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Weather! That ugly word that most midwesterners know too well. It can ruin a good day of painting or worse an almost finished piece! It can chase the most hardy of us back into the comfort of our studios! Rain and wind are the most notorious culprits. I have had more than one French easel blow down a cliff or a canvas go flying as if it was attached to a kite string. The stories I could tell would fill books...but! Persevere, don't give up yet! The reward is worth the effort .
Last January I was visiting my home state of Ohio and went out midday in 19F degree weather and did a small plein air of a creek scene where I played as a child 45 years ago. Though I was wearing two pairs of socks and pants, multiple shirts and jackets with a thick pair of gloves, my time spent was great and the result was a small memory captured in oil.
Yes, the studio is great...everything is at your fingertips including the thermostat. But there is a quality in plein air paintings that doesn't exist in studio work. I look at a photograph of Paul Cezanne walking with all his painting equipment on his back and I cheer him!
My vision of heaven is to be painting along a magnificent cliff that's holding back the big blue ocean. Then as I survey the coastline I will see all the great plein air painters of all time there doing what they love most, painting!
