Home Painting Demonstrations & Art Tips

Painting Demonstrations & Art Tips

From color to composition, to dealing with the elements, learn from the community of plein air painters with these tips for painting outdoors!

My Favorite Place to Paint: Ed Cahill

- Bob Bahr reporting, Editor PleinAir Today - The place Ed Cahill often paints is a reminder of what the land around Atlanta was like...

Fugitives in the Golden Age of Pigmentology

- Bob Bahr reporting, Editor PleinAir Today - A recent e-newsletter from an art materials manufacturer shone the spotlight on alizarin crimson, a paint that’s...

Why This Works: High Horizon Line for Compelling Composition

In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and points out why they succeed as painted images. This week, Thomas Caleb Goggans’ “Shoshone Turquoise.”
Painting of the moon

Artist Allergies – and Acrylic Paint

"It has been an exhausting and convoluted journey finding art materials that I am not allergic to."
Plein air art advice - OutdoorPainter.com

How Plein Air Groups Get Museum Shows

An exhibition at a regional museum is a marketing coup — but how does it happen?
PleinAir Salon winner

3 Secrets to Winning Art Competitions

Time and time again, past winners of the PleinAir Salon tell us that the secret to winning is to ...
Painting from photo references - OutdoorPainter.com

How to Turn an Imperfect Photo Into a Fantastic Painting

Shelby Keefe shares her goals and processes for the painting “Urban Patchwork.”
Casein painting by Stephen Quiller

What is Casein Paint?

Stephen Quiller is a legendary artist known for teaching color and color theory. In this interview, he discusses painting with casein and more with Eric Rhoads.
How to start a plein air group

The Challenges of Starting a Plein Air Group

In a recent newsletter, we shared advice on how to start a plein air group; but with anything that’s worth doing, challenges are to be ...
Painting vibrant color - Jed Dorsey, "That One Morning," 2018, acrylic, 18 x 24 in., Private collection, Plein air

7 Tips for Painting Vibrant Color

Plein air painter and fourth-generation artist Jed Dorsey shares his tips for getting brilliant color into your next landscape painting.
How to improve a painting

An “Unethical” Art Practice Worth Trying

Catch an episode of Art School Live with Eric Rhoads, featuring Shanna Kunz, who explains her "search and destroy" method of improving a painting.
Heather Arenas, "St. Armands Circle Corner," 2023, oil on Dibond aluminum panel, 12 x 12 in., Collection of the artist, Plein air

Free Painting Lesson: Marking Light and Shade

Discover the art of capturing light and shadow with Heather Arenas in this free painting lesson. In her vibrant work "St. Armands Circle Corner," Heather shares how she builds her compositions from bold shapes, thoughtfully balancing warm sunlight and cool shadows.

Take a Closer Look at Another Award Winner

One of the landscape paintings that stands out among the semi-finalists selected by Michael Zakian in the September/October PleinAir Salon competition (www.pleinairsalon.com) is “After...

Hear it Again, Differently: Values

Values. They are what make a painting read and succeed. We all know it, but many of us still have to work hard to...

Why This Works: Muting Sunlit Area to Showcase Focal Point

In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and points out why they...

Kim Carlton Hits a Nerve

Being able to paint faster in the field is a worthy goal, right? Kim Carlton set out on a "Year of Painting Fast" to...

Painting 5”-x-7” Oils on Paper

New York painter Amy DiGi has some reasons for painting in oil on 5”-x-7” sheets of paper. And they all make sense. Lead Image:...

My Favorite Place to Paint: Dan F. Gray

- Bob Bahr reporting, Editor PleinAir Today - Dan F. Gray paints the annual rhythms of wildlife and the seasons on his end of Vancouver...

Why This Works: Zeroing in on What’s Important

- Jeanne Mackenzie reporting - In this series, plein air painter and instructor Jeanne Mackenzie takes a look at new paintings by contemporary artists and...

Palette Knife as Ticket to Simplification

For Jane Boyd, the key to simplifying her paintings was simply to put down the paintbrush.