Plein Air is Anti-Bling

April 8, 2008

When I think of Bling I think of a Cadillac Escalade with platinum rims that spin backwards, big gold charms dangling from golden rope chains, flat billed Yankees caps,  bulky watches and large diamond earrings.  It’s gaudy, flashy, big and heavy.  It’s Elvis in Fubu.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  Bling is popular and fun for those who are into it.

 

Plein Air painting ain’t exactly like bling.  It is Anti-Bling.  Plein Air is a cool ride, an old Bug, a Ford Pick-up.  It’s a paint splattered tee shirt, jeans, straw hat, hiking boots and small back pack with all your stuff.  The only think dangling from a plein air artist’s neck is an ipod nano.  Plein Air is simple yet extraordinary.  The scenery is free but the experience is priceless.  It’s small scale yet as big as the great outdoors.  Plein Air painting is Jack Johnson in Performance Fishing Gear.  To do it you gotta love it.

 

The reality is that plein air is at the core of all great modern landscape painting.  It is the “now,” generation’s artistic legacy.  Ask any accomplished painter and they will tell you that the foundation of their success is “painting from life”.  We plein air painters know it’s the only way to study.

 

Rooted in a family upbringing that included fishing on Lake Erie, drawing and painting with my father I have grown to prefer the simple things and find extraordinary beauty in ordinary places.  That’s why I love plein air painting.  It ain’t flashy.  It’s simple, peaceful and beautiful.  And I present it to you in my field studies on the Plein Air page of my online galleries. 

 

Thanks,

robertjsimone.com

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