Plein‑air oils painting plan 2023
1 March 2023
After the fun of going back to nature, it's time to get serious.
Last year, 2022, my focus was getting out of the studio to paint 'en plein‑air'*An art term meaning 'in the fresh air'.
I painted over 70 small original oil paintings outside, on location. Returning to my artistic roots felt so good. You could say I was getting back to nature and back to my nature!
As a kid I spent countless hours outside with a sketchbook, or at the kitchen table having dragged all manner of found things onto it to draw. Recording the riches of the natural world was in my nature, clearly.
The discipline of observation
'Observational art' is an art term and, self-evidently, it's art that's the result of observing a subject directly. That's whether it's a simple tiny flower, a complex human form, or an epic mountain range.
The important two elements of observed art are working direct from life, and studying it intensely in order to record it accurately (minus artistic license).
Losing sight of my artist's muse*The thing or person that inspires an artist
My art education, unusually for the time, was in part a classically founded schooling focussed on observational art skills.
Together, my childhood activities and my formal art education shaped and intensified my practice of direct observation.
Over quite a few years however, I drifted in to spending more and more time in the studio. It's easy to do with distractions, contrary demands, lockdowns, and cold winters pushing you off course. I wasn't going out and observing the landscape – my muse – any more.
All my art starts outdoors
My art has always started outdoors. All my ideas for prints and larger paintings are born 'en plein‑air'.
Without contact with the muddy, chirping, rustling, overgrown and magical landscape, my art slowly dies. Ideas become a struggle, and inspiration tuneless, a silenced siren's song.
So 2022 was a year of fun, getting back to nature painting anything I happened to feel like having a go at. Me and my muse are best buddies again now. So it's time I was a bit more serious.
Landscape painting plans and lists
I've several landscape themes from 2022 I intend to fill-out this year (link below), and a number of specific locations on my 'to-do' list.
The epic Hole Of Horcum and Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire are two such places. The romantically named Wild Boar Fell with it's intriguing waterfalls and magical castle nearby, all in the Yorkshire Dales, are another three.
The coastal cliffs at Bridlington and Bempton are a firm favourite of mine, so they'll come in for attention too, along with another two subjects nearby. Altogether, a lot to go at – as always.
I don't have the words to convey the incredible excitement I feel about the prospect of painting these places. 2023 is going to be glorious!