“Brake Shop,” by Scott Lloyd Anderson, 2011, oil, 18 x 24. First Place winner in the PleinAir Salon July/August competition.

Anderson lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota where for twenty years he worked as a magazine art director before launching a career as a full-time professional artist. “I directed many top national illustrators and photographers when I worked for the magazine, but I was always drawing,” he explains. “I studied painting with Joseph Paquet for four years and took a variety of other classes while starting to engage in the Western plein air event circuit.

“Summer, Minnehaha Falls 1,” by Scott Lloyd Anderson, 2011, oil, 12 x 16.

“I got the outdoor painting bug almost as soon as I left my magazine job in 2002, and I've worked hard to get my name out in front of the public by exhibiting, entering contests and participating in outdoor painting events. Many of those events are in the Midwest, but I also participated in Plein Air Easton twice so I hope my reputations is spreading nationally. I've won awards and have exhibited with several galleries.

“Cornfield and Barn,” by Scott Lloyd Anderson, 2011, oil, 12 x 16.

“I primarily paint outside, but lately I’ve been doing a lot work in the studio,” Anderson explains. “Knowledge of color and light can only be learned on location, but over time I've been able to use that knowledge to improve my work in the studio. I like to travel and see new places, but I also enjoy painting in my neighborhood or the urban areas around Minneapolis/St.Paul. I want to paint the world around me, and that often includes locations that aren't bucolic. I want people to see my paintings as a record of the time.

“This past summer I bought a Gloucester easel and use it with a 22” x 28" palette box (it weighs a ton) so I can do bigger paintings outside. I did an 18” x 36" vertical of a river gorge in northern Minnesota recently, and I've done plein air paintings on canvases that were 30” x 40", 24 x 36" and 40” x 40". I’enjoyed that challenge because it made me feel like a real painter! On that scale, outdoor painting is quite a contact sport, requiring a lot of my body and a big honkin' palette knife. It also necessitates a lot of mixing with the knife and troweling enough paint onto the canvas in order to move fast and cover the expansive surface. It’s a way of getting more life and brush action in my work and it presents the challenge of doing something a little different.” For more information, visit www.ScottLloydAnderson.com.