I plein air painted a lot a few years ago and came to the conclusion that I did not like those paintings enough to call them finished. Still,I learned from the act of painting outdoors, from seeing the subject with my own eyes and not through the camera. I paint outdoors for the learning experience.

I like to follow James Guerney’s blog. He sometimes tries to faithfully record a scene. Other times he simplifies and tries to create his own lighting effects.

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.de/

It seems to me that these are all valid purposes. As you said, the decision is yours.

I now mostly paint from photos. I feel there is something missing and am trying to get back outdoors. Other folks feel differently.

Good luck with your choices, Gary

The objective for me is not to paint Plein Air Paintings, I paint outside and produce landscapes etc
The term Plein Air has become commercialised and degraded by greedy promoters out to make money for themselves.

My objective is to go outside and enjoy myself there is no other reason.

Dave

i am trying to understand is what is it that i am supposed to do.

The landscape artist that I like engage with the countryside, they are keen walkers ,climbers and outdoors people.
They don’t go out with preconceived ideas and impose them on the scenery they have developed ways of conveying with a direct response the enjoyment of being out there.
The player who best displays this and is also a regular poster on WC is vhere, to me she captures the landscape and imparts her reactions to it in a very exciting way that assures my attention.

Dave.

You paint what you like. You learn from turning looking into “seeing”.

It is totally unimportant (other than to some contest rules) whether you paint exactly what’s in front of you or whether you finish it totally outdoors.

For me painting en plein air gets me outside for the enjoyment AND provides changeable subjects and lighting.

If you aren’t sure why you should be painting outdoors, maybe you’ve got a mismatch in motivation. If you don’t enjoy it or at least learn from it, no reason to do it. And it’s entirely possible that painters you admire don’t actually fit so well with how you like to paint. No big deal if they don’t match up.

Of course everyone should. But i am trying to understand things from an academic perspective. Every realistic painters out there stresses very much on working outdoors as much as possible. All most everyone that i like does. Richard Scmid, Joseph Zbukvic are two of my absolute favourites and both are stubborn advocates of working from life. Now all i am trying to understand is what is it that i am supposed to do . If i just paint the way i feel like , i am really doubtful that working outdoors is going to improve me at all.

Unless you are engaged in a formal class or study of some kind, “supposed to do” is not the main objective.

IMO, the “art” of it is in the experience that the artist goes through; what’s left over is the “object d’art”. That object can serve as a stimulus for others and/or the artist. But it isn’t the “art”.

If your preference is copying from photos or other paintings, then do so. If your preference is painting in a studio and taking as much time as you like to finish, then do so.

However, if you are trying to learn to paint from life, whether photorealistically or impressionistically, then painting outdoors is a great place to do that. It takes some time to learn the ropes of handling painting from life, whether in the studio or in the landscape. That, in and of itself, is a useful skill to learn, even if it isn’t your end choice. But that’s up to you and only you if this isn’t part of a curriculum.

There is a recurring story in Henning Mankel’s Wallander books about his father painting the same bucolic scene over and over again and selling that. Sometimes with and sometimes without a rooster. Whatever floats your boat!

I understand what you are saying. My medium is oil paint. haven’t done any plein air oils for several months, and am not yet ready to, I still have other things to take care of first.
I enjoy going out to paint, and generally plan for 2+ hours-set up, paint, shut down. My PA work IS work. It’s not fun, it’s usually not very good–a second grader could do as well.
However, I do enjoy it. No, no masochist tendencies, I don’t think.
I learn to see better outside with even just the act of working at it. I am learning things: how dark the concave underside of the thick, old mesquite tree really is, how small the houses at the far end of the cul-de-sac appear under it’s branches, so distance/depth is already a part of the picture.
How the bright light hits this building, not that one, showing a different angle along that curve.

In PA, I do –even though I work at not–get too picky, too detailed. So I come back here to see how others portray their scene, what I can do to improve mine. With oil paint, I can more easily make adjustments than I could with watercolor. How do you improve? Keep at it, do YOUR thing, look at what others have done, how they portray objects.
Consider a class or two. I haven’t yet, because for me, at my skill level, it would be a waste of money. After I improve I will take a class.
Consider joining a local PA group, and go out with them. Work along side, see what they do. Some people have a knack for this, others, like me, have to work at it. I just enjoy it enough that, for as bad as I am, I enjoy being out.
And the people have been really nice, whether they speak or not…

Consider taking some small objects out to your yard, and just painting them. Over and over. See how the light hits, the shadows, the turnings. It’s plein air, and next week, replace the household objects with a rock, a flower pot,
a tree stump…
Be easy on yourself. just, enjoy. the day, the birds, the breeze…