Plein Air Drawing definition Plein Air drawing or

Plein Air Drawing

definition • Plein Air drawing or painting refers to the French phrase “en plein air” which mean “out in the open air. ” It simply means doing observation drawings or paintings outside. • The Impressionist painters of the late 1800’s loved the paint outdoors because the light would change and create different scenes.

Claude Monet, French 1840 -1926

• He painted many paintings of the same scene at different times of the day to get different lighting and colors. Haystacks were a favorite of his.

Richard Diebenkorn, American 1922 -1993 • Used shapes of color to help define landscapes often

Gwendolyn Waring • A local Flagstaff artist that also uses the Plein Air style is Gwendolyn Waring. She uses paint and pastel to show local scenes. • http: //www. waringarts. com/home. html

The technique • Find a good viewpoint. Use your viewfinder to help you. Try to fit a foreground, mid ground and background. • Look for ways to draw the objects as shapes of color. • Sketch with pencil first the blocked shapes in a contour drawing • Add pastel or paint to the shapes as solid colors, not details yet. • Add finer details at the end.

Grading • Initial layout of scene using the viewfinder (how you compose the picture)… 10 points • Color blocking… 10 points • Details. . 5 points Total 25 points

Additional info • National Core Arts Standards: 1, 2, 3, 9, 11 • SWBAT use correct tools and techniques to create a successful plein air drawing or painting. • Vocab: plein air, foreground, mid-ground, background, contour drawing