When you paint in the studio, you are in control, the master of your own little universe.
Still life painters tell me they spend hours, sometimes days, arranging and rearranging a tableau to get just the right composition. My husband Jim is working on a large studio painting right now. He’s piecing together photo references and changing light and color to get just what he wants before he puts brush to canvas.
Painting outdoors is the opposite of all that.
When you paint outside, Nature is in control.
Nature has predictable patterns that artists know to watch for. Light changes as the sun moves across the sky. What’s in shadow in the morning is drenched in sunshine by afternoon. The sun rises and sets, and the tide comes in and goes out.
But Nature is also whimsical. Light shifts unexpectedly as clouds move across the sun or storms roll in. Wind rattles your easel so it’s hard to keep a steady hand. A sudden breeze changes a calm lake full of reflections into a rippled one where there are none.
The air gets hot and muggy. Or it’s suddenly chilly. It rains when it wasn’t supposed to. And there are bugs.
Nature does what she wants. And she’s not gonna let you forget it for one little second.
So why do it? Why paint outside when you can be indoors with a thermostat and a warm cup of tea? For me, the answer is easy—I love it. I love the challenge of interpreting what’s in front of me. I love experiencing the thing I’m painting and understanding how it feels to be there. I (mostly) love it when people stop by to chat with me. And what could be better than hanging out on a beautiful beach?
A long time ago, when I was sitting in an office writing legal briefs on procedural issues, I fantasized about a life where I wouldn’t have to stare at a computer all day. Like, what if I was a park ranger? I could be outside and not in a cubicle! It turns out, you can do that with painting too, and you don’t have to learn how to deal with bears.
There are other, more academic reasons to paint outside. Painting from life sharpens your ability to see colors and light. It teaches you to simplify the complexities of nature. It forces you to paint quickly instead of overworking every little detail. It sharpens your design skills because you have to come up with a plan right away and then stick to it, no matter what Nature decides to do.
In short, painting outside helps you become a better painter. Even if your outdoor paintings are just practice sessions that no one will ever see.
Bit by bit, I’m learning to deal with the whims of nature. If I’m painting light and shadow patterns, I make a sketch and block those in quickly, and I remind myself not to change things around just because the light looks different at 11 am than it did at 9. Sometimes I actually listen to my own advice.
I carry insect repellent, sunscreen, and plenty of water. And a hat, and a jacket just in case. I have a bag that I can fill with sand or rocks to weight down my easel if it’s windy.
But there are limits. I won’t paint in a driving rain. Or freezing temperatures, probably, but this is Florida and that doesn’t actually come up. I don’t paint outside after 9:30 am in the summer because I can’t handle the heat, humidity, and thunderstorms that pop up out of nowhere. Sometimes, you have to let Nature win.
