This is a great introduction to plein air painting, ie, painting outdoors, specifically doing landscapes in oil, watercolour, acrylic or pastels. While it was almost entirely focussed on American artists, what it did well was give a, er, primer of what the plein air movement is all about and how to join it. It offers a roundup of invaluable advice on constructing paintings, what equipment you need (and don’t) and throughout is illustrated with the author’s rather good oil paintings of the Virginian countryside, as well as the words and pictures of leading US plein air painters. This book offers all the practical advice you need to make the leap to painting outside of the confines of four walls, and for that, I can forgive its US-centric approach.
Below are a couple of screenshots of random pages.
No. 28 of 100 books I intend to read and review in 2019.
* * *
Patrick Sherriff publishes a monthly newsletter highlighting good fiction about Japan and featuring an original painting or sketch. He lives in Abiko, Japan, with his wife and two daughters.
Patrick Sherriff 