Live Panel: Why Every Artist Should Paint En Plein Air

Oil | Pastel

My work has always been driven by three visual imperatives: the inherent abstraction within nature, pattern, and unified light.

A painting can reach a viewer in different parts of their mind. One part responds to things we can name like houses, trees, clouds, and the narrative itself. Another part responds to aesthetics such as color, shape, or movement. This is the part of the mind I want to reach. I consider a picture most successful when the viewer is struck by these aesthetics before they recognize the actual subject.

Color harmony is a core instinct for me. The landscape, with its atmosphere and unified light, is an ideal subject with which to pursue this interest. If I cannot make all the colors in the painting feel as if they are bound together through a  unifying color of light, then I will not consider the painting entirely successful. In my work, this cohesiveness often is often achieved with a very limited palette.  Each of my paintings also has a distinct color chord, which is meant to capture a  particular color of light or time of day.

In my current work, the Azure and Asphalt and Rooftops series, I bring my interest in unified light and pattern to the urban landscape. These works explore the abstract patterns formed by reflected light on the streets and rooftops at sunset. In these works I strike a delicate balance between simplification and detail: I have to include enough visual cues to make it clear to the viewer that it is an urban landscape, but few enough that it doesn’t distract from my primary interest, which are the abstract patterns and the light.

Click Here to learn more about Mitchell

Oil | Acrylic | Gouache

No matter where I go, I find beauty in the light and its shifting, shimmering spectrum of colors. A strong believer in finding joy in the little things in life, I seek to capture and share the moments that give me the most happiness, that evoke the rawest of uplifting emotions human nature has to offer. Manifesting these twinkles of delight in a contemporary impressionistic painting style is my way to bring attention to the beauty found everywhere in our immediate surroundings, seen by those who slow down to look and notice.I find inspiration for my next painting not necessarily in an object considered beautiful in the conventional sense: My desire to paint is mostly ignited by watching the effects of light. Illuminating something in all its brilliance through luminous colors and interesting designs, light has the power to elevate an object from the mundane to the exquisite. How light influences color, the mood, and the energy of a scene has been a source of endless fascination for me.

Expressing my joie de vivre through loose brushstrokes in combination with a well thought-through design and vibrant color choices translate into a painting that resonates not only with me as artist but also with the viewers, offering them a view of things that might otherwise have gone unnoticed and connecting them to feelings possibly forgotten.

Click Here to learn more about Manon

Oil | Acrylic | Pastel | Graphite

Ned received a scholarship to study at the prestigious Art Center School of Design Los Angeles, and continuously worked at honing his craft, while making a living and raising his family. Because he could draw so well, Art Center he was asked to teach a drawing class of some of the best High School students in the Los Angeles area and substituted for faculty Instructors when they could not make a class. All the Instructors at Art Center School of Design were working professionals and students were held to a very high standard or were required to leave.

Working to develop his career, he was hired as an Illustrator, Courtroom Artist, Advertising Story Board Artist, Architectural Drawings and Renderings, Cartooning, Concept work for Disney, Book, and Magazine illustrations. He has exhibited in most of the Major Traditional/Impressionistic Shows in the country, has been in numerous Museum shows and has had three major exhibitions at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle is one of the few Artists invited to do a demonstration and workshop through at the Seattle Art Museum. His hard work, determination, and commitment to his craft, has resulted in a long and Award-winning Art Career producing a prolific and wide array of work in many different media, quickly establishing himself as a highly skilled Fine Artist and teacher.