Plein air
painting is the act of painting outdoors, which the French also call painting
"sur le motif."
If the weather permits there are many advantages of using this method, and
luckily, on the 14th August 2021, the conditions were excellent, with no wind
and a clear sky. My daughter Faye came with me that afternoon, and before she
left to do some exploring on her bike, she took the following photograph of
me, settled at my chosen spot:
The place was on the north bank of the
River Sienne, in a salt meadow near the estuary, and it seemed sufficiently far from the
madding crowd to avoid distracting interruptions. I had noticed a small tree
with an exposed root structure which I thought could be a good 'anchor' for a
composition. The advantage of plein air painting comes from the communion with
nature, in which we not only see the place, but also feel, hear and even smell
it. This intimate contact can, if we are in the mood, contribute positively to
the finished work. Here the subject of the watercolour was not extraordinary,
but the act of observing and painting it in situ probably improved the
result, and certainly left me with some excellent memories:
While I was painting, salt meadow sheep would occasionally come to drink water
from the river, and from time to time I heard a splash when a fish jumped.
Further downstream a group was enjoying a sunny afternoon together, and
towards the end of my three-hour stay a solitary fisherman tried his luck in
the pools. He told me that some big mullet swam in that stretch, and that they
were excellent in barbecues!
Everything went smoothly for me that day, compared to others when problems
arise. In a future post I will give some tips for making the most of painting
"sur le motif," especially when things get difficult. But whatever the
result might be, plein air painting is generally a positive and memorable
experience!
To see more watercolours of other Normandy landscapes please refer to the page FR Normandy.
