Plein Air Painting "Moab"

exceptionally talented, award-winning painters, and you have a valuable resource for information and education. One group of experts within Gallery Moab is our Plein Air painters.

"En Plein Air" is a French expression that means in the open air. It's used to describe the work and process of painting outdoors, immersed in the landscape. In the last few decades, painting on location has become very popular. Many beginning painters join in the fun, often alongside professional artists that have been painting for many years.

What could be better than being part of a group of people who appreciate art, embrace painting, and enjoy the outdoors? The popularity of plein air painting is growing with a Plein Air Magazine, an annual plein air convention, and paint out competitions all over the United States. Painting from life is a wonderful way to learn how to "see." This is true with any subject, as all still life and portrait artists know well. You learn a lot by painting a landscape while you are in it.

However, while in still life and portrait life painting one can comfortably be indoors, in a stable environment. If artists want to paint landscapes from life they need to get out there, immerse themselves in the landscape, and embrace the challenge of rendering the ever-changing surroundings.

To fully enjoy painting out-of-doors, one needs to be not only an artist, but also an outdoorsy kind of person. Plein air painters have to deal with things like changing light, scorching sun, strong winds, bugs, random strangers looking over their shoulders, and sometimes rain or snow. There's a world of difference between painting from photos in the studio and painting on location. It takes some major adjustments to paint outdoors. But it's totally worth the initial struggle.

Painting on location gives the artist a plethora of great information about the scene, sometimes even too much. Plein air painting gives the artist knowledge of how colors shift in nature and allows the artist to predict how shadow and light conditions might change the landscape. The experience of painting from life allows the artist to be better at painting from photographs - even bad photos. 

What is it about painting outdoors that's so appealing? Perhaps it's the freedom to choose what to include, or what to leave out, or to be in the moment connecting with nature surrounded by new sounds and scents. Maybe it's the challenge of having to deal with ever-changing light. It's all those things for Gallery Moab artists who share a passion for painting "en plein air."

Gallery Moab Plien Air Artists: Peggy Harty, Page Holland, Victoria Fugit, Phil Wagner, Robin Straub, Thea Nordling, Margie Lopez Read and guest artist Carolyn Dailey

"I really enjoy painting or sketching on sight. Doing so imparts an intimacy to place and forever imprints memories of that special place." - Peggy Harty