Plein air oil painting is messy! Oil painting in general requires a good bit of clean up and this is only compounded when you are in a beautiful location with no soap or running water. Add to the equation sunscreen, sweat and bug spray and the situation quickly deteriorates. It would be hard to convince anyone that this is a pleasant activity! But that’s just the start. Besides the general discomfort, there are many other reasons NOT to try plein air oil painting. Here are just ten of them.

1) Time. It is hard enough to carve out time to paint. You probably need at least an hour and a half to really get into it. Now add the time it takes to pack up all your gear and make sure you have everything you need. Can you imagine hiking half an hour only to realize that you forgot your white paint? It happens! Now you have to get to the painting location. Maybe you drive fifteen minutes and then haul your gear another ten minutes on foot. Then you set up. Repeat the process in reverse and you have an extra hour added to your actual painting time.

2) Logistics. Painting is challenging work. Trying to do it in the field only compounds those challenges. You never really have the pallet space that you need. You end up just wiping your brushes when you change color rather than cleaning them properly. You always imagine the perfect brush holder that attaches to your easel but when you’re not painting you forget to see if it exists. You run out of space and search for places to balance your pallet knife and inevitably drop it into the paint!

3) Sun. Overexposure to the sun is painful and unhealthy. In addition, it is almost impossible to paint in direct sunlight. Staring at a canvas in full sun hurts your eyes and makes it hard to see the colors accurately. If part of the canvas is shaded then forget it! I always look for a painting spot that is in the shade of a tree making it that much harder to find a qualified spot (beautiful or interesting subject/composition, compelling light and shade). You can try a sun umbrella but that’s not an option if it’s  at all windy (see below).

4) Wind. Being in the wind for long periods of time is exhausting. When you finally get inside you just collapse on the sofa and say, “ahhh…” Wind will also blow your easel over necessitating extreme measures such as hanging your backpack or a rock from it. Your pallet will also blow away unless you constantly hold on to it or secure it to your easel with C clamps. If you are painting in windy conditions, the use of an umbrella becomes impossible (see above).

5) Rain. I recently tried painting in the rain because I was out with a group and couldn’t avoid the peer pressure. It was an interesting experience but the paint hardly stuck to the wet canvas. Oil and water don’t mix. It ended up looking like a crayon drawing. I have also been out painting on a sunny day only to be soaked by a sudden downpour.

6) Changing light. Many artists are drawn to plein air by tantalizingly beautiful but fleeting light conditions such as the “golden hour” (more like fifteen minutes) just before sunset, the long, cool shadows of early morning or when the sun suddenly penetrates the clouds of an otherwise heavy sky. They end up chasing the light without ever coming close to capturing the beauty that they observe. A photo might help a little but never fully replicates the richness and subtlety of the real world, which is why artists paint outside in the first place.

7) Hearing the same comments. Unlike most artists, I actually enjoy talking to people while I paint as long as they don’t expect me to look at them. I appreciate the sincere comments like, “it’s such a blessing to have an artist painting here,” or even the simple and perennial, “looking great!” But you have to be ready to hear variations of the same automated remark that passersby feel compelled to say to every artist they ever pass by. It might be along the lines of, “I have a cousin who can paint amazing horses but I myself have no talent for art and can’t draw a straight line.” You may even get more pejorative remarks like, “Wow! Are you in a class?” or “Look Timmy! She’s painting just like you do.” as recorded by one of my favorite plein air artists, Heather Ihn Martin from this cartoon.

8) Bugs. Not only are there nasty spiders, ants and biting bugs out there (I sometimes come home with itchy hives that take days to go away) but there are also vulnerable innocents who fly into your painting, tragically perish and need to be picked out. Or they may wander around your pallet, their delicate appendages getting more and more gunked up until you know that they will never again be able to lead normal lives.

9) Lack of prestige. Some plein air painters travel to paint offs, whip out beautifully composed, finished, one-session paintings and win prizes time after time. Others, not so much. I was also informed that the “art world” doesn’t necessarily take plein air painters seriously. According to Lupe Galván (an amazing artist who requires many outdoor sessions to finish a painting) plein air is thought of more as a hobby pursuit (along the lines of pickleball) rather than a real art form.

10) Addiction. You may become addicted in which case you will have to deal with the above on a regular basis. Some people find that once they try plein air oil painting they can’t stop. They may not always love doing it but when they don’t do it they feel frustrated and grumpy. They are unpleasant to be around and nothing else in their lives goes smoothly until they start painting outdoors again.