Embracing the Elements While Painting in New Zealand

A spotlight on John Crump, who has embraced plein air painting in New Zealand. “After working en plein air for roughly 50 years, I can even ignore bad weather when it comes down to capturing the mood of my subject.”

By John Crump

Over the past few years plein air painting has become more popular in New Zealand. When I began teaching, classes were always indoors, but recently many of my students have wanted to paint on site. Even though they’re not always well prepared, sporting inadequate easels and supplies, they’re still game to give it a try.

I do know of one painting group that organizes themselves to go painting regularly — the Plein Air Painters of New Zealand — but they are the exception. Apart from art club members who prefer to paint indoors, I think most of those who wish to try painting outdoors join small groups of friends who organize themselves, independently of their art club’s timetable.

For my first five or six years of painting, I worked in my studio from sketches and color notes that I had prepared outdoors. I had left my teaching profession to paint full time and had been accepted by a gallery that was owned by a man who had a very good knowledge of painting and only accepted good work.

After some time he pointed out to me that my color schemes had become too repetitive — that my work had a sameness, regardless of the subject. He suggested that I actually paint outside to cure the problem.

He was absolutely right! After a week of struggle, I noticed a definite improvement in my paintings — they had more life, variation, tonal strength, and a greater range of subjects, plus I was enjoying the outdoors way more than the walls of my studio. At that point I knew I would never go back to full-time studio work, the only exceptions being when I was working on still life subjects or when the weather made it impossible to paint outdoors. And now, after working en plein air for roughly 50 years, I can even ignore bad weather when it comes down to capturing the mood of my subject.

For me, the first step in my process is being organized. I keep everything I would ever need in the back of my vehicle. When I’m on location, my intention is always that I will complete the painting in one sitting, usually with between three or four hours of intense concentration. To start, I lay out the subject with a medium-sized brush and very runny paint (thinned with quick-drying medium) and then begin with the darkest areas in the subject. From that point on, I fill the areas according to their tones, working from my darks up to the highlights. I try to minimize detail during this process as it can be added in as finishing touches if necessary. Too much detail can begin to look like fussiness, something I definitely want to avoid.

Occasionally, I do enjoy studio painting — still life, flowers, perhaps even a bird portrait — but my first choice of subject would be the land-scape, especially rugged, dramatic subjects when the light is creating strong contrasts between the highlights and the shadows. It’s exciting to be surrounded by subjects that you may not feel equipped to handle if you’re painting indoors. I think it’s extremely important that we have an emotional response to what we paint. It will still feel challenging, but at least we’ll be painting something that thrills us, not attempting to paint something that has become just a copying exercise.

Connect with the artist at johncrump.co.nz.