How to Approach a Scene En Plein Air

by Anne Kupillas.

For those who are new to plein air painting (painting outdoors), the experience can seem both exciting and daunting. So much happening in front of your eyes! So much to choose from! Limited time and where to start? And….weather!  Even more experienced artists feel this way, especially when faced with an unfamiliar location, with new scenery and perhaps broad vistas or lots of detail. I often felt this way and still do at times. However, I’ve developed a semi-foolproof method that allows me to hone in on a subject and decide how to express it.  But before I share it, let me first say that getting comfortable is the very first step to success in plein air. Your ability to relax and enjoy your surroundings is so important, and the rest will come more easily once you’re at ease. So arrive at your destination, scope it out, breathe, and put down your backpack. Marvel in the view and allow yourself to be filled with inspiration, it will come. And if it doesn’t, that’s ok, too – you’re outside and you’re trying!

Once I’m here, my process to approaching a painting goes like this:

1.     Choose a subject

2.     Decide on the story I want to tell

3.     Deal with composition, values and color

4.     Technique

5.     Get at it!

Choosing a Subject

It’s important to take a few minutes when you arrive at your location to assess the scene or scenes in front of you.  Walk around before committing to a spot, then choose a view or a subject within that view that catches your eye. Don’t worry that what interests you might not interest someone else, or that it’s not the grandest element of the location. That’s ok. As an artist, I believe it’s my job to see things that others might not notice. So that little odd tree at the edge of the vista, or the pool umbrella peeking out below grand view (in the photo above) – those are often the subjects I’m drawn to (pun intended).  A footnote: also important to consider is if you will make a formal painting or loose sketch/es. Often, time is the deciding factor, but the subject may lend itself better to one over the other.

Decide on the Story

Once I know what item or scene I wish to paint, I ask myself, what story do I want to tell? If the story isn’t immediately obvious, another way to think about it is to ask yourself, what interests me about it?

A trick is to pretend to give a title to the painting you’ll be creating. Think of it as a finished artwork that you need to name. The name, like the title of a movie, ought to be central to the story and sum it up easily.

Within this same framework, you can also define the elements within your story.

-       Main character – this is what interests you most (maybe in a seascape, it’s an interesting rock, or it could be the quality of light).

-       Supporting characters – help tell the story. Your painting may be complex, and have several different elements. Know which are the most important and which support the stars.

-       Setting, atmosphere – these provide background, contrast, atmosphere and so on.

 In this example, the story I want to tell is how big the sky is up here in the Eastern Sierras.

The main character is the sky including the clouds, and the supporting characters are the mountains, because they create a frame for the main character.  I can call this painting “Big Sky Indy” and it will make sense, I think, to everyone. Setting is provided by the rest of the scenery - foreground scrub brush and rocks.  A single scene can have so many stories! For example, this scene can also tell the story of the sweep of the vista, how the mountains connect and seem to form a bowl across the horizon, even though I know the highway 395 cuts through the middle, you can see it. However, in order to make the panoramic vista the main character, I might want to downplay the sky, remove the clouds, and minimize the foreground. If I did that, the title could be “Panoramic Ranges,” or something like that. Get it?

This is why many artists revisit the same setting over and over, and why studio artists may do several representations of the same thing. Think Monet’s water lilies, Degas’ dancers, and Hockney’s swimming pools – just a few examples.

Dealing with the Technicalities – Composition, Value & Color

Composition

Composition is simply how to arrange the subject to tell the story you want. Arranging the subject in a frame to tell the story you want --  which is not as easy as you would think. There are some good guidelines I can share with you to help you decide.

*Open Composition vs Closed Composition. In an open composition, the story you’re telling is clearly part of a larger scene. Often, a photographer has already chosen an open composition.  In a closed composition, what you see is all there is – like looking into a fish tank. That would be if you zoomed out of a close up of a pelican, so the pelican was smaller and you could paint / see more of the ocean.  Most of the time, painting en plein air involves closed compositions, because you can see everything around you, even what will be outside the frame. 

*Your key element – main subject – should be placed to be the star of the composition.  It should not “slide off the page.” But the other elements can.

*Rule of Thirds. There are other compositional tools, such as the Rule of Thirds, the Golden Mean and others, which artists have used throughout the centuries to create dynamic compositions. I generally use the Rule of Thirds, when planning my paintings. The rule says that the most interesting - ie focal -  points of your painting should be at the intersection of the lines in a grid of 9 squares or rectangles, because that is where the eye is drawn to and will still be dynamic. 

*Thumbnail Sketches. Using small sketches – called thumbnails – can be helpful in making decisions about how to compose your painting. To do this, you sketch arrangements and rearrangments of the elements within a frame,  starting with the main element(s) and adding in the supporting ones - trying out different compositions to see which is the most interesting & compelling, and using a thin line for the frame so it can be altered easily. Don’t feel the need to stay within the original frame.    Change the layout – portrait, landscape, square, round, silhouette, open edge / rough edge – these are all options to consider.  At this point, you will also likely be thinking about what size you will want to make your painting.

*Notes on land/seascapes: if you have a broad landscape as your chosen subject, it can be very helpful to sketch the horizon line first. Generally, the horizon line should sit on either the 1/3 or 2/3 line, not at ½.  A low horizon line will emphasize the sky, clouds, tall trees, buildings etc. while a high horizon line will maximize the landscape itself, allowing you to map out a whole scene in front of the viewer like a carpet or chessboard.    Also, adding a focal point in the mid- or foreground can help offset a simple subject, as well as add scale and lead the eye in. Ex: a tree or rock, bird, etc. Just remember the Rule of Thirds and offset the object, don’t put it in the center. Lastly, think about scale. Do you want the sense of scale to be grand, or small? Zoom in or zoom out.

*Use a Viewfinder. With a scene or tableau in front of us, such as in plein air or urban sketching, we can use a viewfinder. Some viewfinders have grid lines built in!  I use this  one - Guerrilla Painter Tom Lynch’s Secret Plein Air Tool.

 

*Photographs often already have selected a “crop” or composition, including the layout, perspective etc. even if it’s been unconsciously done. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it – you can alter it as you choose. But if you don’t have a viewfinder, use your phone’s camera as one.

 

*While you are planning where to place your elements for greatest effect, you should also be thinking about what to eliminate from your composition to simplify it.

Value

In a nutshell, considering value is deciding where to place the darks and lights in your painting. Again, you can use the values to help you tell your story. Darken contrast, lighten an area, etc. – these are tools at your disposal to bring the focus to your main subject – regardless of the actual scene in front of you. Remember, artists aren’t cameras. We aren’t there to capture exactly what’s in front of us, but to create our own representation of it and to tell the story we feel. So make changes to what you see. For a quick value study, add graphite or watercolor to the composition thumbnail you selected as “the one.” You don’t have to spend a lot of time on this, but it will help you to decide on your lights and darks, independent of color and detail that can distract you once you start painting.

Color

As with value and composition, it’s up to us, as artists, to interpret the subject as we feel.  Color is another tool to telling your story. Painting outside has pros and cons when it comes to seeing color. The variations in color may be more apparent than in photos, which is one of the many reasons plein air artists bring scenery to life in such fresh, vivid ways . But the sun can blind us and that’s something you have to deal with as plein air painters.   Regardless of what you see in front of you, you may choose to limit or change your color scheme, to bring in warmth or coolness, to create more color unity/harmony, or to draw attention to one of your elements. Think like a child when it comes to color, and don’t be limited by the facts! Your sky can be green if you want it to.

Technique

This is the part of the process at which watercolor comes into play. Up until now,  we could be discussing any medium. So this portion is where I specifically consider the various ways of working with watercolor I an use to build my painting. But it’s not about using all your tricks! It’s about what will work best where and when. It’s about what you want to control and what you want to set free, in a way.  Here are some foolproof steps – by no means, are they the only way to work! But they can help with making quicker decisions and avoiding pitfalls.

 

1.     Plan to reserve the whites – what’s the best way for the shapes I need?  Carve around them, lay down some tape or masking fluid?

 

2.     Start Large and work to Small – in terms of areas. So I need to decide if I will do an underpainting or not. If you have less time, humid weather or want all crisp transitions, then probably best to forgo the underpainting.

 

3.     Work from Light to Dark – in terms of values.   I also work from thin to thicker consistencies, which goes hand in hand with value, as thinner paint often equals lighter mark making.

 

4.     Where will I add detail and texture? Of the techniques I have at my disposal (there are so many!), which ones will create the effect I want?

             Layering/Glazing , working wet-in-wet,  line and brushwork, drybrush and more – all of these are not difficult to use en plein air. But remember to use them wisely.  

 

5.     Final touches – I consider adding dark marks (and white ones using gouache or a Posca pen). Final dark, often small marks, added at the end,  act as punctuation marks and keep the eye moving and give it a place to rest, too. Do I need to glaze for cohesiveness or color correct?  Squinting and reassessing values is a good idea.  You can also use a simple cardboard mat (carried in your plein air kit) to reassess; it covers the blue tape, literally giving it a frame and helping to see how the composition and values all work together.  If you’re still not sure, you can do what I do and turn your painting upside down (when it’s dry enough!) and see if anything odd stands out, like  unwanted shapes, lines etc. Often, I decide I’m tapped and will leave my work overnight, and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning. Sun blindness is usually the main culprit when I need to correct the next morning.  And just as often, I’m surprised by how well it turned out and needs nothing additional!

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