Plein air Jerry

[Vianna Szabo]

I have been pursuing my love of plein air painting as of late. When the opportunity came to paint this gentleman, back lit on a summers evening, I was thrilled. I have used him as a model in classes and typically use a single light source to play up his strong features so this lighting was a challenge. This is a 90 minute painting. 11x14 oil on Raymar.

Is any one else out there an avid plein air artist?

[Debra Norton]

Very nice painting Vianna. I took a plein air workshop last summer and got hooked! Now I want to be an avid plein air painter, but it's not working out the way I imagined. Bad weather and other commitments keep getting in the way. But summer's not over yet!

[Linda Brandon]

Wow, Vianna - such confident brushwork, lovely color and temperature shifts and a real feeling of being out in the air. Ninety minutes is very impressive, it shows that you've done this a lot.

There's a lot to study looking at this painting. I hope you have portrait clients beating your door down, begging to be painted!

[Vianna Szabo]

Thank you Debra and Linda,

I have been plein air painting for about three years. I go painting with a group every Tuesday. Now I keep my pochade box in my car so I am ready to paint whenever I have a free moment. The first two years I created an enormous amount of bad paintings. Finally something clicked and I have been having success. It is a wonderful way to sharpen your eye and learn to simplify your subject. I am now finding that it has impacted my studio work. I am much quicker and less likely to overwork larger paintings. As far as commissions, I am painting a lot of babies and toddlers, they are difficult to photograph much less paint plein air

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Very nice work, Vianna. The colours are so fresh and clear, and as Linda said, so confident.