Why plein air

If you can paint en plein air, you can paint anything else you can draw.

Teddi-Jann Covell, me, and Truth Hawk model appropriate gear for winter painting. Photo courtesy Jennifer Johnson.

In some of our coastal harbors, plein air painting approaches performance art. We spend more time answering questions than we do painting. For new painters, that can be unnerving. But Rockport is the least-visited, most-beautiful harbor on our section of coast. In Rockport in March, our only visitors are people eating sandwiches in their trucks, or the occasional dog-walker. That makes Rockport the perfect place to start the new painting season.

Finished paintings by students Mary Whitney and Teddi-Jann Covell. Photo courtesy Jennifer Johnson.

This post revolves around the photos; I wrote it largely for the amusement of my southern readers, who perhaps can’t conceive of painting in freezing weather. And yet it’s done regularly, not just here but in Vermont and upstate New York. My friends in Greater Rochester Plein Air Painters are already out testing the ice at Mendon Ponds. And they're probably already out in Indiana and the Cascades and, for all I know, in Anchorage, AK, too. Plein air painters merely tolerate indoor painting; our brush hands are happiest outdoors. It’s all about the right clothing and materials.

(By the way, while being physically fit makes plein air painting easier, physical disability is not an absolute barrier. I've had students with walkers in both my weekly classes and my annual workshop. We just select more accessible painting locations.)

Ed Buonvecchio with two pro tips: insulated LL Bean boots and his cap over his toque. You need a warm head and a sun visor in late winter. Photo courtesy Jennifer Johnson.

Like most art students, my painting education was skewed toward figure drawing and painting. I grew up thinking the human form was the apotheosis of painting. Since the Renaissance, the western art canon had a hierarchy of genres, which rated the importance of pictures as follows:

1. History, including all that allegorical stuff;
2. Portrait;
3. Genre painting, or scenes of everyday life;
4. Landscape;
5. Animals;
6. Still life.

Robert Lichtman doubled his hat too, but was able to paint bare-handed. Photo courtesy Jennifer Johnson.

If we were to draw up a modern hierarchy it would probably read:

1. Abstraction (a big label including a lot of categories)
2. Symbolism
3. Surrealism
4. Outsider art
5. Representational art
6. Plein air

Finished work by Colleen Lowe, Ed Buonvecchio and David Blanchard. Photo courtesy Jennifer Johnson.

And yet, having worked in most of the traditional categories, I think plein air is in fact the hardest form of painting. It requires the painter to pull one big concept out of a vast landscape, and stick with it. It teaches you to simplify, simplify, to focus your view, and narrow your goals.

Mary Whitney painting harbor ice. Photo courtesy Jennifer Johnson.

I have a current student who didn’t realize this would be primarily a plein air class when she signed up. I have no problems encouraging her to stay. When you master en plein air, you can then paint anything else that you can draw. The reverse is decidedly not true.

A note: For those of you who have been following the fortunes of the waterlogged dinghy in Rockport harbor, it was off its mooring yesterday. It may have dropped below the surface, but since the harbormaster is resetting the buoys for spring, I think she probably brought it in.

Which way to Millinocket?

People ask me fascinating questions about painting in Maine, or about coming to America's vacationland.

Heritage and American Eagle on Penobscot Bay. Just another day in Paradise.

Yesterday someone asked me, “Can I take the schooner trip without painting?” The answer is: of course! I chose American Eagle for my Age of Sail workshop because it’s a fantastic boat with a great crew. Captain John Foss and his crew cruise all summer. Just call them at 1-800-648-4544 and tell them you want to go sailing without that art teacher yammering at you. (And if you’re a qualified deckhand, they’re looking for two of them as well. Email them here.)

We always welcome non-painting fellow travelers at our workshops. They’re set in fabled beauty spots, and of interest to hikers, sailors and bird-watchers. Maine should be shared, when possible.

Watercolor sketch by Carol L. Douglas

“I get seasick. Is there a cure for that?”

Seasickness is a form of motion sickness. It generally goes away after a few days, presumably when your brain stops noticing the motion. There are ways to avoid it, including spending more time on deck. However, if you suffer from serious mal de mer, the best answer is to stay on dry land. Luckily, I have another workshop, Sea & Sky, that covers the same territory, just on terra firma.

That's scenic Schoodic Peninsula, site of our annual Sea & Sky workshop. No prettier place in the world.

“Which way to Millinocket?”

Nobody ever really asks me that question, which was made famous by Bert & I. (The answer is, “You can’t get they-ah from heah.”) The question I’m asked is how to get to Schoodic Institute for Sea & Sky, or Rockland for Age of Sail.

The big news in these parts is that Amtrak is talking about reviving the coastal Maine train, with stops in Bath, Wiscasset, Damariscotta and Rockland. Even without that it is possible to take the bus from New York or Boston to Rockland.

People generally drive, though, since US 1 is one of the great scenic highways in America. It still has that old-fashioned “roadside attraction” vibe of Mom-and-Pop motels, diners, antique shops and putt-putt golf that’s been lost in most of America. Acadia is 4.5 hours north of Boston and Rockland is a little more than three hours north. If you’re coming a greater distance, you can fly into Portland, Bangor or Manchester, NH and rent a car.

Surf, by Carol L. Douglas.

“What do I need to bring?”

For the Age of Sail, you need nothing except your personal belongings and clothes. We supply all the materials for this water-medium class. For Sea & Sky, here are supply lists for watercolor, acrylics and oils. But don’t spend a fortune buying new stuff if you already have a workable plein air kit. Contact me first and we’ll discuss what you need.

Why take one of these workshops?

• You want to spend time painting in America’s top beauty spot.
• You want help with design and composition.
• You understand the idea of “simplify” but don’t know how to put it in practice.
• You want to be a better painter without becoming someone else’s mini-me.
• You’d like help identifying your own strengths and weaknesses.
• You want a simple system to master value.
• You want to learn more about color.
• You’re an experienced painter but want to learn more about plein air.
• You’re a beginner who wants to learn to paint in a logical method.

How to enroll:

For the Age of Sail, a registration form is here. You can email or call American Eagle’s at 1-800-648-4544. There’s a $25 discount to members of New York Plein Air Painters, Plein Air Painters of Maine or any returning students.

For Sea & Sky, the registration form is here. You can email or call me at 585-201-1558. There’s a $50 discount to members of New York Plein Air Painters, Plein Air Painters of Maine or returning students.