Why I Paint Plein Air

Plein air painting is conducted outdoors and ideally in one session.  I plein air painted every Saturday for 15 years with classes taught by Suzanne Kelly Clark, soaking up the light and fresh air of Texas (except for July and August!)  Besides enjoying the outdoors, you see subtle changes in light and shadow within three dimensions which a photo cannot capture. A photo flattens space and is pretty much just light and dark.  Even if I end up finishing the painting in my studio, it is better for being created plein air, looser, fresher, etc.  You really need to be in that landscape and experience the light and colors of that spot to convey that onto the canvas.

(c)Ann McCann, "Golden Moment," 11 X 14 Oil,  2017

Why I Started Painting

When my daughter Hannah was in first grade, about 20 year ago, she showed some talent in art.  However, her school art teacher encouraged her to paint as fast as possible.  He also didn't think that six year olds could learn perspective.  So, she wasn't doing the best that she could. I enrolled her in a local studio that focused on teaching children.  Hannah's art got better quickly, and she soon incorporated perspective in her drawing and painting.  

Hannah's classes looked like fun, and I thought drawing skills would help me create visuals for my presentations as a college professor. So, I enrolled in a drawing course.  We did blind contour drawings of still lifes (couldn't look at our paper) that helped us loosen up and improve our drawing skills.  My drawing teacher said I shouldn't wait until I was good at drawing to start painting.  Well, I hadn't even thought about painting, but I decided to give it a shot.  I went for my first plein air session, and really struggled to paint sailboats on a lake, how big to make them in relation to the horizon, etc.  However, I kept going, taking courses in the evenings and painting on the weekends whenever I could.

I would show you that first painting but I am pretty sure I got rid of it.  Here is a more recent painting of a similar scene.

Celebrating Spring II by Ann McCann 9 X 12 Oil

This is the second painting I did of my February birthday visit to the Dallas Arboretum.  This one has yellow daffodils and blue hyacinths with the orange tulips. This is a companion piece to one I posted on Monday (see below). They would look lovely hung together.

Celebrating Spring I by Ann McCann 9 X 12 Oil

On my February birthday visit to the Dallas Arboretum, I saw these lovely spring blooms- orange tulips, fuchsia hyacinths and blue pansies. The air was scented with the hyacinths and the sun was warm on my back.  I decided I must capture this moment.

Cherry Trees on the Lake by Ann McCann 11 X 14 Oil

I went to the Arboretum on my birthday in February and photographed these beautiful flowering trees on the lake.  Needless to say, I had to paint them.

Oleander Trees in Seville by Ann McCann 16 X 20 Oil

The parks in Seville, Spain were filled with flowering trees when we  visited them last May 2016. Here I painted a walkway of flowering oleander trees.   I loved this scene with the flowering trees against the lovely palm trees.

Pink Peonies by Ann McCann 9 X 12 Oil

I saw the peonies at the grocery store and could not resist them. They are so lush and smell wonderful. I had a beautiful peony bush in my yard in Michigan but they don't grow well here in Texas.   I look at this painting every day in my office.  It makes me smile.

"White Flower Canyon in Big Bend" by Ann McCann 20 X 24 Oil

Here is another image from our December trip to Big Bend.   There were beautiful white flowers blooming all along the Rio Grande with the colorful cliffs in the background.  Hard to believe this was in December.  It was 70 degrees too!

Ann McCann's Paintings Juried into Exhibit at the Corpus Christi Art Center

My two paintings were juried into the Artists of Texas exhibit at the Art Center of Corpus Christi.  This show has a water theme.  The top one is titled "Rio View at Big Bend" (20 X 24") and the bottom one is "Cape Cod Dunes" (5 X 7"). The show is March 15 - April 29, 2017.  https://www.artcentercc.org/upcoming-exhibits/

Oleander and Palms in Sevilla Park by Ann McCann 9 X 12 Oil

I know this looks like a crape myrtle (for you that live in the south), but this is an oleander tree. They grow everywhere in Sevilla, Spain. Even bougainvillea are trained into trees. This was in a large and beautiful park in the center of the city.  Everything was blooming when we were there in May 2016.  You can one of the many cathedrals in the distance.

Morning on the Creek (Turtle Creek) by Ann McCann 9 X 12 Oil

This is a plein air painting that I finished in my studio.  We were painting on the the nearby Turtle Creek park in Dallas, and the air was completely still. It was early spring and trees were blooming.  I tried to capture this still moment.

Chisos Mountains at Dawn by Ann McCann 16 X 20 Oil

We had this view of the Chisos mountains from our porch in Terlingua, 30 miles from Big Bend National Park. The view of the undulating blue mountains at sunrise was so captivating that my husband and daughter started painting too!  The owner of the house we rented was thrilled that her visitors loved the view enough to stay rather than head off to the park!

"Golden Moment" by Ann McCann 11 X 14 Oil

This was a plein air painting I did in the woods around White Rock lake in Dallas.  It was in the morning and the sun brightly hit this group of trees.  I captured it with my knife as quickly as I could!

"Rio Grande View at Big Bend" by Ann McCann 20 X 24 Oil

On Monday, I blogged about the preliminary watercolors I did for this painting.  As promised, here is my final painting of the Rio Grande at Big Bend State Park.  I have entered it for possible inclusion into an Artist of Texas show in Corpus Christi this spring.  Wish me luck!