What I Love About Plein Air

'In My Cherry Grove'          8x10        plein air pastel           ©Karen Margulis

The Cherry Trees were calling to me. They needed to be painted. I could take a hundred pictures of them but nothing could capture the way I feel about them like a painting them from life.  I needed to get out of the studio and stand under the trees.  I needed to hear the birds singing up in the branches.  I needed to feel the warmth of the beautiful spring day, to smell the neighbor's freshly mowed grass.  I needed to see the pale pink petals float gently in the breeze, carpeting the ground around me.

These are all things that a photo just can't do. A photo is flat and quiet. It is a piece of paper.  Painting outside among the trees makes me feel alive. My hand moves across my paper quickly...choosing the pastels to capture the colors I see in front of me.

My plein air pantings are not perfect. But they are real.  I never touch them up or finish them in the studio.  I want to remember exactly how I felt the day I painted them. I will use them as studies for studio paintings. The plein air studies capture a moment in time. To change them would erase the emotions that went into the painting.

I don't get outside to paint as often as I'd like. But when I do I am recharged and renewed. 

My Gogh box

Note: This was my old plein air set up. Stan Sperlak used to make and sell these 'Gogh Boxes'. I have it on my on an Oben travel tripod. I am using a Great American plein air half stick set which fits inside the Gogh Box perfectly. I am currently using a Heilman double Sketchbox on my tripod. 
My paper is Uart 600 that I toned a warm brown with oops sample paint from Home Depot.