The French term plein air translates to out of doors, referring to the practice of painting finished works of art outside.

This approach is highly aligned with the impressionist movement, which included artist such as Monet, Renoir and Degas. The impressionists worked quickly within the landscape, capturing scenes with bold brush strokes and bright colour. As a result their paintings were an impression of a moment in time, rather than a finely detailed rendition.

The impressionists had a keen interest in colour and light, as do Homeland artists Auda and Cathy Maclean. Auda and Cathy also spend time together exploring the Coolum property drawing en plein air, and taking photos for artworks to complete back in the studio.

We invite you to take some time to explore your surroundings and create an en plein air artwork. Whether you are on a property or in town with a front or back yard, find a scene you’d like to draw or paint and take some time to observe and translate the scene to paper.

Materials:

• Paper (whatever kind you have available at home)
• Pens, pencils, paint, pastels (whatever materials you have available at home)
• A backing board or hard surface to rest your paper

Tips:

• Get comfortable and set yourself up in a nice area to work
• Frame your scene - set the boundaries and consider the composition
• Observe the light - which direction is the light coming from? Where are the shadows and highlights?
• Break down the scene - observe the basic shapes and colours that you can see within the scene
• You might like to pick one or two elements to focus on in more detail
• Have fun!

Share your creations with us by emailing a picture of your work to enquiries@banana.qld.gov.au with your name and the artwork title, we will share these on our social media.

Tag us in your own social media: #bsrag #bsragathome #bananashire

Image: Cathy Maclean The colours of Dawn Creeping Into Gran's Garden 2019, pastel on paper. Image courtesty of the artist.