A FREE Plein Air Painting Handout

This is about a FREE Plein Air Painting Handout by Michael Chesley Johnson - a very experienced American plein air painter and instructor in oils and soft pastels of repute.

His CV is impressive - see below to check out the credentials of the chap who is providing this handout for free.

He says 

This is the handout I give to my all-level plein air painting workshops. Although it covers only oil and pastel, the methods and information apply to all media. (Watercolor is a bit different, though!)

I'm not going to include the link to it here - however I will include 

• the link to the page that the handout is on - on his website
• the link to his Substack - which also includes a link which takes you to the website link above!

Content of the Plein Air Painting Handout

The headings and subheadings are:

MATERIALS

• Pastel: Basic materials and Procedures
• Oils: Basic materials and Procedures
• Note for acrylic painters

You’d think that, over 25 years, the handout would need updating, but I’ve found “how to paint” consists of some basic principles that, like the laws of phyics, don’t change. The only thing that might change are some of the products listed (which I have updated for this release.)

PLEIN AIR METHODS, TECHNIQUES & TIPS

• Purpose in Plein Air
• Principals to Capturing the Landscape Quickly & Accurately
• How to Paint - Not Draw
• Plein Air Tips (which are excellent! KT)
• Different Approaches to Interpreting Landscape Values
• Dominance & Contrasting Pairs
• Finding Color Harmony
• Color Harmonies
• To Match Any Color
• About Black
• Useful Resources for the Plein Air Painter

You can find his handout here

Paintings in the South West Gallery on Michael Chesley Johnson's website
- the application of media and techniques to landscape
Note how they all "read" really well even in a thumbnail version

About Michael Chesley Johnson AIS PAPNM

I'm going to use the words from his "about" page and will add a few bullet points and a few extra words!

Basically he is an all round "good guy" in terms of being a plein air painter and helping others to become one too - through a variety of channels.

What does he do?

• He paints primarily outdoors in oil, pastel or gouache, choosing locations from the American Southwest, Downeast Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. 
• He has been invited repeatedly to national plein air events:
• most recently was on the distinguished faculty of the annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in Denver, Colorado.
• He delivers plein air painting workshops across the U.S. 
• He is a frequent writer for 
• The Artist’s Magazine, 
• Pastel Journal, 
• Watercolor Artist and 
• PleinAir Magazine, 
• He is also the author of several books, including Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air.

Recognition and Awards

• Awarded Master Pastellist status by Pastel Artists Canada in 2008
• Signature Member of 
• the American Impressionist Society and 
• Plein Air Painters of New Mexico 
• plus a past signature member of several national organizations. (Read here to learn why I let these memberships lapse.) 
• Featured in The Artist’s Magazine in September 2013.
• His paintings 
• have appeared in many magazines 
• are in both corporate and private collections. 

Website:    https://www.mchesleyjohnson.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mchesleyjohnsonstudio

Substack:  https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/ 

• you can subscribe on this page https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/about

Making A Mark still in Top 10 Art Blogs

I recently found out that Making A Mark is still in the top 10 of a list of art blogs from all over the world

Specifically they are #5 in the 60 Best UK Art Blogs and#10 in the 100 Top Art Blogs according to Feedspot. 

Not quite sure how they work out the rankings either and not quite sure how this happened but I'm happy that it did. 

Although I was #5 in the Vuelio's Art Blogs UK Top 10 in 2022

60 Best UK Art Blogs - according to Feedspot

The best UK Art blogs curated and ranked based on multiple factors, including content relevancy, subject expertise, posting frequency, and freshness of content. Blogs with highest credibility within the UK Art space are ranked higher. This list is updated regularly to ensure it reflects the most active, influential, and valuable UK Art blogs on the internet today.

In the 60 Best UK Art Blogs to Follow in 2026, Making A Mark ranks 5th!

5. Making a Mark

+ Follow Blog
Description A top art blog for artists and art lovers: news about major art competitions and exhibitions, interviews with artists, techniques and tips for art and business
Email ****@gmail.com
Location London, England, United Kingdom
Facebook 12.5KTwitter 3K Domain Authority 46

100 Best Art Blogs- according to Feedspot

The same principles apply in relation to how different sites rank within the 100 Best Art Blogs to Follow in 2026 - where Making A Mark is ranked 10th.

10. Making a Mark 

+ Follow Blog
Description A top art blog for artists and art lovers: news about major art competitions and exhibitions, interviews with artists, techniques and tips for art and business
Email ****@gmail.com
Facebook 12.5KTwitter 3K Domain Authority 46

This is despite a reduced level of posting in recent times due to the facts that:

• I got to 70 and decided if I was ever to retire I needed to make more time for me. This is despite the fact I took early retirement (knowing that severe osteoarthritis was a racing certainty for me) back in 2005 and started this blog a few months later
• I now need to walk a decent amount every single day to stop me from seizing up. I average between 5,000-6,000 steps
• Periodically I have to get ready for and recover from surgery. Like I said I always knew osteoarthritis was in my future. I didn't quite factor in the time needed for surgery!
• Not to mention other health hiccups. I was told I need an urgent MRI this morning! They're going to see if they can fit it in before surgery next month.

Although I do fewer posts now I do seem to get better audiences for the ones I do.

For the record, other art blogs "from the old days" also ranked as follows in all Art Blogs

1. Artsy

3. ARTnews

13. Artwork Archive Blog

14. Jackson's Art Blog

16. Artnet

23. Lines and Colors

24. Parka Blogs

26. Gurney Journey

38. Art Biz Blog

39. Art Marketing News Blog

40. Xanadu Gallery - Red Dot Blog

41. Artsy Shark

Note: I do find these inventories of blogs to be very useful. If you look at the Feedspot Instagram, you can see all the other categories which are ranked.

Landscape Artist of the Year: A Celebrity Twist!

The Sky Arts website recently announced innovations for the next round of Landscape Artist of the Year.

At the weekend we heard - via the main Sky Arts website only - that:

• Fearne Cotton is to join as a new celebrity Co-Host
• More Celebrities will be involved in every episode - talking about their landscape
• Still no announcement about the Judges for LAOTY although we now know who two are.

Image for Series 12 - using submissions from Series 11

However, what is very weird is that 

• they have added text to the page, 
• without removing images and text associated with previous incarnations. 
• Hence we have two lots of text describing the format of one programme in two different ways!

A New Co-Host

Fearne Cotton is to be a new Co-Host for Series 12 which will be filmed this summer.

She a long-standing British TV presenter - mainly associated with the "popular tv" end of the market with mainstream broadcasters.

She also describes herself as Mother, Broadcaster, Writer, Founder.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sky Arts Artist Of The Year (@artistoftheyear)

Since finishing The Fearne Cotton Show (2009-2015) for BBC Radio1 she has branched out on her own and now hosts an award-winning podcast Happy Place (on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Her Happy Place Brand has since expanded into:

• a wellbeing brand including
• a book club,
• an annual festival and
• a marketplace that champions small businesses that are female-led, minority-owned, and/or based in the UK.

In other words, treading the well trodden path of celebrities who now need to differentiate themselves - while remaining popular - and generate their own audiences in the new social media world. 

“I am thrilled to be joining Landscape Artist of the Year as part of the presenting team at Sky Arts. Art is such an important, emotive and expressive medium for me and I know that the audience is just going to be absolutely blown away by the level of enthusiasm and passion that we see from the artists taking part in the show. I can’t wait to be part of that journey and to help them tell their stories.”

She also comes with:

• 1.1 million followers on Facebook
• 3.9 million followers on Instagram
• 113k subscribers on YouTube

Which makes her very good fit with lots and lots of women over the age of 30 who like watching Landscape Artist of the Year.

I can see why she could be attracted to LAOTY and why Sky Arts might be attracted to her. 

Casting now depends on social media following - as well as the ability to do the job!

Plus - and this makes her sound a very positive addition - she's a celebrity who can paint!!!

Review: UKCPS Silver Anniversary Annual Open Exhibition 2026

After 25 years, the UKCPS is celebrating its Silver Anniversary with its first exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

It's always been an ambition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) to hold its Open Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Making it to its 25th Birthday seemed like an opportune time to spend some money and celebrate in style.

UKCPS Annual Open Exhibition
Part of the Hang in the West Gallery

For those UKCPS people not familiar with me or my blog (although I gathered from the PV on Tuesday night that a lot were), I am 

• a coloured pencil addict and a past signature member of UKCPS. I've written about its exhibitions a lot over the years (see the list of blog posts at the end which also give an insight into artwork in past exhibitions)
• somebody who reviews ALL the national art societies which exhibit at the Mall Galleries - and has done so for nearly 20 years. So I've got a very good basis for saying how this exhibition compares with the norm at the Mall Galleries.

History of the UKCPS Society

The Society was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon and Pat Heffer.

The UK Colour Pencil Society (UKCPS) was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon, spurred by a letter in A&I magazine from Pat Heffer (who became a founder member, enthusiastic supporter and finally President). A few people sharing their interest of colour pencil art, who had never met except via the Internet, started the Society and it was launched at Patchings Art Centre in Nottinghamshire. The Society has grown over the years: the second issue of the quarterly magazine (September 2001) reported they had just reached the 100 member mark, and now there are just over 750 members.

I was also a coloured pencil fan and found them online a little later and subsequently became a member and exhibited with them between 2007-2010. After that I gradually withdrew as a member from all national art societies I belonged to so as to be able to do better reviews of their exhibitions!

The society is different in some ways from other national art societies.

• anybody can become a member
• recognition of expertise and contribution is made through
• becoming a Signature Member (which I became in 2009 - see my blog post Signature membership)
• progressing to Silver Signature status (pictures accepted into 5 exhibitions within 10 years) and Gold status (pictures accepted into 10 exhibitions within 15 years.)
• it holds three exhibitions each year
• an open exhibition for all artists using coloured pencils - which is competitive
• an online exhibition for all members
• members only exhibition held at the Derwent Pencil Museum, Keswick. (This year it will be 31st August to 30th October 2026)

In June 2018 it was granted charitable status - with an objective of:

• promoting the art of drawing for the public benefit through the use of colour pencils
• holding a public exhibition at least once a year to showcase work and provide tuition
• help educate the public how to use colour pencils

The definition of a coloured pencil for the purposes of the exhibition is 

"wood-cased, wax- or oil-based colour pencil"

i.e. pastel pencils are excluded.

The 25th Annual Exhibition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society

Venue: Mall Galleries - West and North Galleries
Dates: Open from Tuesday 17 March 2026 - Saturday 21 March 2026,
Hours: 10am to 5pm

Workshops: click for more information

How the work was judged

• One member and two independent artists selected the artwork for the open exhibition.
• Another artist judges the selected artwork for awards. This year it was Curtis Holder - a leading exponent of coloured pencil artwork.

You can see all the artwork in the exhibition in two ways:

• In the albums of my pics that I've uploaded to Facebook - just click the link in the listing below. BTW, if I like a work I tend to take a photo of it on its own.
• UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2026 - West Gallery
• UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2026 - North Gallery
• Via the UKCPS website where all images of all the artwork are now uploaded

BEST PICTURE IN SHOW

Where ­Time ­Rests by Pauline Stuart

(which I had spotted as a "go back and look again" pic!)

Facebook now only allows 63 characters for visible description

Facebook has made a terrible decision to limit the number of visible characters on posts of pics or links to a Facebook Page (124 characters with spaces in this sentence)

That includes spaces!

So the opening sentence of this blog post would be halved on Facebook. (this sentence is 69 characters with spaces - so you wouldn't see all of this short sentence)

Why is this happening?

Here's Google AI's explanation of what Facebook if trying to do.  

But you do agree with their reasoning? Read on to find out some of my thoughts on the imploications....

Is Facebook trying to behave exactly like an Advertiser?

In effect it is treating every post by all normal Facebook subscribers as if it was an advert.

It seems to want to get us to write ADVERT TITLES for each FB post!

Is it possible that is so they can sneak in more advert content and we won't notice.

Is it possible that it is trying to create more clicks to its site so it can show advertisers a click heavy profile?

Compare Facebook with Instagram

It's very similar to the truncated text associated with an Instagram pic. (73 characters including spaces)

Maybe Facebook is trying to be more like Instagram?

Thing is they are demographically quite different. The big difference being that users of Facebook tend to be older and don't skip or skim text the way those under 40 do.

Older users are readers - and they like to see text.

So maybe Facebook is trying to win back younger users?

However maybe Facebook is also alienating its older users (like me) at the same time?

Compare Facebook with Google

Title Links (Blue Links): Approximately 50–60 characters (or around 600 pixels).

Google AI tells me that the character limit allowed for the title associated with a weblink is 50-60 characters

Hence, one might conclude that Facebook wants us to write titles as the text for the first 63 characters of the description of what a pic is or where a website link leads

Conclusion: we need to get a lot smarter about writing text TITLES for our links or pics on Facebook Pages.

However Google has the advantage that it also shows text AFTER THE TITLE - with no "read more" prompt. i.e. we get to see more text when viewing a link in the Google Search Engine

These are called snippets and there has always been a limit on how many characters get displayed

So what does Google have to say about the ideal length of descriptions (snippets) after the title of a website link?

Something completely different from Facebook!

Guess who's more experienced in the search engine aspects of what gets people to open posts?

Bottom line - Google Search allows at least TWICE THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED BY FACEBOOK.

Which is WHY the search description for this blog post reads

Facebook wants titles not text for posts on Pages. Check out the changes re text length and compare to what Google thinks is best.

Who do you think understands responsiveness to search engine links better?

Google or Facebook?