Painting the Feel of Summer

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Summer II 32 x 48” Oil John Hulsey

When I am out painting a landscape in any season, I’m trying to capture not just the light on the subject, but also the temperature of the air around me as I paint. I want my viewers to experience, as much as possible, what I feel when I’m outside. If I’m painting a snow-covered scene in winter, I want the experience to look and feel frosty. If I am painting summer, then I want them to not only see the heat of summer, but also sense that intensity of light and heat pouring down on the somnolent landscape. It is a big challenge and I don’t know any way to achieve it other than painting directly from nature. So how is this done?

I can offer a few pointers here for those plein air painters who would like to try it. My own experiences with painting temperature were not intentional, as such. I was just out in all kinds of weather trying to make paintings. I think what helped a lot was that I was painting almost solely in wa…