Weathering the Weather

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Dawn in Dubois 7.5 x 9” Watercolor

Plein air painting is fraught with many challenges—weather usually being the biggest. When we travel long distances to paint, all we can do is try to anticipate a variety of temperatures and climate conditions and pack accordingly. My experiences over the last six years teaching at the annual Susan K. Black Foundation workshop in Dubois, Wyoming led me to assume that I could confidently paint outdoors in watercolor under good light for at least a few hours each day, no matter the temperature. The reality this year, however, was quite different.

As we wound our way along the Wind River near the end of our 980-mile car trip to Dubois, the rain began to turn to light snow. Not a good sign, but weather in “the Warm Valley” is extremely changeable in the fall. As the week of workshops got underway, the snow gave way to sun, rain, snow and rain again, interspersed occasionally with a few hours of sun and high winds.…