You Have to be There

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood
John Singer Sargent

Plein air painting often requires a Herculean effort on the part of the artist.It can’t be taught in a studio. It must be experienced first-hand to be fully appreciated. All the senses and faculties must be fully engaged, especially curiosity. One cannot come to this job with any preconceived notion of what might come of the effort. Nor is it a good idea to develop and apply a particular “technique” suitable for all occasions. Doing that reduces nature to a mundane thing, easily described and dispatched. The world already has a sufficient supply of formulaic plein air look-alikes. What is needed in art is Truth—the personal truth gained from making oneself vulnerable and open to experience. Knowledge gained from sincere effort is invested with the power of that personal experience. The searching for expression and the struggle to make those intimate …