There’s a vital component for any artist to employ as they tackle the complexities of plein air painting: the ability to edit.
I thought my readers would connect the dots and regard editing as a function of design, but through conversations with a few of you, I find that this is not always the case. For those who may not have realized this yet, know that painters are inherently editors; that is the definition of what we do.
No matter how realistic an artist’s approach is, we never include everything in our paintings that we see in front of us.
So, the question then becomes, how much should we include in our landscapes? The answer is: Include as much as you feel necessary to make an artistic statement based on your individual vision as an artist.
Keep in mind, though, that no amount of detail or inclusion of “things” in your paintings is going to make them any better than the most minimalist works out there.
Honestly, you can attempt to put every leaf on a tree, or every single hair on the back of a moose, and it will have zero effect on the quality of your composition. Why is that? Art is more about an artist’s vision and arrangement of physical realities, than those physical realities themselves. If reality was the goal, we wouldn’t need artists, we would all just take a walk in the woods and that would be it.
Thank God for artists! We live a special kind of life, and we create beauty out of nothing so to speak, with many points of view and approaches to our craft. The only thing which remains for us to do, is to become the best versions of ourselves that we can. Constant improvement is always the goal for any serious artist and there has never been a time in the history of the world with more opportunities for artistic improvement than the one we live in right now; take advantage of them. (The Plein Air Convention & Expo, workshops, books, and videos, you name it and it’s there for you!)
May you all become the best version of your plein air painting self!
Until next time,
John
