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

UPDATED: Michael Chesley Johnson FREE Plein Air Primer

Michael Chesley Johnson is a landscape painter ( in oils and pastels) and an author. He's been painting and blogging two months longer than me - having started in Autumn 2025.

He also writes for magazines like Artists Magazine and Pastel Journal. He's the author of some books, including Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air

I'm very happy to recommend Michael as an artist worth reading on the topic of plein air painting. He's very experienced and he produces good plein air artwork.

However, the purpose of this blog post changed half way through writing. It's about 

• making you aware you can read his Plein Air Primer for free
• making sure you read the conditions VERY CAREFULLY.
  

EXCEPT that Michael has now worked out what went wrong - and everything is now OK.  So this blog post now reads

• Primer for Plein Air - just click a link and read the whole post for FREE
• The UPDATED VERSION (what went wrong)
• the ORIGINAL VERSION - kept as a salutary reminder that these platforms can catch out even the best of intentions

Primer for Plein Air by Michael Chesley Johnson

Michael has made his Plein Air Primer available for free on his Substack - and this post tells you how to access it! Which means a bit of unpacking of what exactly "free" means.

In these articles, I’ve distilled much of my plein air practice. With plein air painting season just around the corner, I hope you find them useful—whether you’re a beginner or an old pro

Strictly speaking, this is a FREE with "a 7 day free trial". Which should be sufficient to get through all 7 articles - listed below.

• Part 1: Gear - What do you need for an easel or a paint box?
• Part 2: Tools and Stuff - What should I take?
• Part 3: Paints, Pastels and Papers - You don't need more than a few colors.
• Part 4: Setting a Goal - Don't go out without one!
• Part 5: Location and Picking a Subject - Location is everything.
• Part 6: Making a Proper Value Sketch - Making a preliminary value sketch is waste of time, right? Wrong.
• Part 7: Making a Painting - The final installment of the series

THE UPDATED VERSION

You can now read the entire post for free just by clicking the links above.

This is the email I got from Michael explaining what had gone wrong - which means it's now OK to click any of the links above and you will automatically 

This is Michael's explanation of what went wrong

First of all, thanks so much for the review in your Making a Mark blog—and also for pointing out that my “free” plein air primer posts are free for only 7 days and that they require you to provide an email address! That was not my intention at all.

I originally had set those posts for paid subscribers only, but had a change of heart and decided to make them free. I made the change and tested it by logging out; I was then able to view them in their entirety without having to provide an email address.

What changed things, however, was another setting lurking in the background. This setting lets you turn all free posts older than a month into “paid” posts—and because the plein air primer posts are over a month old, Substack reset them to paid-only. Yikes!

I have now turned off that particular setting and have tested it again, and everything looks fine, working as I planned. No one should have to give an email address to read these for free.

As for the GDPR law, Substack, unfortunately, doesn’t have a setting for this. However, this morning I’ve put in place a TOS/Privacy Policy and have also set the system so that new subscribers will need to go through a double-opt-in, confirming their email address.

Thanks again for the review and pointing out the problem.

THE ORIGINAL VERSION: What you need to do

UPDATE (23 Feb 2026): Apparently I have spotted an unintended problem with the posts ( as identified above)

You have to 

• set up an account in Substack (which is always a good idea) and 
• then subscribe to his Substack. Over on the right is the option to subscribe for free. HOWEVER.......

WHAT IT USED TO SAY: NO LONGER APPLICABLE - BUT WORK KEEPING FOR OTHER SUBSTACK USERS WHO MIGHT ALSO BE CAUGHT OUT!

The thing is I'm not a big fan of things that promise stuff for free - with a catch - i.e. you  then find out 

• you have to subscribe for free and sign up to a subscription which is going to charge you £41 for an annual subscription every year  (which it doesn't tell you on the blue advert)
• unless you cancel - which you can at any time.

That's because I'm one of those people who has to cancel straight away, because I know I'll forget to cancel in 7 days and I don't EVER give my credit card data away for free.

Plus I don't mind giving my email away - just so long as I can also refuse further communications and am not going to have to pay for anything.

Strictly speaking, I think of he had an advert like that in the UK Michael might get  stitched up by 

• the Advertising Standards Regulator (Non Broadcast Code) and 
• the OFCOM (complaints about websites and apps) 

if anybody complained to them. That's because they who prefer people to say exactly what they mean - with no qualifications in the small print a long way in.

I get the impression that maybe things are done differently in the US? Or the regulations are not as tight as the UK's.

It really depends what you want to do. If you're serious about plein air painting, I'd recommend it. He writes informative posts (but the books are cheaper!)

NOTE: Michael also appears to have worked out the way to keep his Blogger blog going while having transferred all new content to his Substack Painting to See. So I'll be having a think about that.

Want to watch Landscape Artist of the Year being filmed?

Filming has started on Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year which will be broadcast between January and March 2026.

Derwent Water is next week
Best View yet - by a long way

For those curious as to how it is going and for those who maybe want to go and watch, this is what I've found out so far. (They've stopped sending me press releases!)

Of the locations they have identified 5 are about 

5 Very BIG Structures 

• Dover Castle, Kent
• Dover Ferry Point, Kent
• The Thames from HMS Wellington, London
• The Ouse Valley Viaduct, West Sussex 
• Falkirk Wheel, Scotland

3 Actual Landscapes!

• The Lake District, Cumbria (two heats) - actual real landscape as painted by very many landscape painters - but BIG!
• St James’s Park, London - actual land which is green - small and manicured and a lake with a lot of birds on it!

BELOW you can find out where the heats are and which date they are filming - although some of this is guesswork.

Heat Locations

Locations of "public" heats are as listed in this marketing image

They say they are 

unable to accommodate audiences at the other locations due to the lack of parking and facilities. 

However every single one of them is a public space - so, if you fancy, you can ignore that if you can work out how to get there and where local facilities might be located.

I can't work out whether they mean this is what they are ALSO telling the wildcards to do!

Last week: Dover Castle, Kent and Dover Ferry Point, Kent

Given they split up the locations during the series but do them at the same time while filming I'm assuming there were two heats at Dover was last week

• a view of Dover Castle
• a view of the ferryport from the cliffs!

Here are some of the photos from social media!  Some of those pods look somewhat precarious. I wonder what the insurance was like after the risk assessment exercise?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Susie Treherne Thomas (@strehernethomas)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie Sims | Landscape & Pet Portrait Artist UK (@katiesimsart)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mike Durham (@mikedurhamart)

Next week: Crow Park, Keswick in The Lake District / Cumbria

Two days in the Lake District - on Wednesday18th and Thursday 19th June means two heats.

You will recall that last year, they went to Wales and maybe moved the pods about half a mile to get a different perspective on the same place. 

Here's the Google Maps reference for Crow Park which appears to overlook Derwent Water.

Plus see the photo above of the view from Crow Park over Derwent Water.

I envy anybody who gets that view.

Remember - the sites they use will ALWAYS be an expanse of flattish land big enough for eight sizable pods.

Wednesday 25th June: St James's Park

St James Park - the Lake View, with trees (2008)

from Drawing trees in St James Park

What I do know is that anybody getting this heat better be good at trees!

There are various places they could theoretically set up the pods in St James's Park - however they also run the risk of causing an obstruction for the other people using the park.. 

 Those who have sketched or plein air painted there will know the places to "go to". I'm assuming it's probably going to include water as it's a bit silly going to a park with a great big lake and then ignoring it.  Just as you can hardly ignore the trees....

See, for example, my blog post about Capturing the Moment - plein air paint out in St James's Park organised by the British Plein Air Painters.  I'd so like them to turn out en masse and NOT be wildcards and paint what they want to paint....

I'm including a couple of sketches I did back in 2008 (above and below)

St James Park - Tree Study #3 (8th October, 6pm)

8.5" x 11", coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook

(see The colour of weather and time)

However it's going to be absolutely swarming with tourists - who all love a camera! You can't move in London at the moment for school trips and families all speaking every language under the sun! 

I do not envy those who get this heat!  But I might go and watch!

Thursday 26th June - The Thames from HMS Wellington, London

I think it's a fair bet that if they're in London with the pods on Wednesday then on Thursday those pods will have been erected somewhere else in London and the crew will be working two days back to back with the pods etc - which means that Thursday will be the date for the other location they've already announced

Which is The Thames from HMS Wellington, London - and below is HMS Wellington - moored on the north side of the Thames inbetween Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. 

I don't know if they're going to put the pods on the boats - but it strikes me that could be problematic!

HMS Wellington, 

HMS Wellington is a Grimsby-class sloop, formerly of the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, she served as a convoy escort ship in the North Atlantic. She is now moored alongside the Victoria Embankment, at Temple Pier, on the River Thames in London, England

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the wildcards are on the bridges... Maybe with a few others?

I am speculating. They're not saying. However all the land either side of the river and along the bridges is public - and this is very much a public location . However it's next to the Embankment and a very busy road so common sense dictates that they won't be encouraging people to attend next to the boat. There again they can't stop them either...

HOWEVER, the irony is THAT there is a MUCH MUCH BETTER view from the "made for LAOTY filming" area exactly on the opposite side of the river on the South Bank.

The view from the other side of the river
You can see St Paul's cathedral and all the towers in the City of London
as well as an excellent view of the bridges

SEMI- FINAL

(I'm guessing! Wednesday 2nd July) - The Ouse Valley Viaduct, West Sussex

There are always two locations which are isolated from the others. Which means 

• one is the location for the semi-final and 
• the other is the location of the Final.

Since they're telling us the Final is in Falkirk, I'm making the reasonable assumption that the semi-final is in West Suusex.

The Ouse Valley Viaduct is another ridiculous structure - which is only outdone by the ridiculous structure for the Final!

The Ouse Valley Viaduct

A structural marvel, the viaduct was originally built in 1838 to carry the London-Brighton line over the River Ouse.

It has been estimated that around 11 million bricks were used in construction, with almost 17 million passenger journeys being made across the viaduct every year!

It strikes an elegant silhouette over the beautiful High Weald area and is a must for all photography fans. Standing at 29 metres tall, the Viaduct has 37 arches stretching 450 metres across the Ouse Valley and over the River Ouse. Ouse Valley Viaduct, Visit South East England Website

Basically it's halfway between Crawley and Hayward's Heath.

• This is the location - link from Google Maps
• Also described as Haywards Heath Road, Balcombe, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 6QP.

The date provides for three clear weeks before the Final on the 23rd - during which time the finalists have to product their commission artwork. (as in "find a really silly view near you and paint it")

THE FINAL

Wednesday 23rd July - The Falkirk Wheel

That's a horror story of a subject for a Final. 

Sue England (Series 5 LAOTY 2019) was given the Falkirk Wheel as the subject for her commission painting prior to the Final proper (see Fujiko Rose won Landscape Artist of the Year 2019 in Final at Battersea Power Station). I remember then thinking how unlucky she was. There again - at least she got to choose how she portrayed it and from what angle and how much!

The Falkirk Wheel, Scotland

But it gets better - the producers are complete sadists! IT MOVES!

Threre's a canal at the top and a canal at the bottom. At rest, the wheel sits with a gondola at each level, filled with water. Barges sail in, and the water relevels, but due to Achimedes' principle, the weight in the gondolas remains the same. The wheel, in perfect balance, is turned by a small electric motor (same power requirements as a few teakettles, we're told) and the gondlas stay level thanks to wheels within the wheel. The rotation takes 5 minutes, and then the barges sail ou

So, if you were applying for a heat, I wonder which you would choose......

More about Landscape Artist of the Year

on MAM and by participants

Series 11 - to be broadcast early 2026

• Call for Entries - Landscape Artist of the Year 2026 (Series 11).
• A new Judge for Landscape Artist of the Year!

Series 10 - broadcast early 2025

• Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 10 (2025) - Hampton Court
• Review: Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 10 (2025) - Snowdon, Wales
• Review: Episode 3 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 10 (2025) - Clifton Suspension Bridge
• Review: Episode 4 of Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 10) - St Pancras Basin
• Review: Episode 5 Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 - Dinorwic Slate Quarry
• Review: Episode 6 of Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 10) - Bristol Harbourside
• Review: Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 - Semi Finals at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
• Ben MacGregor wins Landscape Artist of the Year 2025
• Review: £10,000 Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year 2025

Review: Episode 6 of Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 10) - Bristol Harbourside

The heats - as per the running order of episodes Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 - finished with a cold and wet one - right next to some cold wet water at Bristol Harbourside.

Pods on the edge of Bristol Harbourside

Comments included below are by people who follow me on Facebook - unless indicated to be by an artist, wildcard or Judge.

Episode 6: Bristol Harbourside

This review - of Episode 6 of Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year - follows the same format of my other reviews and considers.

• the location and weather
• the artists' profiles
• themes arising during the episode
• who was shortlisted and who won

The programme is available to view on Sky Arts on Sky/Freeview/NowTV.

NOTE: This might be Episode 6 but it was actually Heat 2 and was filmed on Wednesday 12 June 2024 in Bristol (which rather suggests that the Suspension Bridge was Heat 1). I think they decide the running order of Heats - as Episodes - after they have filmed and know the outcomes. That and the fact that the two heats in the same area are never consecutive on the screens. Anybody care to divulge the actual filming date of their heat?

Location and Weather

The location was Bristol Harbourside

A side on perspective of Bristol Harbourside

I kept trying to work out where the pods are - because this programme has this unhappy habit of sending cameramen to film the view from locations where the pods are NOT located! Plus we had lots of top down views - none of which contained either pods or wildcards (presumably done in advance)!

Review: Episode 5 Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 - Dinorwic Slate Quarry

We were back in the Welsh countryside this week - but with an industrial angle!

I don't think the view selected for Heat 5 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 could be called "attractive: . More like a manmade scar on the countryside....

LAOTY 2025: Heat 5 - artists lined up to hear the results of the shortlisting

Episode 5: Dinorwic Quarry

This review - of Episode 5 of Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year - follows the same format of my other reviews and considers.

• the location and weather
• the artists' profiles
• themes arising during the episode
• who was shortlisted and who won

The programme is available to view on Sky Arts on Sky/Freeview/NowTV.

Location and Weather

The view of the Dinorwic Slate Quarry from the pods
the vertical slate seam to the left and the slag tips to the right

The location was the old Dinorwic Slate Quarry located between the villages of Llanberis and Dinorwig (formerly Dinorwic) in North Wales.

The two largest slate quarries in the world at the beginning of the 20th century were both located in North Wales. Penrhyn was the largest (which is the one I know) and this one was the second largest. It opened in 1787; at its height of production it employed 3,000 people and it closed down in 1969 and became the site of The Slate Museum.

The artists had a view of an imposing and monumental view of the vein of slate, which is very nearly vertical and hence there is a very vertical quarry. Vegetation is growing again on the hillside. To the right was more of the quarry and the slag heaps.

An actual landscape and a nice, meaty challenging one at that!

Interestingly the pods were split into two rows of four - either side of the vertical scar - and I'm guessing that was to allow the wildcards to see it too.

The split pods - with wildcards behind.
Is this going to be repeated in future?

Tai thought it was quite ugly and very difficult to do. He highlighted how the scar in the hillside goes in so that the shadows will be constantly changing on a sunny day - as it was.

Another comments was that the hillside was scarred and those scars had been inflicted by humans

I found it unattractive and also very difficult to make look interesting as most of the day it was all one tone. It seemed to me the only way to make it look interesting would be via mark-making or exaggeration.

The heat was filmed on a very hot dry day in June 2024.  People were using their umbrellas and protective tents to shield themselves from the sun!

"It's very hot so it's going to be a challenge!"

 

The Artists in the Pods

Review: Episode 4 of Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 10) - St Pancras Basin

This, for me, was a rather unsatisfactory episode of Landscape Artist of the Year from the viewers perspective. Mainly because it  

• was totally confusing as to what the view was
• provided different artists with different views
• kept giving us top down or high up perspectives on the place
• nearly all the artists seemed to be very "hemmed in"
• overall, it made for a disappointing episode

Shortlising announcement in Gasholder Park 
at St Pancras Basin in North London

....and I haven't even got started YET it being another URBAN cityscape! 

Can the production team and the Judges not bear to drag themselves away from London? Is this a cost-cutting exercise?

I’m thinking that my chances of getting into the competition would be better if my submission painting showed the bleakest urban landscape possible!

 

Episode 4: St Pancras Basin

This review - of Episode 4 of Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year - follows the same format of my other reviews and considers.

• the location and weather
• the artists' profiles
• themes arising during the episode
• who was shortlisted and who won

The programme is available to view on Sky Arts on Sky/Freeview/NowTV.

Location and Weather

The view was all over the place - as were the pods.

The location was St Pancras Basin - just north of  St Pancras Station. 

• You can find it here on Google Maps. 
• It was originally built by the Midland Railway in 1869 with the aim of loading load canal barges with the coal brought by the railway, mainly from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It fell into disuse after the coal drops were dismantled.
• Regeneration started - or rather had some false starts - in the 1980 and 1990s
• The 1996 decision to move the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from Waterloo to St Pancras became a major catalyst for change as part of what became a grand plan to redevelop all the old industrial land behind the two stations of Kings Cross and St. Pancras. The results have been very impressive across a number of metrics

Top down view of most of the site that provided views for the artists

This is a competition which requires eight pods lined up in front of a view - with space for the wildcards and for the production team to work

This site has very limited space and the area is completely hemmed in by:

• The Regents Canal - and St Pancras Basin full of barges
• The high level railway lines coming in and out of  St Pancras International Station
• the gasholders - rebuilt on the north side of the site as a result of the changes made at St Pancras station for the Eurostar.
• the new flats built on what was a brownfield site
• the new centre built at Coaldrop Yard

As a result, the eight pods were not all together. Six were on a spot close to the railway bridge over the canal and two more were further away on a piece of grass, next to a tree. Except they looked like three to me so even more confusing....

I found the whole location gobsmackingly complicated and confusing. I couldn't make sense of where anyone was and what views they had to look at and paint. The split-site pods may explain that last bit! Thanks for pointing it out.

The Split of the Pods
six to the left near the bridge over the canal; two to the right on the grass

I don't think I've ever seen all the pods split up in this way before

However the weather seemed to be sunny and hot with some cloud - at least judging by the attire of some of the pod artists......

The Artists in the Pods

Episode 4 pod artists are listed and profiled BELOW in the alphabetical order of their surnames; including:

• a synopsis of their background
• Links to their websites (if they have one) are embedded in their names.
• Social media platforms are also referenced

Review: British Plein Air Painters 2023 Exhibition

"A Plein Air Vision", the third exhibition by the British Plein Air Painters (BPAP) Group opened today at the RWS Gallery at 3 Whitcomb Street (next to the National Gallery). 

I went to the Private View last night which was a very convivial happy affair with many people and rather a lot of red dots. 

I was very impressed by it - and I'll explain why below. 

You can see photos I took last night in this album on my Facebook Page.

You can see all the artworks via this page on the BPAP website. Click the pic to see a page of bio and artworks for each artist. All sold paintings are clearly marked up.

Why this exhibition looks impressive

Membership of the group: While this is a plein air group, it's not open to all painters who are plein air painters. Those being invited to become members over the course of the last three years are:

• all experienced artists generally - many are professional artists with some having a career that has lasted decades
• many have been to art school
• they are all very experienced in working plein air and 
• all have produced a lot of quality artwork over a longish period of time.

I would suggest that a page on their website talking about how to apply to become a member would be useful.

Exhibiting artists at the British Plein Air Artists PV (30th October 2023)

Many of them are also members of one or more of the National Art Societies. The majority are Full or Associate members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and some are members of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and/or the Wapping Group of Artists.

There is a little bit of a sense of the group being the plein air arm of the ROI - although I think it might also be that the ROI has taken on more active plein air painters in recent years!

The 27 exhibiting artists for the 2023 exhibition are listed below. 

The 7 women artists make up 26% of the exhibiting artists. I suggest this could be more - maybe a point for consideration when considering future members?

• Adebanji Alade - President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
• David Bachmann
• Trevor Chamberlain ROI RSMA
• Roy Connelly
• David Curtis ROI RSMA
• Tony Dakin
• Roger Dellar RPI PS RI ARSMA
• Tim King PCAFAS
• Sarah Manolescue AROI
• Tom Marsh ARSMA AROI
• David Pilgrim ROI
• Valérie Pirlot AROI (6 paintings sold)
• Rob Pointon ROI
• Georgina Potter 
• Adam Ralston ROI
• Michael Richardson WGA
• Andrew Roberts 
• Chris Robinson RIBA
• Maria Rose AROI (6 paintings sold)
• Tushar Sabale WGA
• Daisy Simms Hilditch
• Tom Stevenson ROI SWAc
• John Stillman RSMA WGA
• Haidee-Jo Summers VPROI RSMA
• Mo Teeuw IEA
• Karl Terry RSMA
• Johnny Walsom ROI RSMA

Five of the seven female painters pictured below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Valérie Pirlot AROI (@valeriepirlotart)

Nature / quality of artwork: 215 artworks are on display (which is a good indicator for anybody thinking about hiring this gallery for an exhibition of similar sized artworks).

Most of the artwork are plein air paintings. They cover a very wide range of locations ranging from "home turf" for individual painters, to various places in London and other locations - typically in the UK - that the painters have visited.

The one thing for me is I'd have liked to have seen an indication of which:

• started plein air
• completed plein air
• completed in the studio
• studio art from a plein air sketch

I think that's helpful to the viewing public and also helps to keep the group focused on what the exhibition is all about. 

Private View

Size of artwork: It's the first time for a long time that I've seen an exhibition which is made up of medium and small size artworks.

The three galleries and the exhibition all looked well designed with walls with two rows of paintings small and medium sized paintings at a good height - with the eyes moving up or down easily. They are all well lit.

I gather the previous exhibitions had established that larger studio finished artwork is much less likely to do well at an exhibition which is being promoted as being about plein air painting - and the decision was made to go with small and mediums sizes for this one.

I think that was an inspired decision as it results in a very coherent exhibition where the smaller sized works do NOT appear to be filling in the gaps between the larger artworks.

A wall of small and medium sized paintings

Media used: Most of the paintings are in oil. This is not uncommon in terms of media often used by plein air artists and by members of the ROI!