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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!

Demos From Master Artists

We begin a series of painting demonstrations by the master artists who will be sharing their ideas and inspiration during the Plein Air Convention...

Demos From Master Artists: Becky Joy

We asked Arizona artist Becky Joy to talk about her luscious, emotionally charged paintings and the way she uses brushes and palette knives to...

Demos From Master Artists: Guido Frick

We just started a series of painting demonstrations by the master artists who will be sharing their ideas and inspiration during the Plein Air...

Painting Over “Stinkers”

Living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, requires an outdoor painter to get used to working in deep snow, strong winds, and cold temperatures. Todd LaChance...

Painting Memories

Plein air paintings often capture more than the outward appearance of the landscape. For Mitch Kolbe, the series of paintings he created over the...

Painting Advice From a Physicist

John D. Cogan, Ph.D. brings a scientist’s understanding of light, color, and atmosphere to the practice of outdoor painting. He shares some of his...

Free Painting Instruction Book

New Zealand artist Richard Robinson will again be joining the Plein Air Convention & Expo; the 2nd annual convention is set for Monterey, California,...

Being a “Color Interaction” Painter

Virginia artist Ron Boehmer builds layers of saturated oil colors to achieve luminosity in both his plein air and studio paintings. He offers a...

Paint the Snow

Californian Kathleen Dunphy has an informative blog in which she offers advice about painting on location. She recently posted some great recommendations for painting...

Recycle Your Laptop as a Plein Air Box

Not sure what to do with that old laptop computer no one can repair or upgrade? Arizona artist Karen McLain came up with a...

Look Closely at the Surface

We begin a new series of close-up details of plein air paintings that can suggest ways of handling oils, watercolors, pastels, and other media...

Keeping Bright Colors in Check

Kyle Buckland recently painted along Beaver Dam Creek in the Backbone Rock National Forest in Tennessee and had to adjust his usual bright palette...

Painting a 10-Foot-Wide Triptych on Location

Heinley Fine Arts in Taos, New Mexico, recently unveiled a 30 x 120-inch triptych titled "In Memoriam" that Jivan Lee created on location in...

“Throwing Gouache Around” on Location

Gary Geraths refers to his technique of using gouache -- or opaque watercolor -- as "throwing it around." In part that's because gouache can...

What Is Learned on the Road?

Jeff Markowsky spent about three months on the road, painting America and attending the Plein Air Convention & Expo. Here's what it did for...

What Art Can Do for Johns Hopkins Scholars

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore enjoys a sterling reputation as a research university. But the institution has learned to value artistic expression as well. ...

Composition and Cropping, as Easy as (Pizza) Pie

Ever find that the composition seems right and ready in your viewfinder, but during the painting session, that original vision goes askew? Grab a...

Suggesting Detail in 75 Minutes, Step by Step

Brazilian painter Marcelo Romani Borges de Araujo agreed to share with our readers some photos of a painting in its various stages, and a...

Using Black and Red to Work on Greens

Brian Brigham was not satisfied with the darks in his plein air pastels, so he took a novel approach: He worked on a black...

Getting Just a Bit More Height

Do you keep bed risers in your car? Evidently, plein air warrior Williamson Tapia does.  Tapia was competing in the Sedona...