From the Latest Issue of PleinAir Magazine
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Happening This Week: 2026 Gouache Bootcamp
Do you know why many of the top studio and plein air artists are exploring gouache? It's their portable studio in a tube – paint anywhere without solvents or setup. Gouache paints with the feel and flexibility of oil, yet dilutes to get the effects of watercolor.
Hello from Hilton Head!
This year's Winter Art Escape offered unparalleled opportunities for artistic growth, including one-on-one painting sessions with Eric Rhoads. Enjoy this photo essay of our paint-outs and more.
5 Quick and Dirty Tips for Artists
Plein air painter Gene Costanza shares his five quick tips for artists on composition, color, and more.
My Car is My Art Studio
Although I still sometimes set up my easel in the snow in early spring, for the past 10 years I’ve increasingly painted wintry landscapes from my car. I’ve become so used to it that I can now work fairly large — as big as a quarter sheet of watercolor paper (11 x 15 inches). It may seem awkward, but I’ve been doing this for so long that it’s actually become one of my favorite places to paint. Here's how I do it, and my advice for plein air painting in winter.
The Power of Black, White, and Gray
Inspired by Southeast Asia, Bob Masla explores watercolor, Sumi-e, and Notan studies that reveal the strength of values, brushwork, and design.
How to Paint with Gouache and Oil: A Practical Method
Combining gouache and oil might sound unlikely, but the two can form a powerful partnership when handled correctly. Raymond Bonilla treats gouache like a painter’s utility knife: a fast, forgiving tool to build a value and temperature map. The result is a workflow that speeds decision making, reduces solvent use, and gives the finished piece both vibrancy and painterly texture.
10-Minute Thumbnail Sketch Challenge: Lay of the Land
With it being in the heart of winter and in the midst of unpredictable weather, it's the perfect time to cozy up with a cup of coffee and get out your sketchbook, favorite drawing utensil, and a timer.
![Leon Wyczółkowski, "U WRÓT CHAŁUBIŃSKIEGO [AT THE CHAŁUBIŃSKI GATE]," c. 1905, pastel on paper, 30 1/2 x 42 1/3 in., National Museum in Kraków](https://www.outdoorpainter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Leon_Wyczolkowski_-_U_Wrot_Chalubinskiego_-_MNK_III-r-150x150.jpg "Painting of the Week: “U Wrót Chałubińskiego”")
Painting of the Week: “U Wrót Chałubińskiego”
In “U Wrót Chałubińskiego,” Leon Wyczółkowski places us at the threshold of the sublime. Painted en plein air at the Chałubiński Gate, a mountain pass in the Tatra Mountains, the pastel captures a fleeting moment of clouds, light, and shadow that evokes both awe and intimacy.
AI and the Invasion of the Art Snatchers
Making art is a revelatory experience that requires wrestling with principles and practices involved in painting a canvas which reveals the quality of expression that comes as the hard-won physical product of who we are as human beings known as artists. So, what do we gain as artists who use AI, and what are we willing to lose?
What’s Inside: PleinAir Magazine February/March 2026
This issue features the 2026 Artists' Guide to Workshops, Schools, and Ateliers; National Park Service Art Collections; Immigrant Stories; and ...
In Episode 268 of the Plein Air Podcast, we talk about making 2026 your best year yet — not by accident, but by design. As an artist, you face the familiar tug-of-war between studio time, family, and the distractions that eat your hours. Over the years I learned that goals are not about wishful thinking. They are systems, habits, deadlines, and sometimes a little bit of bravado. This episode is a practical, no-nonsense plan to set goals that actually stick and push your art and life forward.
Ryan Jensen fills 9-foot paintings with landscapes done on location. Here are the challenges, how and why he does it, and how being a Marine has informed his path as a professional artist.
On Making the Switch From Watercolor to Pastel Painting > Jill Stefani Wagner, who is on the faculty of the 2026 Plein Air Convention ...
The 6th Annual Watercolor Live came to an end recently, wrapping up with even more of today’s best watercolor artists sharing all of their...
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