18 FREE Plein Air Painting Techniques

Free guide to plein air painting techniques

Download Your Free Plein Air Painting Techniques Today!

What is plein air painting? En plein air is a French expression that means “in the open air.” It is used by artists to describe the art of outdoor painting, capturing landscapes and views in natural light. This kind of art has been a popular practice for centuries and requires specific skills and techniques.

Amazing Download: Free Outdoor Painting Tips

Artists Network has selected the best tips from experienced plein air artists in these amazing free tutorials painting experts love. These plein air painting techniques apply to both plein air oil painting and plein air watercolor. Download your copy today, discover the best approaches to the art form, along with expert advice on the tools and plein air easels you’ll want to bring along when painting outdoors.

Your comprehensive guide to painting outside!

Donal W. Demers walks you through his take on plein air oil painting. He describes what he teaches in his workshops for plein air painters, helping you achieve successful outdoor painting through technical exercises. Andy Evansen describes his trip to China with a group of artists and demonstrates the pros and cons of plein air watercolor.

Part 1: Plein Air Oil Painting

Oil plein air painting: classic landscape scene

Demers shows how he approaches three different painting situations.

The first painting captures a classic landscape scene, including how to paint cluds. Demers explains how to start without any white on your palette and paint the midtones and shadows with transparent washes of color before drawing the details of the scene with the dark color and finally introducing white to establish highlights.

The second demonstration involves capturing waves crashing against the shoreline rocks. “There are many approaches to [the art], and two of the most common are concerned with either observation or interpretation,” Demers explains as he describes the best way to approach a subject that is constantly moving.

Finally, Demers walks you through his plein air study of a sunset. He shares another approach to painting outside, in which the artist tries to capture the fleeting light in about 45 minutes.

Part 2: Watercolor techniques

Pros and cons of plein air watercolor

As all plein air painters know, the less one brings on location, the better. For this reason, Andy has a distinct advantage as a watercolorist. The equipment itself may not be that much more portable than that of oil painters, but when it comes time to clean up and pack up, there is a notable difference. Another advantage is that at the end of a piece, oil plein air artists are worried about transporting and handling wet plein air paintings, but his are quickly dry.

Of course, there are disadvantages, including the fact that the watercolor surface needs to be fairly flat, catching a great deal of sun glare when there’s no umbrella or shade nearby.

Andy shares how he uses the viewfinder on his digital camera as a compositional tool for his plein air paintings. He takes a photo of the scene, both as an aid for on-site and to use in conjunction with his outdoor paintings if he creates a larger studio piece later. He then uses the thumbnail in the viewfinder to make his first few important compositional lines, such as the horizon and any large structure, sizing them accordingly. Establishing the perspective and relative sizes of objects in the scene this way saves time.

This is just the beginning of your plein air painting journey…

Download Free Outdoor Painting Tips!

In this free art tutorial, Artists Network addresses the common questions that surface in outdoor painting discussions, involving drawing, color, value, and edges. In addition, Demers and Evansen share their personal tips on plein air painting equipment, including the right best easel, palettes, and brushes. All plein air artists will find their share of useful information, whether they are just starting or have been doing it for years, and whether they are interested in plein air oil painting, or plein air watercolor.

Download Your Free Plein Air Painting Techniques Today!

Join the Conversation!

  1. […] textures all demanding our attention. However, there is a unique challenge in painting the garden en plein air. The chaos of blooms and foliage can be daunting to compose and resolve into a painting. The camera […]

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