Painting Demonstrations & Art Tips

Get Intimate with Shallow Depth Paintings en Plein Air

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The relatively shallow space between our eyes and the ground is a haven of interesting textures, colors, and aromas, especially for plein air painters. Bethann Moran-Handzlik explains.

BY BETHANN MORAN-HANDZLIK
(bethannmoran.com)

When my children were young I spent a great deal of time, like so many mothers do, looking down; looking at the sidewalk, the leaves against the grass, the place where the houses meet the earth. By looking down I could see my toddler in my peripheral vision.

I could stoop to reach nearly everything in my visual field; so intimate. A gardener knows this kind of immediacy, kneeling in the earth, digging, harvesting, planting. While painting “Dreaming of Windflowers” I could reach out and trail my hand delicately over the floating blossoms at arm’s length.

"Dreaming of Wildflowers" in progress — “Dreaming of Wildflowers” in progress

Oil painting of wildflowers — Bethann Moran-Handzlik, “Dreaming of Windflowers,” 16 x 20, oil, 2020, private collection

The relatively shallow space between our eyes and the ground is a haven of interesting textures, colors, and aromas. This shallow space doesn’t project us into the future or the past; it is a very present tangible space. It is like sitting with a friend and gently touching them when speaking or catching a whiff of their breath.

That is how I felt painting these roses below. I loved it so much I went back to paint a larger , 28×32-inch version.

Oil painting of roses — Bethann Moran-Handzlik, “Becka’s Roses,” 16 x 20 in., oil, 2020, available from artist

In a shallow depth painting we can account for the scale and proportion in a direct way. The term en plein air, to paint in the “open air,” often suggests the broader landscape; the sweeping vistas that we can only reach with our eyes.

I love to paint the vista; it moves my heart in ways a shallow depth painting cannot. And yet it is the humble shallow spaces that I have been exploring in my plein air work.

Oil painting of dahlias — Bethann Moran-Handzlik, “Last Dahlias on Reed Street,” 18 x 24 in., oil, 2020, available from artist

Some of the spaces are wild and some cultivated. The painting starts inches from where I stand. In the case of “Wild Astor’s at the Elk Farm” (below) I took off my shoes and included them within the scene.

The shallow space stops our eye from traveling further; calling us perpetually back to the moment, the fragrance and the intimate visual feat right before us.