Jane Lawton
Artist

St. Augustine

I paint en plein air whenever possible, because working on location permits me to record a scene in a way that a camera never could. It isn't because I want to get placement of everything and all the details right. I'm an impressionist. I can move mountains if I want to.

But if I can't paint outside, I'll make reference sketches, either in charcoal or pastel, and take digital photos so I can work from the computer in my studio. I will spend as much time as possible experiencing the scene. I'm going for atmosphere and I need to remember color harmonies. Were the light and shadows warm or cool? Was the air was crisp or sultry?

These techniques can be learned with practice. Living in New Orleans I found that there were only about nine days out of the year that painting outside was possible. And when Katrina blew me into the Hudson River Valley of New York, and snow and ice covered those amazing landscapes for months, my daughter obliged me with drives around the mountain roads. When she heard an "ahhhh" from me, she knew that was her cue to pull over and let me soak in the scene. (I suspect my five-year-old grandson thinks I'm a painter of ahhhs.)

Now that I'm living in the ancient city of St. Augustine on the Florida Intercoastal, the weather is most accommodating for plein air painters. And there are new subjects to get excited about: schooners in full sail -- Spanish colonial courtyards – old houses with walls of coquina shells -- exotic flora and fauna. ahhhh.