Grace En Plein Air

For me, plein air painting is the most challenging way to paint, and the rewards are even better!

- Carol Arnold

When I’m in open air standing in front of the live model—feeling the warm breeze of the summer air, hearing the sounds of nature—it is a moment in time that I’m capturing and want to share with you, the viewer. Also, if painting a model in a landscape isn’t hard enough, there can be flies, the clouds going in and out, perhaps rain, snow and the challenges go on and on; they are all worth it. Each time, there are learning experiences that are so valuable, and you can only get them by experiencing it.

I took time to set up my daughter Grace outside in a pose that I thought was interesting. I made sure I loved the way the light was hitting her and that she was comfortable. The pose is one of the most important parts of painting people outdoors for me. Next, I chose a light-colored cloth to put behind her and draped it over the clothesline. When arranging the flowers around her, I again took care to find the pattern, colors and values that helped to create the painting in my mind and would be great to paint.

Before I began painting, I thought about how I was going to paint this, what this painting is about and how I’m going to relay my message to the viewer in my artwork with paint. I have four tools I am using: values, drawing, color and edges. I start by finding my lightest light, darkest dark, softest edge and sharpest edge. Squinting is a great way to find these things and simplify what is in front of me. It also eliminates unnecessary detail and groups the values into manageable shapes and patterns.