What is plein air painting?

Few people wrote me personal messages with questions about plein air, so I decided to put answers to all of you.

I usually spend about 2 to 3 hours on a small plein air painting. (And if you’re wondering—what is plein air painting?—it just means painting outdoors, right there on the spot. You’re out in nature, in the city, wherever, painting what you actually see in front of you. It’s raw, challenging, and super rewarding. You’re racing the light, dealing with weather, bugs, wind—but that’s part of the magic.) Sometimes I’ll take a painting back to the studio to do a bit of fine-tuning—adjusting values, fixing edges, or adding a few details—but most of the work is done on location.

If you want to get good, you have to practice—a lot. With each painting, try to fix something you messed up the last time. Be honest with yourself and always look for ways to improve. Focus on drawing. Draw well. Really well. Understand how to break things down into 2D shapes, but also how to turn those shapes into believable 3D forms. Learn perspective. It's not optional—it’s the backbone of good painting.

Keep your palette simple. Seriously. You don’t need every color in the art store. Stick to white, a warm and cool yellow, a warm and cool red, and a warm and cool blue—or even just white, yellow, red, and blue. Master those. You’ll learn way more about color by mixing it yourself than by relying on pre-made tones.

Start small. Paint 6x8s, 8x10s, quick studies. You need mileage more than masterpieces. Quantity leads to quality.

Finish your paintings. Even if you hate them halfway through. Even if it takes you weeks or months to polish them up in the studio. Finishing teaches you more than quitting. It forces you to solve problems and think about the entire painting as a whole.

Forget photos for a while. They lie. They flatten everything and kill subtle value shifts. Instead, look at painters from art history. Study their work. Copy it. Reverse-engineer it. See how they handled light, edges, brushwork, and color. Learn from people who spent a lifetime figuring this stuff out.

And since plein air is its own beast, here are a few more specific tips:

• Scout locations ahead of time. Good lighting doesn't last long, so it's worth knowing where you want to be when it hits.

• Simplify the scene. Don’t try to paint every leaf or window—squint, reduce, and capture the big shapes and values first.

• Work fast and decisive. The light changes constantly. Make bold decisions and adjust on the fly.

• Use a viewfinder. It helps you frame your composition and ignore visual clutter.

• Bring the right gear. Lightweight easel, a limited palette, paper towels, bug spray, sun hat, and clips for wind. Don’t overpack.

• Know the weather. Clouds, wind, and light can shift fast. Be ready for it—and flexible.

• Take notes. Write down what you were trying to capture—color, mood, time of day. It’ll help if you develop the piece later.

• Don’t chase the light. Lock in your lighting scheme early and stick with it, even if the scene changes while you're painting.

• Have fun. It’s not about making a masterpiece every time—it’s about learning to see and becoming a better painter, one brushstroke at a time.