In July, my sister Jan flew from Boston to Green Bay to
attend a plein air workshop with me. There are more insights and benefits from
that workshop than I can begin to list here; suffice it to say the end result of
the three day workshop is this blog.
Jan and I have been artistic souls our whole lives. She was the talented older sister I followed into AP Art classes in high school. I can still hear Mr. Milan’s thick Boston accent on the first day in his studio class Sophomore year, “Mr. Lahhson, I hope you’re half as talented as your sistah!” We both took art classes in college, she getting a degree in English with an Art minor and me a degree in Art Education. She’s been the more faithful artist in the intervening years becoming an accomplished portrait artist in oils and she also worked with pastel landscapes. An art teacher surplus meant I couldn’t find a teaching job so I took another job, and drifted away from art. I would paint a canvas a year, sometime not even that, as other interests and parenthood sent me in opposite directions. I admired Jan’s artwork online and we’d talk about it when we visited, but there was nothing inspiring me the way her portrait work and her studio inspired Jan. That is, until I found myself in Door County WI the week of the Plein Air Festival in 2012. Watching the plein air artists working solely outdoors, and starting and finishing a painting in 2 hours inspired me. I spent the next two years reading, following a few of the artists and broke out the oil paints. Ouch. The years have not been kind (more on that later). Lastly, my wife Maureen surprised me with a workshop in Door County held by my favorite plein air artist (more on him later too) .
Jan and I have been artistic souls our whole lives. She was the talented older sister I followed into AP Art classes in high school. I can still hear Mr. Milan’s thick Boston accent on the first day in his studio class Sophomore year, “Mr. Lahhson, I hope you’re half as talented as your sistah!” We both took art classes in college, she getting a degree in English with an Art minor and me a degree in Art Education. She’s been the more faithful artist in the intervening years becoming an accomplished portrait artist in oils and she also worked with pastel landscapes. An art teacher surplus meant I couldn’t find a teaching job so I took another job, and drifted away from art. I would paint a canvas a year, sometime not even that, as other interests and parenthood sent me in opposite directions. I admired Jan’s artwork online and we’d talk about it when we visited, but there was nothing inspiring me the way her portrait work and her studio inspired Jan. That is, until I found myself in Door County WI the week of the Plein Air Festival in 2012. Watching the plein air artists working solely outdoors, and starting and finishing a painting in 2 hours inspired me. I spent the next two years reading, following a few of the artists and broke out the oil paints. Ouch. The years have not been kind (more on that later). Lastly, my wife Maureen surprised me with a workshop in Door County held by my favorite plein air artist (more on him later too) .
Jan was in Chicago for a wedding in June and I told her about
the workshop and how excited I was for the opportunity to watch an accomplished
painter work, to ask questions, and to have him critique my painting. Much to my delight, Jan signed up too! We both
learned a lot over the three days, but so much more than if we had attended
alone. Long story short, each day’s insights were made more significant by
talking it over with someone else who not only understands art, but understands
me. Trying new techniques and talking it over with Jan was huge! Answers became
more evident and future direction more clear. So, we decided to inspire, inform, encourage,
and hold each other accountable from afar, using Plein Air Siblinks as our
canvas.
In future posts we will show our most current painting, we’ll explain our thought processes and the reasons behind what we’re working on and our next steps. I have a list a mile long of the ideas I want to try, the articles I want to read, and the paintings I want to paint. Plein Air Siblinks is where I’ll tell Jan, and you, about it all. She’ll be doing the same, and maybe we’ll bring each other a little closer to being better plein air painters.
In future posts we will show our most current painting, we’ll explain our thought processes and the reasons behind what we’re working on and our next steps. I have a list a mile long of the ideas I want to try, the articles I want to read, and the paintings I want to paint. Plein Air Siblinks is where I’ll tell Jan, and you, about it all. She’ll be doing the same, and maybe we’ll bring each other a little closer to being better plein air painters.
Love it Ric!
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