What is Plein Air Drawing?

One of the categories of work offered through the 2023 Holiday Sale is what I call Plein Air Drawings.

In my Plein Air Drawings, I combine acrylic paint marker, marker, colored pencil, graphite, watercolor and other media to draw optical plein air landscapes.  I do not use photos or any reference - they are made entirely on-site, within the changing light.

I first started experimenting with Plein Air Drawing in 2020, on assignment for the Lakeside School Magazine in Seattle, creating original artwork for print and online publication.  The project was to visit the campus during covid, as students were not studying on the grounds in fall of 2020, yet the day was glorious, a perfect fall day, a school day, at an empty school.

I was using colored pencil, graphite, marker, all on colored paper, seeing the effects, and experimenting with a new media for me, acrylic paint markers - basically acrylic paint dispensed from a thick tipped-marker, rather than a brush.  One of my art professors at Dartmouth College had gifted me the acrylic paint markers and some other supplies as a thank-you gift for assisting summer of 2020 with a virtual Drawing One class, dialing in to teach over zoom from Seattle.  I am grateful to Professor Sunny Park for introducing me to the Posca paint markers, a media I likely never would have discovered on my own.

It’s very fun for me to do these Plein Air Drawings.  Each one is different.  I select paper color based on what I see, or what I have at hand.  I have no set process of laying in various layers and shapes of opaque (paint markers) or transparent (markers, watercolor, graphite) media, but continually experiment, bringing out the light I see through a combination of techniques, marks, lines, washes.  The process feels very “low stakes” - the optical effects of oil or watercolor, but simulated / approximated through drawing, not painting.  Drawing was and always will be my first love in art.  This kind of work lets me explore plein air landscape and other subjects through my passion for drawing.

As always, feel free to reply to this email or reach out to david@DavidOSmithArtist.com with anything you’d like.

Cheers,

David