Creative Alliance Annual Exhibit, The Big Show ~ Potomac Artworks

7.17.2013

See my pastel painting, Naples Fresh, in The Big Show at Baltimore's Creative Alliance and attend the opening Friday, July 12 from 7-10PM! The exhibit runs through July 31.

Naples Fresh

8x8

pastel

The Charm of en Plein Air

Much of my work is done en plein air, French for "in the open air." People often associate it with the Impressionists, but the move to paint outside preceded them by a number of decades. The trend to appreciate landscapes as a genre at all was new for the time.

Several characteristics contribute to the distinctive beauty of en plein air painting. They are generally smaller in size in order to be able to capture a scene in a single sitting. Because of the time limit and environmental factors such as the sun and shadows moving, they often lack extensive details and might appear slightly fuzzy or unfinished. Lastly, they tend to have a freshness and spontaneity which makes them impossible to compare to traditional and methodological studio work. That said, my own studio work tends toward the same feel as en plein air, which then identifies my overall style: softness with an edge.

My aim when painting en plein air is for alla prima paintings, which roughly translates for me as "what happens outside, stays outside." It adds another level of difficulty to the work.

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7.17.2013

Creative Alliance Annual Exhibit, The Big Show

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7.17.2013

Creative Alliance Annual Exhibit, The Big Show

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Subscribe by Email

Beach Cottages at Sunset, Cape May

The Charm of en Plein Air

Blog Archive

Webpages

My Instructors

Influences

DC Area Plein Air Sites

Fellow Art Bloggers

Followers

Copyright

There's More!

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