The Art of Outdoor Painting

If you love painting outdoors, you may be interested in outdoor painting. Plein air painting, as it is also called, is the art of painting outdoors. Plein air painters include the Impressionists, the Barbizon School, and Brian Shields. These artists painted a variety of landscapes as well as figures, in natural light.

Plein air painting

Painting outdoors is an excellent way to experience the changing light, which can have a significant impact on your composition. The direction of the light affects the shapes of cast shadows and planes in your composition. Changing sunlight can make it difficult to capture the same composition over a period of time. As a result, plein air painters should scout their locations well before painting. They should also pack a plein air kit with a folding easel, a folding chair, and art supplies. A small torch may also prove useful.

The French word “en plein air” literally means “in the open air.” This technique was developed by the Impressionists, who tended to paint outdoors to get closer to nature. Plein air painting is different than traditional painting, because you can choose the subject matter that you want to paint. While you don’t have to paint everything you see, you should focus on what you are seeing.

Plein air painting outdoors has become popular since the French Impressionists first started the practice in the early nineteenth century. These artists were interested in capturing the changing light, which was a symbol of time passing. By painting outdoors, they broke traditional academic rules for painting, and captured the transient effects of light in the moment.

The Impressionists took the practice of plein air painting to a new level, as they saw it as a way to document modern life. The Impressionists were the first artists to make plein air paintings more accessible to everyone. As an artist, you must be willing to travel and be out in the open air, painting as nature intended.

Impressionists

Impressionists painting outdoors often used a broader range of colour to create dramatic effects. Using the ‘En Plein Air’ technique, they tried to capture the movement of light and colour in the subject. Their technique also eliminated the need to blend colour or cover up gaps. Instead, they used several layers of colours and used techniques like hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, drybrushing, and sgraffito. Depending on the season, they also varied the color palettes of the foliage.

Plein air painting has been practiced for centuries. In fact, many of the Impressionists preferred this style of painting. Many of them even painted in the open air because they found the diffuse light outside more pleasing than working in a studio. Other famous plein air artists included Claude Monet and Vasily Polenov. Russian painters also embraced the technique, including Isaac Levitan, Konstantin Korovin, and I. E. Grabar.

The movement also included American artists like Mary Cassatt. She was determined to be a successful artist, but was barred from working with live models in the United States due to her gender. In spite of this, she joined the Impressionists in Paris. In addition, American artists like Theodore Robinson, Charles Degas, and Georges Seurat followed the French example and painted landscapes outdoors.

The National Gallery of Victoria has produced a new web series dedicated to the legacy of the Impressionist movement and its influence on the practice of modern Australian artists. The new series was inspired by a recent exhibition at the gallery called ‘She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism’.

Barbizon School

The Barbizon School is a group of nineteenth-century artists who focused on outdoor painting. Their work influenced landscape painting in the United States. Many American landscape painters studied Barbizon paintings, including William Morris Hunt and George Innes. In addition, Barbizon outdoor paintings influenced California landscape painters such as Percy Gray.

Barbizon School painters combined elements of Impressionism, Tonalism, and the Munich School into their outdoor paintings. They focused on rural scenes and the changing light and colour of nature. They also influenced the social realism of Gustave Courbet and the Impressionists, such as Monet.

In addition to Millet, other members of the Barbizon School included Theodore Rousseau, Jean-Francois Millet, Charles-Francois Daubigny, and Charles-Francois Daubig. These artists were part of a large group of landscape painters who had a common goal: to return to nature.

Although Corot was not a member of the Barbizon School, he was an influential artist and influenced the movement. He is considered a forerunner of the Barbizon School and played an important role in establishing naturalism in French landscape painting. Other artists of the Barbizon School who were associated with Corot’s group include Jean-Francois Millet, Theodore Rousseau, and Jules Dupre. These artists lived in the town of Barbizon and shared accommodation and financial support.

Barbizon painters experimented with a variety of painting techniques and often completed a canvas in one sitting. Many of these works feature scenes of gleaning, a practice that helped poor families supplement their diets with a small amount of extra produce.

Brian Shields

The artist’s work focuses on the human spirit and nature. Born into a highly artistic family, Brian Shields studied in Paris and has travelled extensively throughout North America and Europe. Eventually, he settled in the semi-arid mountains of northern New Mexico. During his years of study, he also worked in New York in the visual arts.

Shields grew up in Liverpool. His father, Dennis, was an accomplished artist. His mother was a docker, and he learned to paint from her. He was nicknamed Braaq for his artistic talent, and his classmates referred to him as the ‘Braaq’ after the 20th century French artist Georges Braque.

Aside from his studio work, Shields’ passion for the outdoors led him to become a wilderness guide. He led river, mountain, and canyon expeditions. In 1988, he founded a nonprofit organization called Amigos Bravos to advocate for the protection of the watersheds in New Mexico. These days, he devotes his time to his studio art practice. He lives with his wife, poet Sawnie Morris.

Shields has exhibited extensively. His first exhibition was in 1974. The ‘Times’ magazine named him as one of England’s six most successful artists. After his first show, Brian Shields had four more exhibitions, including a show in the West End. In fact, he was named as one of the six most successful painters in the country by the ‘Times’.

Claude Monet

While many artists focus on the indoor environment, Claude Monet preferred painting outside. He was intrigued by the shimmering reflections of water and the rays of sunlight piercing through the tree canopies. This fascination led him to fix up a boat and turn it into a floating studio. He then painted what he saw and felt in the moment.

As time went on, Monet began to notice how different light affected the same scene, so he painted the same scene several times. The Haystack paintings, completed in the mid-1880s, were one example of this. Later, in the 1890s, he painted a series of Poplar paintings. In addition to his outdoor paintings, he often camped out in a rented room overlooking the Rouen Cathedral, working on several canvases at a time. This allowed him to make intense studies of light and shadow.

Monet was born in Paris but moved to the port city of Le Havre with his father when he was five. While his father disapproved of his artistic ambitions, his mother supported him. His mother encouraged his artistic pursuits, and he spent most of his free time outside. While he studied under the famous Charles Gleyre, he also studied alongside Auguste Renoir. However, his early works received little attention.

The Impressionist movement influenced Monet’s outdoor paintings. His work changed the way people viewed the world. He often used his own family and friends as models, and he often collaborated with fellow artists. The result was an extremely unique style of painting that influenced a new direction of art.