat can’t work on a rough canvas, ora hard brush that can’t perform on asmooth canvas.”

Although Demers works primarilyin oil on location, he uses watercol-ors when time or space is limited.“Sometimes the best subjects comealong when I’m sitting on a boat or apark bench and there’s no place for aneasel, so I just pull out a small water-

color set and paper and record what Isee,” he recalls. In his studio, Demersuses oil, casein, and watercolor to cre-ate both his marine paintings and hislandscapes.

Demers grew up in Lunenburg,Massachusetts, spending summerswith his family in Boothbay Harbor,

Maine. He studied at the schoolof the Worcester Art Museum inMassachusetts and the MassachusettsCollege of Art in Boston.

Demers began his professionalart career as an illustrator for suchmagazines as Reader’s Digest and

Yankee. He is a member of the Guildof Boston Artists and is an electedfellow of the American Society of Marine Artists. He was an invitedartist at painting events sponsoredby the Plein Air Painters of Americaand the Laguna Plein Air PaintersAssociation. Demers is representedby the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery inFairfield, Connecticut; Tree’s Placein Orleans, Massachusetts; JohnPence Gallery in San Francisco; and

Robert Wilson Galleries in Nantucket,Massachusetts. For more informationabout the artist, visit his website atwww.donalddemers.com. n

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Discover Plein Air

Watercolor PaintingMy Trip To cHina wiTH a Group oF arTisTs deMonsTraTedTHe pros and cons oF waTercoLor as a pLein air MediuM.

by AnDy evAnSen

Mis p a l ri2007, t l , 12 x 18.



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n a recent paintingtrip to China I had theunique opportunity to

work alongside severalrenowned plein air art-ists, and to be the only

watercolorist among them. The tripwas fantastic, not only because of thecamaraderie but also because of thehospitality we received and the stun-ning scenery.

The chance to travel to Kaiping,China, arose out of my friendship withJason Situ, whom I met in Charleston,South Carolina, in 2007 at a plein air

event hosted by Coleman Fine Art. Anoil painter, Jason lives in Los Angeles,but is originally from Kaiping, and hewanted to return home with a few art-ists to paint in the villages. I’ve alwayswanted to see the Far East, so I imme-diately accepted his invitation. When Ilearned he’d also invited John Budicin,a former president of the Plein-Air Painters of America, and KevinMacpherson and his wife, Wanda, Iwas thrilled. (Kevin’s books on painting

the landscape in oil areamong my favorites.) Iwas a little nervous about

meeting the others, butsomething about the kin-ship of artists coupledwith the experience of sharing a 17-hour flightbrought us togetherimmediately.

Our accommodationsand the hospitality of our hosts made our staya pleasure. We stayedin the Zai Yuan, the vacation home of

a local businessman and a beautifulsite with ponds and walking trails sur-rounded by lush vegetation. We dinedwith the mayor, enjoyed an evening ata hot-springs resort, and were drivenaround and fed all week by the directorof the local art center and his staff. Bestof all, the landscape was like nothingI had seen before, and it was obviousfrom the first day that we would haveno shortage of subjects to paint.

As all plein air painters know, the

less one brings on location, the bet-ter. For this reason, I had a distinctadvantage as a watercolorist. Packingfor a painting trip to a foreign coun-try isn’t the same as packing for a cartrip, of course. While the others hadto worry about shipping flammablematerials and packing bulky panelsor canvas, I could get away with waterand paper. My equipment consisted of

a Soltek easel and a small bag to holdtube paints, brushes, pencils, papertowels, my John Pike Palette, andseveral small sheets of Arches 300-lbcold-pressed paper. With a water con-tainer and digital camera slung overmy shoulder, I was ready to go. Theequipment itself may not be that muchmore portable than that of oil painters,but when it came time to clean up andpack up, there was a notable difference.Furthermore, I was able to finish three

or even four paintings a day, comparedto the two the others managed. Anotheradvantage was that at the end of theweek, when we were asked to displayour paintings at a reception at the artcenter, the others were worried abouttransporting and handling wet paint-ings, but mine were dry.

Of course there are disadvantages,including the fact that the watercolorsurface needs to be fairly flat, catchinga great deal of sun glare when there’s

Midda rai2007, t l , 13 x 18. c ll t th t t.

vi w A Dia l2007, t l , 10 x

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no umbrella or shade nearby. At timesI couldn’t avoid the glare because I

tend not to carry an umbrella unlessI know I will need it. When I attach itto my easel I’m always afraid a gust of wind will carry my gear right into theriver or over the bluff. Luckily, when Iwasn’t able to get a good vantage pointfrom the shade, someone in the crowdof spectators was always very graciousand held an umbrella for me.

In this regard the onlookers werevery enthusiastic. As a plein air painterin Minnesota, I occasionally draw a

curious onlooker, or someone will aska question or two. In China, however,

the attraction of American painters wasa magnet for people, video cameras,and autograph-seekers. Although theother artists on the trip enjoy morefame in the United States than I do,the fact that I painted in watercolorensured a lively crowd wherever I setup in China. One reason I attractedso much attention is that in China,watercolor is considered a moreimportant medium than oil. In fact,the students from the art center that

hosted us were on hand each day toobserve, assist, and paint along with

us if they chose to, and most of themwere watercolor painters.Many of the students were terrific

painters in their own right, as evi-denced by the work we saw at the artcenter, yet they were interested in ourunique approaches and especially ourgear. I joked that after the first paint-ing I did not have to carry or set up myequipment the rest of the week. Thestudents were all eager to take downand set up the Soltek easel, my thick

below

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C ick s b i dvillag 2007, t l , 10 x 7.



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Arches paper was completely foreign tothem, and there was no shortage of vol-unteers to carry my finished paintingsto the next site. Despite Jason’s assur-

ances that most of the students spokeEnglish, that wasn’t the case, whichwas unfortunate because they were allso enthusiastic and it would have beennice to share more information.

We did make a concerted effort tocommunicate, and once in a whilea student translated questions andanswers back and forth, but more oftenthan not gestures and pointing had tosuffice. In many of my photos we’re alllaughing and having a great time as if

no language barrier existed, and I man-aged to pick up the nickname “HappyAndy” during the week. Although someartists find interruptions and chattyonlookers annoying, I try to enjoy oth-ers’ curiosity and genuine interest. Iconsider it part of the deal, because if people weren’t attracted to artists andour work, we’d all be broke.

When choosing a painting loca-tion, I use the viewfinder on my digitalcamera as a compositional tool. I take

a photo of the scene, both as an aidfor on-site and to use in conjunctionwith my plein air painting if I create alarger studio piece later. I then use thethumbnail in the viewfinder to makemy first few important compositionallines, such as the horizon and any largestructure, sizing them accordingly.Although I’m very comfortable draw-ing, establishing the perspective andrelative sizes of objects in the scenethis way saves time. I go on to finish

the drawing by direct observation, andit can vary between loose and light fora scene with little structure to tight anddetailed for a city street. I got the feel-ing from the increase in chatter aroundme at this stage that many Chineseartists don’t usually draw their scene inpencil first. Perhaps it’s because theyare so confident handling a brush fromall the calligraphy they do.

We had a calligraphy demonstrationone evening, and it was immediately

toP

G s S ack2007, t l , 9 x 12.

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e i g p a l ri

2007, t l , 10 x 14.

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evident why Chinese calligraphers aresuch successful watercolor painters.Their handling of the brushes was a joyto watch, something I feel is an under-rated aspect of painting, accomplished

only through a lot of practice. For thisreason I often remind my students tohold the brush high on the handle,not down by the hairs, in order to stayloose. It doesn’t feel natural at first,but it makes a difference. I prefer touse round brushes because I like to gofrom painting a large area to puttingin fine details with the same tool. Thecalligraphy artists were doing the samething, at once writing large, bold char-acters in black ink and then shifting

over to beautiful fluid writing with thesame brush, grasping it near the end.

When they completed the writ-ing phase, they pulled out a varietyof hand-carved stone stamps

and placed red-ink symbols invarious locations on the paper.We asked them if they were alldifferent versions of their sig-natures, but Jason told us theywere “happy words” or phrases.Kevin Macpherson and I whis-pered to each other how wonder-ful it would be to have one of those stones with our Chinesesignature. To our delight, onour last evening in China we

were presented with gifts and a plaquecommemorating the trip, and one of the items was a hand-carved stone bya local artist for each of us with our

villag e a c2007, t l , 9 x 12.

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Chinese name, along with a beautifulporcelain dish containing the red inkfor stamping. It’s a treasure I’ll cherishfor a long time.

Our hosts made sure we had a nicevariety of painting locations. We spentthe first day in a rural village, whichwas the perfect introduction before

dealing with the crowds of downtownKaiping. This area of southern China isknown for its diaolou —towerlike struc-tures dating back as far as the Qingdynasty. They were built as protectionfrom floods and bandits, and althoughmany have sadly fallen into disrepair,about 1,800 examples still survive in

the Kaiping area. They gave our paint-ings a European feel, as they appear assmall castles dotting the countryside.We were able to explore them at will,and I completed a couple of smallpaintings from the top of one.

The following day we venturedinto the city, where the true challenge

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of plein air painting in China wasapparent. There were so many people!And they weren’t bashful. I’ll alwaysremember one morning when we droveinto the city and saw large crowds of people already going about their busi-ness among the dirty streets. Suddenlyit began to rain, and hundreds of col-orful umbrellas opened. We all yelled

“Stop the car!” at the same time andspent the next half-hour or so wander-ing around with our cameras, findingwonderful shots.

This trip exceeded my expectations.Not only did I get a chance to makefriends with a few of this country’stop painters but I also left dozens of new friends behind. At the reception

given for us on our final evening, weeach presented the art center with oneof our paintings as a thank-you gift.Students who spent the week with megave me drawings, calligraphy, books,and brushes, and I was taken abackby their generosity. Our shared love of painting broke down all the barriers,and I hope to return one day. n

About the ArtistPrimarily self-taught, Andy Evansen, of Vermillion,

Minnesota, has studied with Ron Ranson, SkipLawrence, Alvaro Castagnet, and Eric Wiegardt.Among his many awards are Best of Show atthe 2006 Minnesota Watercolor Society annualexhibition and First Place in the society’s 2005show. He was invited to participate in the2007 plein air event “Wet Paint,” sponsored byColeman Fine Art, in Charleston, South Carolina.His work is on view at the Premier Gallery, inMinneapolis. To learn more about the artist orto contact him about his workshops or dem-onstrations, visit www.andyevansen.com.

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MornInGhouSeboAt 2007, wAtercolor,

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