The Moment Everything Clicked

Plein Air Painting Today > Be inspired by this “Artist to Watch” feature on Alina Lindquist, an artist based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, art history, and art, and is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Through painting, her work explores the deserts of North America with a focus on the Mojave and Great Basin deserts, and telling stories of conservation efforts. Recent areas of interest include dark skies, light pollution, and birds.

Lindquist’s practice starts en plein air, using direct experience as a gateway to understanding the natural world. She works with oil and gouache, and from on-site studies develops paintings into larger works.

Artist to Watch: Alina Lindquist

Why I paint outside: Time in nature is healing; it quiets the mind and rejuvenates the soul. If we stay present, the land always has something to teach us.

What catches my eye: I’m interested in how a painting can tell a story about a place — often through textures, like the bark of a Joshua tree. Sometimes I take a mindful stroll just to scout ideas for future paintings. Typically, those ideas build over multiple visits.

Aha moment: On the last day of a week-long gouache workshop with Phyllis Shafer, everything finally “clicked.” I’d been frustrated by the fussy medium, but by learning how to maximize both its opaque and transparent qualities, I got the best of both worlds.

Epic plein air fail: During an artist residency at Great Basin National Park, I tripped while unloading a day’s worth of work and planted my hand right in the middle of a fresh oil painting. Luckily, I could repair it — but my palm was literally covered in the scene!

Biggest Influences: Historically, Maynard Dixon and Georgia O’Keeffe. More recently, Phyllis Shafer taught me the fundamentals of plein air — from a comfortable, efficient setup, to color, value, and composition.

What I want viewers to feel: A connection to the land. I hope to spark curiosity about the places I paint and encourage people to explore and enjoy public lands. In our busy world, it’s important to pause, breathe, and appreciate nature.

Advice I wish I’d had earlier: Just keep painting. In the beginning, most plein air works will feel like failures — but each one teaches you something. Embrace the bad paintings; the ability to learn from your mistakes makes them just as valuable as the good ones.

Plan B career: Being a backup dancer for Lady Gaga would be fun! But seriously, one of my undergraduate degrees was in anthropology, and I could easily see myself pursuing research in ethnobotany, a sub-discipline within that field.

Website: alinalindquist.com

The editorial above is part of a series that spotlights the work of an accomplished plein air artist featured in PleinAir magazine.

Published bi-monthly, PleinAir magazine is focused on landscape paintings by historical and contemporary artists, art collections, events, and the process of creating plein air paintings. Beautifully designed with rich reproductions on high-quality paper, PleinAir features the top artists and artworks from around the world. Start your subscription here.

Story prepared for the web by Cherie Dawn Haas, Editor of Plein Air Today