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Get Out and PAINT!
If you hang around art aficionados much, you will probably hear the words “plein air” bandied about. The term, from the French “en plein air,” simply means “outdoors.” But what does it mean in an artistic sense?
A little history is in order. Until the early part of the 19th century, artists made their own paints from raw pigments rather than nipping down to the art supply store for a tube of cobalt blue or mosaic gold, which made painting anywhere but a studio difficult. However, after paint in tubes became available, artists were free to paint where they liked, and they really liked painting outside. The Impressionists were especially fond of heading out into a field or to a pond to commune with their muse.
“Plein air [painting] is fun because it gets you outdoors,” Doug Clark said. Clark is a local artist who started a popular plein air group here in North Texas called PAINT, an acronym for “Plein Air in North Texas.”
Doug Clark painting en plein air
Clark, who is both a sculptor and a painter, specializes in wildlife art, something that goes hand in hand with plein air. “I’ve always loved camping and fishing and just being outdoors,” Clark said. “To me, plein air adds to the enjoyment of painting and being outdoors. I’m able to enjoy nature while I’m painting, and I love that.”
Anyone is welcome to join PAINT on their jaunts into nature, regardless of age or artistic ability. The group paints in picturesque locations around the area, such as Benbrook Lake, city parks, and the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.
“We have members ranging in age from the 40s through the 80s,” Clark said. “Some are retired. Some still work. Some are professional artists, while others just like to paint for themselves. A lot of the artists use oil paints, but some use watercolors or sketch. We even have some who use acrylics outdoors.”
“There really are no rules. We just go out and have a good time.”
Usually, after a painting session, the group will either go somewhere for breakfast or brunch, or Clark will invite them over to his house for what he calls Show and Tell.
“What I find interesting is that when we go out as a group, we’re all looking at basically the same thing,” Clark said. “But at Show and Tell, you’ll have 15 very different paintings with different lighting and moods, even though we all saw the same thing.”
An artist from an early age (“I was always getting in trouble for doodling in class”), Clark went to TCU, where he studied English and history, “so I could go to law school.” After the first week of law school, Clark decided that practicing law was not for him and became a teacher. He first taught third-grade ESL before his principal offered him the position of art teacher. While he taught children about art, he started exploring his own talent.
“My father was a painter,” Clark said. “Not full-time – he was a systems analyst – but he would sell his work. But being an artist was never anything my parents encouraged me to do.”
After the COVID pandemic, Clark had enough of teaching and started creating art full-time.
“Doug is an important person in a lot of lives,” said Trish Wise, a local artist whose work is seen in every issue of Madeworthy in Fresh Family Recipes. “He not only gets us together [for plein air sessions], which always attract plenty of attention, but he invites us back to his home for amazing meals and camaraderie.”
Trish Wise, Madeworthy illustrator and en plein air enthusiast
“A lot of time, you’re not around people as an artist,” Clark said. “You’re working in a studio. Studio work is a solo activity. Plein air is a social activity; you’re not only inspired by nature, you’re inspired by the people around you.”
“Winston Churchill was a painter,” Clark continued. “He said that what he liked most about painting was that when he was painting, painting was the only thing he thought about. Even during World War Two, he would paint to take his mind off the war.”
So, if you’re out and about and see a group of people painting, there’s a good chance it could be PAINT. Go over and say hi. You could even join them.
And be sure to incorporate the phrase “plein air” into your conversations about art.
