How to Paint Watercolors En Plein Air
What is "en plein air"? It means painting outdoors -- and to paint outdoors means using the right equipment and techniques. Painting en plein air lets you capture the natural beauty of the day, which can vary based on the season, the time of day and the weather.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- One or more small watercolor blocks
- Compact pan watercolor set or a set of watercolor pencils
- Water bottle for painting
- Water cup
- Watercolor brush or brushes
- Pencil
- Kneaded eraser
- Folding chair or stool
- Paper towels
- Watercolor easel
- Camera
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1
Paint on small watercolor blocks instead of pads or prepared stretched sheets of watercolor paper. Watercolor blocks are bound on all four sides and they won't buckle, even if you use a big wash to get the sky in. If you bring several, you can work on more than one painting instead of sitting there watching paint dry between layers. Work background to foreground. Mix the sky color first and paint all the skies at the same time. Then go back and add far-horizon elements, like hills or distant trees and houses.
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2
Bring along at least one wash brush for broad areas, and a pointed round for details and foliage. You may like using a fan brush or liner for different effects. Keep your brushes in a bamboo brush roll or an easel brush carrier.
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3
Take a photo of everything you paint. Don't try to make the paintings large, polished, finished or perfect while you're working en plein air. Get down the gist of the scene and try to get the colors accurate, because later in the studio you can work from these watercolor sketches and your photos to create a larger, more elaborate painting.
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4
Light changes constantly outdoors, so work fast and with confidence. Accept mistakes as part of the process of painting, and try to find fun ways to use them later on. A bad wash can become a cool under-painting for a colored pencil or pastel drawing later on. It's better to paint fast and sloppy than slow and careful for plein air painting.
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5
Remember that most types of watercolors dry much lighter than they looked when they were wet. So be bold and use plenty of color. When you get home, you can do your painting in lighter colors if you think it's too garish. Paint an object darker than you think it is, because watercolor dries lighter than it looks when it's wet.
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6
Using pan watercolors, try to keep colors pure and not do too much mixing on the palette. It's faster that way.
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7
When you're done, clean off your palette with wet paper towels. Wait till your watercolors are dry before putting the watercolor blocks back in your bag. If any blocks are still wet, carry them flat until they dry.
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Tips & Warnings
Use brushes, paint and equipment you're familiar with before heading out.
Test your outdoor setup in the yard till you have it just the way you want it, then keep it organized so that it's easy to pack up and go.
Watch out for poison ivy and other hazards. If you don't know what poison ivy looks like, find a good picture online or at the library and make sure to copy it and take it with you.
Avoid wearing floral scents in perfume or body products so you don't attract bees and other stinging insects.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
Comments
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robertsloan2
Oct 05, 2007
It takes a bit of practice, but after a while you get used to which mixtures you know will work. Experiments are the only reliable knowledge when it comes to color mixing, because each brand of each color mixes just a bit differently and you have to find out what your paint does. -
Loni Ice
Oct 04, 2007
Great article! One of the things that often works for me is to work dark to light, laying in the deepest darks first. However, for watercolor, I think that requires quite a bit of knowledge of color mixing so you can get the sub-layers right.
