En Plein Air and Learning
En Plein Air and Learning
En plein air painting is quite simply, painting outside.
#Pleinairpril is a challenge where you paint outside every day in April. On March 31 around 9pm I decided I would participate in the challenge. Then on April 1st I woke up with a feeling of pressure and anxiety about having to complete this challenge and quickly decided that I have enough stress to deal without adding more to my plate right now. In response to this, I pivoted and decided I would just try to paint outside as much as I could throughout April.
The average temperature in Calgary for April was 4.3°C and most of the plants and grasses were still various shades of dead and brown, but I still managed to get outside and do some painting, like three or four days worth …
But that is better than no painting.
In case pushing myself to paint in an unpredictable environment wasn’t enough, I am also learning a new media at the same time (see I put enough pressure on myself already).
Gouache (pronounced gwash) is similar to watercolour paint but it is more opaque and is my go-to paint for en plein air.
These are the paintings I completed in April. What I have learned is that painting outside is damn hard. Adapting to changing lighting, temperature swings, precipitation, and people staring, not to mention the technical difficulties of composition and colour make this a challenging experience.
I am not 100% satisfied with these paintings overall, but I am satisfied that I’m trying something new and difficult, and I am pushing myself to continue learning.
In the middle of doing this modified challenge I also completed a pet portrait for a past coworker that I was able to deliver in-person. I’ve made some progress on the heron painting too but then my studio heater’s gas valve broke and the temperature inside the studio was only 6°C!
I’m excited to continue painting outside over the summer and learning how to paint different shades of green - maybe I will share that immense difficulty with you in the future.
Thank you so much for supporting me and my creative endeavour. I appreciate all of you.
As always, check out my website for more art and to see what’s available for purchase. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or if you want some art for your walls.
🩷🖌️ Meagan
www.meaganlauren.com