A French expression meaning "open air"(and used colloquially by the French for camping and outdoor sports) that refers to creating a work of art outside. The practice became popular in the mid 19th century, when manufactured paint and collapsible easels allowed French artists to more easily paint outdoors. Challenges include equipment failures, animals, bugs, onlookers, and environmental conditions such as wind and changing sun. But a work painted from life will contain more truth than one created from a photograph, and that's why I'm drawn to it. The following works are created entirely en plein air.
A landscape is, in my opinion, similar to a portrait, in that it shows a piece of the earth which is home to someone. The exterior world we inhabit say something about us, just as our exterior faces and bodies do. I often wonder, as I paint, who this landscape is 'home' to.