Autumn Trail

En Plein Air painting by Bev Drew Kindley.

“The  en plein air experience is for me a much richer, more satisfying way of learning about nature while being immersed in the outdoors–even when the weather isn’t ideal or my painting isn’t quite perfect yet either. Sometimes it benefits from finishing in the studio or serves as a beginning for other paintings, but the experience becomes part of what we artists can share with viewers. 

I’ve been enjoying your blog posts–sounds like you have a lot of fun!  Thanks for all you do.  Your energy and ideas are inspiring. New en plein air work will arrive for Fairweather’s October Fall Retreat Art Walk.”    ——Bev

Q:  What is the meaning of en plein air, you ask?

A:  En plein air, a French word, literally translates as ‘open air’, and is defined as painting or drawing outside, in the open air. The equivalent term in Italian would be alfresco. These works were taken directly from nature, and infused with a feeling of the open air.

The term is largely associated with the Impressionist artists of the late 1800s, a time when artists began to paint subject matter not normally seen: real people doing real, everyday things, and they came out of their studios into the open air to create their works. Impressionist artists were particularly interested in the influence of changing light outdoors on color. The popularity of en  plein air painting was aided by the development of easily portable painting equipment and materials, including paints sold in tubes.

Bev Drew Kindley exhibits art about the Oregon landscape.  She has taught painting classes and worked in the art business for quite some time, and works with different medias– oil, gouache, watercolor, pastel and others. At present, painting “en plein air”, a French term, meaning to paint working outdoors in the changing season, and capturing the autumn light within a short time frame because of the immediacy of the experience, as well as, the abundance of visual information along with the possibility of sudden breakthroughs in methods due to improvising. 

All of her recent work begins with the experience of the real location, later finished in the studio, oftentimes with the aid of sketches and photos of the location. The artist has degrees in Art and Philosophy from Portland State University.