“Angelic and Sailors,” by Ken Auster, 2009, oil, 12 x 16 Private collection

When Ken Auster lectures during the PleinAir Convention & Expo, he will amuse and challenge people in the audience. At times they will see evidence of the carefree California guy from the 1960s who designed and printed T-shirts worn by surfers from California to Hawaii to Mexico; and at other times they will hear a remarkably skilled plein air artist come down hard on painters who create a lot of unsuccessful pictures. “There are a lot of very nice, well intentioned artists who lose track of the reasons they started a painting in the first place,” he will say. “And many of those good people wind up overworking their paintings in an effort to salvage them. They could avoid many of their failures by separating the intellectual stage of composing a picture from the process of expressing their excitement about what they have seen and felt.

“Diamond Gridlock,” by Ken Auster, 2002, oil, 20 x 24. Private collection

“All of us who look at a lot of great artwork know that design is very important,” Auster says. “What we sometimes fail to remember is that once we have a reference in place, we don’t have to be held hostage by what we see in nature or in a photograph. In fact, it’s important to put that notion aside and allow ourselves to express what excites us about a subject. We also have to remember that our excitement is felt by viewers when they stand away from our finished paintings, not when they have their noses pressed up against the canvas counting the leaves on the trees or the masts on a sailboat.

“Cliff Dwellers,” by Ken Auster, 2003, oil, 20 x 20. Private collection

“When I’m on location and I’ve identified a scene I want to paint, one of the first things I do is determine the focal point of the subject I’m considering,” Auster goes on to say. “That decision will guide me through the painting process, and it will help viewers know what the painting is about. The second thing I do is determine what will be in the foreground, middle ground, and background of my painting because those layers of space will also help me organize the picture and engage the viewer. Finally, I ask myself what can I do to simplify the complexity of nature in front of me.”

To find out more about this remarkably gifted painter, read the cover story in the February/March issue of PleinAir and register for the 1st Annual PleinAir Convention & Expo.