Frank LaLumia, The Spouting Horn Captain Cook's Chasm Cape Perpetua Oregon, 30 x 22, watercolor
Oil on Canvas - 30 x 24
Artist Comments
Plein air painting is our interface with the world; it is both an end in itself and an access point for further creativity. How we see the world around us is the beginning of everything. Plein air painting teaches us this lesson without adding on the mannerisms of charismatic teachers or other artists we admire. It is a point of honesty in an often cynical art world. Painting from life was my first impulse, before I even realized its importance. Back then, it wasn’t “plein air” painting, it was just going out, trying to learn something about art, about life. I wasn’t doing it for a wet-painting show or any other immediate benefit. It was a way of life. It was my way. One of the great epiphanies on the artistic road is the realization that we are painting light, not things. Plein air painting teaches us this lesson. As I tell my students, if you can paint light, you can paint anything under the sun.
Plein air painting is our interface with the world; it is both an end in itself and an access point for further creativity. How we see the world around us is the beginning of everything. Plein air painting teaches us this lesson without adding on the mannerisms of charismatic teachers or other artists we admire. It is a point of honesty in an often cynical art world. Painting from life was my first impulse, before I even realized its importance. Back then, it wasn’t “plein air” painting, it was just going out, trying to learn something about art, about life. I wasn’t doing it for a wet-painting show or any other immediate benefit. It was a way of life. It was my way. One of the great epiphanies on the artistic road is the realization that we are painting light, not things. Plein air painting teaches us this lesson. As I tell my students, if you can paint light, you can paint anything under the sun.
http://www.franklalumia.com/