En Plein Air, Watercolor, and Haiku
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| En Plein Air Watercolor Image by Amy Lynn Hess |
I have recently taken up watercolor painting, and although I've been painting with acrylics for over 20 years, I have found using watercolor challenging.
With watercolor, I have to work quickly to capture movement, and the paint itself can sometimes define my lines for me, seemingly of its own will. Hues and values are created by working in layers, some layers and puddles or plops drying more quickly than others. The watercolor paper I have, unlike the stretched canvas I use for acrylic painting, warps into humps and bumps that create even more puddles and plops, and I've had to release my desire to rigidly control the paint. It simply goes where the water goes.
Over the past few weeks, however, I've started to think about watercolor in a new way. I've started to think of this finicky paint as a tool for creating visual haiku, a way to quickly capture a moment, a bit of life, an observation of what's outside.
Although there are times when painting outdoors is simply untenable, there are definite benefits to trying it - benefits both artistic and philosophical, and maybe even literary.
En Plein Air, A View of What's Outside
The Wayne Art Center, sponsors of The Plein Air Festival in Wayne Pennsylvania, defines en plein air clearly and concisely: "En plein air is a French expression meaning 'in the open air', and refers to the act of painting outdoors with the artist's subject in full view." More than simply being outdoors while painting, another key element of plein air is to, to build upon this definition, directly view, observe, and therefore interpret what the artist is gazing upon with one's own eyes.
Yet, unlike painting a still life, which is often prearranged and static, and unlike painting from another image or photograph, painting en plein air captures the movement of life, its winds and dancing shadows, passing clouds, and changing light.
Direct Observation
The value in direct observation is related partially to, well, value, in addition to the other characteristics of color and the elements of composition. Instead of working from a photograph, which is already representational and may or may not be a result of an artist's own direct observation, working from life allows for authentic representation of a moment, an articulation of the painter's gaze in the moment. To summarize Ingrid Christensen, a gallery artist and popular workshop instructor, the human eye is simply better than a camera's lens in almost every way. Whereas depth perception, saturation, focus, contrast, and brightness are fixed for the camera, and a two-dimensional representation of one fixed moment is produced by photography, our eyes adapt to the variability of life. Our eyes create a direct link with life, with a fleeting moment.
In the Open Air
When painting en plein air, or in the open air, the observations painters make are of the outdoor environments in which they find themselves. In a few minimal strokes of paint, in perhaps only a few moments, a painter captures a scene, its season, with as much detail as necessary to help viewers enter that moment with the painter.
In writing haiku, the principles are similar.
Principles of Haiku
The best explanation of haiku I have been able to find comes from writer Mark Blasini. He breaks down the principles into singularity, accuracy, accessibility, economy, and brevity.
As Blasini explains these five principles, some of his verbiage seemingly applies to both plein air in general and watercolor painting, specifically: "Focus on a moment that you feel you have to share with another person," he says of the principle of singularity. As for accuracy, make it as "realistic, clear, and depictive as possible," he says. Accessibility refers to building a scene the readers can imagine, and in haiku this includes the principle of kigo, or the illustration of the season. The principles of economy and brevity should also both sound familiar to anyone who practices watercolor painting. Haiku and watercolor both require minimal use of materials, a layering of translucence, and an ability to work quickly. Whereas Blasini explains that writers "keep the haiku sayable in one breath," watercolor painters keep images workable in one sitting, perhaps workable in one layer of water, maybe even in one unit of wetness.
Puddle and plop though they may, my watercolor challenges (and mistakes) have become something much more meaningful as my paradigm has shifted. Watercolor, especially when en plein air, is visual haiku.
As with haiku, my watercolor paintings can now become a single, observed moment I want to share with others, with an intended audience. They can become a fleeting moment I want to capture with as much detail as possible in order to help that intended audience experience my impressions of that moment. I can stop overworking the paper and overthinking my gaze, and think only of keeping my images to "one breath."
I can also get a little sunshine and fresh air, weather permitting.
Want to read more about haiku?
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The BEST job I ever had was as a bookkeeper and merchandiser in an independently owned art supply store in Athens, Georgia. My favorite task was to put together supply kits for new artists and art classes. That said, I’ve made a list! Interested in seeing my grown-up watercolor shopping list? The blue text is an affiliate link to my Amazon Idea list for watercolor supplies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Works Cited
Blasini, Mark. “The Five Principles.” The Way of Haiku, 9 Oct. 2013, thewayofhaiku.wordpress.com/the-five-principles/
Christensen, Ingrid. “Why You Should Draw from Real Life, Not a Photograph.” Artsy, 23 July 2019, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-draw-real-life-photograph
“What Is Plein Air?” Plein Air Festival, Wayne Art Center, www.waynepleinair.org/about/what-is-plein air/
Copyright Amy Lynn Hess. Please contact the author for permission to republish.
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