In plein view

Jose J. Santos

PAINT THE BACK BAY

This week, artists from all over Southern California will set up

their easels in the Back Bay and try to capture the natural

surroundings with quick measured brush strokes.

The Paint the Back Bay event begins today and concludes next

weekend with a public exhibition of the work created throughout the

week The public is invited to check out the 81 artists create in the

outdoor setting all week long.

The exhibition at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center will

be free, and artwork from 59 of the artists will be for sale. A

student exhibition will also be held.

There will also be a Many Moods of the Back Bay gala on Friday,

celebrating the work created. The gala at the interpretive center

will feature dinner, art and music. A limited number of tickets are

available for $95.

The events are co-sponsored by the Southern California Plein Air

Painters Assn. and the Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends, a

volunteer organization that provides preservation and education about

the wetlands. All proceeds from the gala and 30% of the receipts

collected from the art sale will benefit the Back Bay preservation

program.

SCHEDULE

* Paint the Back Bay event

WHEN: Today to Friday, every day until sunset

* Many Moods of the Back Bay gala

WHEN: Friday, from 6 to 9 p.m.

* Fine Art and Student Art Exhibition

WHEN: Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 28, from

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

All events will take place at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive

Center, 2301 University Drive, Newport Beach. For more information

and to purchase gala tickets, call (949) 923-2269.

PLEIN BEGINNINGS

The simple act of walking outside spawned an art movement.

Plein air is a much-practiced art discipline in Southern

California. The artists who will set up easels to paint the Back Bay

this week are following a tradition that began in France, said Jean

Stern, executive director of the Irvine Museum.

Stern will jury the painting competition at the end of the Paint

the Back Bay event and is an authority on California impressionism,

the academic name given to plein air painting in the state.

But what exactly is plein air painting? Stern offers some history:

‘Open air’

Plein air is a French phrase that means “open air.” Plein air

painters paint the outdoors, an act that was considered very

revolutionary when the painters of the Barbizon school first did it

in the mid-1800s. Artists had been confined to the studio for

hundreds of years because paint was kept in pots that needed to be

hot, Stern said. With the advent of modern paint tubes, artists were

able to take it to the streets.

“If you’re trying to catch beautiful natural light, it’s better to

be in that light,” Stern said. Painters began trying to capture life

as it was happening. Successful plein air art captures the feeling of

natural light, Stern said.

Big time

The Barbizon painters were the first, but Monet and the French

impressionists made plein air art famous in the late 1800s. The

movement made its way to California in the 1890s. For 20 years, the

movement flourished primarily in Laguna Beach with the advent of the

California Art Club.

“The artists were trying to record a vanishing Eden in

California,” Stern said.

Early plein air artists not only provided beautiful landscape

paintings but also a historical record of what the land looked like

before it was developed.

Fighting the clock

Plein air painters need to control the tools of their craft, Stern

said. Because they only have a small window of time, they need to

capture color correctly the first time it is applied to the canvas.

“The painters need to be very good with color, and quick with

design and composition,” Stern said. “That takes years to develop.”

Today’s artists are meeting the same challenges of 100 years ago,

he said.

“Nature is the teacher. The model is in front of your eyes,” Stern

said. “The artists are pretty well wedded to the idea that they are

going to paint what they see.”

Mass appeal

There is a great universal appeal to the outdoor paintings because

its subject is something everyone can identify with: nature. The

California plein air artists look to the nature around them and then

turn it into art. The viewer can then realize that the ordinary world

around them is the inspiration for that art.

This is a lesson children can benefit from especially, Stern said.

“There is a very high psychic and spiritual value to learn to see

beauty around us,” he said.

READY FOR ACTION

The Back Bay is special to artist Anita E. Plummer.

The place was the setting of her first date with her husband, and

continues to be one of the inspirations for her work.

Plummer is one of 81 artists participating in the Paint the Back

Bay event this week. She will be there today through Friday trying to

find that perfect moment to capture on her canvas.

“I love the challenge,” the lifelong artist said. “I love the

physical activity of moving equipment.”

Plummer shared the basics of painting in the outdoors:

Tools of the artist

Plummer has to be mobile when she’s painting, but there’s still a

lot of tools she has at her disposal. She has four different easels,

all of them basically a box sitting on top of a tripod. She also

carries her tubes of paint, a palette, six or seven brushes, paint

thinner, a brush washer, paper towels, a hat and umbrella to provide

shade, her camera and bug spray.

Basic colors

“I have done a basic painting with just seven tubes of paint,”

Plummer said. When she is working with basic colors, she uses a

green, red, blue, white, black and two shades of yellow. From those

colors, she is able to generate the subtle shades the natural

environment contains.

Plummer considers herself a colorist, an artist who is good at

accurately capturing hues and natural shades. Even though she

occasionally limits her palette, she prefers to work with lots of

colors.

Setting the scene

Plummer usually works in one of three canvas sizes. Good

composition is important to her painting.

“Traditionally, a setting would have atmosphere,” Plummer said.

The artist will try to set up her painting with a background (the

mountains or an ocean horizon), a middle ground (in the Back Bay,

this would be pools of water) and a subject in the foreground (rocks

or plant life).

“It’s important to be comfortable and work with shade on your

palette and your painting surface,” Plummer said.

Working quickly

Plummer will take about two hours to do a painting. She said she

follows a rhythm of painting, wiping her brush and then painting some

more.

Part of the challenge of this type of painting is its

unpredictable nature. Plummer has faced many obstacles when painting

outdoors: strong winds, rocky terrain, rain and even a beehive.

“You take those challenges, and you go with them,” Plummer said.

Pure joy

Plein air painting is very addicting, Plummer said. There is a joy

she gets from finishing a painting that lets her know she was meant

to be an artist, she said.

She has her sketchbook with her always and is always exploring

ideas for what her next painting will be. She’s up early in the

morning and will work until the sunlight fades in the evening.

“I don’t want to waste a day,” she said.