"Plein air" painting in action.--PHOTO COURTESY ESPLANADE ARTS 7 HERITAGE CENTRE
There is something magical about the evening light in the transitional days leading up to fall. The way that the sun hangs low, the shadows stretching long across the grass, the way warm and cool colours combine and blend together. Artists have long gathered outdoors to capture these passing moments together, finding inspiration not only in the landscape but also in one another’s perspectives.
It’s no surprise that artists love the challenge of truly capturing the essence of this season through ink and brushstrokes on paper, and we thought we’d try our hand at it too. The tradition of “plein air” painting, French for “in the open air,” is the practice of creating a finished painting outdoors directly from life, to capture the effects of natural light and atmosphere. Inspired by this timeless pursuit, we brought that experience to our community in our newest program offering, Painting in the Park. Throughout the month of September, participants were given the opportunity to explore creating art while experiencing all the sights, sounds and sensations of the outdoors.
Set in picturesque Kin Coulee, local artist and instructor Ruth Adams guided participants through a series of plein air sessions. An important component of this process is training the artist’s eye to truly see. This exercise helps to develop observation skills – to notice how light, colour and atmosphere shift with the setting sun, how grass and plants blow in the breeze, and how water ripples down the stream. Using viewfinders, students mapped out their composition before starting with expressive outdoor sketches. These sketches strengthen observation and interpretation skills of artists before creating finished watercolour works inspired by the beauty of the coulees, streams and grasses they are working from.
One of challenges of the plein air painting process is the necessity to work quickly to capture fleeting light. Racing dusk encourages artists into a more spontaneous approach, often resulting in looser mark-making and breaking perfectionist tendencies. After recording everyone’s preferred composition in sketches, students were encouraged to work in watercolour to begin to shape and build the forms they were actively viewing. Colour-mixing using primary colours and the white of the watercolour page is a skill to hone – adjusting hues and shades utilizing only red, blue and yellow.
Working in a shared learning environment offered valuable opportunities for reflection and feedback, from both the instructor as well as other participants. Being able to connect and see how peers interpret the same scene in different ways helped to broaden and inform their own approach. Group participation strengthened technique through feedback, discussion and sharing techniques with one another.
As the sessions ended and the light faded over coulees, participants walked away with more than finished paintings. They left with new skills, a stronger sense of observation, and an appreciation for the landscape around them. Painting in the Park offered a chance to slow down, connect with nature, and learn alongside others – reminding us that creativity grows through both practice and shared experience.
We hope to offer this again in 2026. Visit esplanade.ca for future details.
Dayna Walls is education co-ordinator at the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre
