Embrace of Plein Air

For most of my artistic life, I have shied away from painting landscapes and backgrounds. They were overwhelming with the chaos of shapes and just didn't grab my attention like people or animals did. Every once and a while I would pass an artist painting while I was on a hike or in a busy outdoor market. I wondered what it would be like to paint a scene live, but it wasn't enough to motivate me to try this allusive Plein Air till I was living in South Korea.

There are many interesting and beautiful aspects to South Korea, but something I really loved was their massive nature parks smack dab in the middle of their hyper technological city, Seoul. You would be walking in well manicured nature and look off to the right and see a massive sky scraper in the distance. My first Plein air was in one such park on a blistering hot summer day (why I chose summer in Seoul to try painting outside, I will never know). Sweating and dying a little on the inside, I trudge through the forest park until I happen upon this captivating scene. Families and friends are lounging on park benches and blankets in a massive circle of prickly grass with a singular tree directly in the middle of the laughter, delicious smelling food and small children scampering about. Perfect, this is the spot! I shuffle around until I find a empty spot on a flat rock slab. I unzip my art loaded backpack and pull out my travel watercolor paints, two tiny paint brushes, my handbound watercolor book and a small jug of water. My pallet is very lacking, the colors not as vibrant and diverse as my home pallet and my paint brushes really leave me wishing for more, but it was all I could fit in my backpack and it would have to do. 

I sit cross legged on the cool stone, close my eyes and take a deep centering breath. I am a little nervous and intimidated to paint a landscape, as I mentioned before, they are overwhelming for me, but I shake out my nerves, grab my book and pencil and start sketching away. I hone in on the center of my painting, the solo tree that so many people are strolling around and enjoying the escape from the heat the shade provides and its gentle presence that brings peace to those who take a breath to pay attention. The towering glass buildings are a stark contrast to the fluffy multi-colored trees surrounding our solo tree's clearing, and it's long strong trunk is decorated by a circular bench where people chat or sit in silence, enjoying the blistering peace that humid heat can bring.  

Now that I've captured the sketch, it is time for my personal favorite part, adding the color. I lay down a watered down pale blue across the glass structures, building up the depth with darker blues and gouache white. I am then led to the fluffy trees, I pick bright yellows and gentle oranges with dark greens splashed as the bushes. The lime green grass is layered with dabs of blues and yellows, creating a delicate texture that leads up the dark brown trunk of our lone tree. I paint in as many greens as I can, mixing the limited colors on my pallet until it captures the still movement that so enraptures me. I cast shadows on the figures sitting at the trees base, detailing their postures and dynamics between them. Lastly I color in the sweet couple before me, whose peaceful joy resonates with the tree and I abruptly cease my painting.

I had been taken over by the energy of the scene before me. In my years of painting, I had experienced a similar feeling. Where the painting paints itself, and you are just along for the ride. But I had never thought I would encounter this pull from a landscape. I look at my painting while sitting in the world I had tried to capture on the small square paper. I had always envied artists who could create worlds in their paintings that the viewer could easily step into, their expression so vibrant and full of life. After this Plein Air painting venture, I feel like I've been bitten by the creativity bug, needing to explore this new form of expression and the worlds just waiting at my fingertips.