the ART filled life. — plein air painting

It is said that the author C.S.Lewis began the writing of his famous Narnia Chronicles with the mental image of a faun standing in the snow near a lamppost. He then began to think of other images that he felt were compelling and created a story around them.  Setting the scene is an intuitive way to create a story. For the artist making a narrative painting, the scene is all we have to work with. Without the option of spelling it out we are left to imply the story. So what do I mean by "implying a story." Let's see...

While out painting on location, I often have people approach me.  Fifty percent of the time they make a joke about me painting them into the picture. The rest of the time they often ask me the question, “what are you painting”? To which I often reply “a picture.”  It seems like a “duh” response. I understand that what they usually mean is, “ point me to the scene you are looking at so I can be amazed at how much it looks like what you are painting.” My reply “ a picture” instead implies that there is more to...

Why Paint outdoors? I get this question a fair amount. Artist, painters specifically have two means to draw inspiration from. Observation and imagination. The imagination is fed by observation. If I asked you to make up an animal from your imagination, you would take a few traits from different animals and smash them together to make a new animal. Everything imagined is a re-ordering of known forms. When I paint outside I go directly to the source. There is so much information to select from and restate as I choose. Photographs, while an art form in and of them selves, are...