Plein Air

The definition of Plein Air according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary is:

1.  of or relating to painting in outdoor daylight

2.  of or relating to a branch of impressionism that attempts to represent outdoor light and air

There are plein air groups that cover Florida and a lot of the Southern states.  They trundle out weekly at a scenic outdoor spot and, as a group paint and then compare notes.  The object to plein air is to do quick work.  No more than a couple hours, if that, maybe do more than one, then take it back home.  You start and finish right out there in the open.  You don't spend weeks working on something in studio, you slapdash it right there and go home with a finished painting.

Now, some will do the outlining in pencil or charcoal and then the under painting, and take pictures to finish at home, but technically, you do it all in one sitting, outside.  Thus the plein air, out in the air.

I had been intrigued by this and even tried signing up with the local plein air group, but my babysitting duties prevent that.  So the other day, on a glorious week of no sitting, I went off to one of my favorite spots, Demen's Landing in downtown St. Pete, to try my hand at plein air.

I set up shop at an available park bench and happened to have had a small 8 x 12 canvas that seems to be the usual plein air size.  I had to gesso over it a couple times to make it smoother but with the bright sun beating down it didn't take long to dry.  I had my paper towels, some water and a small palette of maybe 5 or 6 tubes of paint.  

Demen's Landing is where I take my night scenes of St. Pete seen on this blog a couple of times.  It is to my back and thought you might like to see it during the day.  That, by the way, is St. Petersburg public marina. 

The focus of my painting will be the Pier.  I bought a combo easel and carrying case from Dick Blick (it's technically called a French easel) a while ago and finally got to put it to use.  After attempting to put it together, and hoping I didn't look too stupid in the process to passersby, I succeeded.   Hey, the damn thing is complicated.  Leave it to the French to come up with something overly complex that could have been done better...simpler.  Much like that last sentence.

I did a quick sketch of the scene with charcoal and then began painting.  The sky was a breeze, but the ocean water was kind of tough.  How do you give it the wave effect?  The middle section is soon to be a line of rocks that serve as a water break. 

 Unfortunately after I put it into the scene I decided it didn't work.  I'll have to fix it at home.  The Pier is going in, nicely, however.   

   

One of the nice things about this spot is that you have boats going in a and out all day from this location as well as planes taking off and landing at the small airport next door to the right.  It's a rather neat place to see activity.

Here is a picture of the break rocks which will have to be removed from he painting.  I think it will be a better composed work with the rocks gone, and maybe just a small sailboat heading into the marina.  I'll have to do that at home, however, since the paint is still wet.

A catamaran coming in to berth.  Cool looking boat.  

I had a visitor while I was here, but he didn't seem too interested in what I was doing.

Overall I was here around 2 hours.  That seems to be the usual amount of time to do your thing and get going.  That includes two coatings of gesso and breaks to see the boats and planes.  All told, I put in probably no more than an hour of actual painting, maybe even less.  That damn French easel cost me 15 minutes!

Giving more detail to the Pier after an undercoat of dark umber was a snap.  Whitish beams and some coloring was pretty easy.  I put in some soft clouds with my happy brush and decided I was just about done. 

So, my first Plein Air is finished and except for the rocks, which will be coming out of the painting, I think it was a moderate success.  I accomplished getting out there and didn't forget anything from home and I used a small color pallet, mixing the colors with what I had.  It was fun to be out and doing this and I picked a subject that was easy to do.  Ta-Da!  A painting in less than 2 hours.  That is Plein Air, folks.

ADDENDUM

At home I took out the rocks and added a sailboat.  I think I'll tinker a little more with it, but I'm doing quick retouches in spirit with the plein air.  I'll go in, dabble for 3 or 4 minutes then leave.  Plein air is quick, M*A*S*H-type painting so I'll spend another 10-20 minutes on this then throw it in the corner and go out and do another.  I'll work a bit on the boat and some on the water - maybe define the clouds a bit more and pack up and try a second one somewhere.  This is fun.