When I was in undergraduate school at the Kansas City Art Institute, I studied under one of America’s most prolific contemporary impressionist painters, Wilbur Niewald. In his classroom we not only learned about the French Impressionists techniques and philosophies, but how they painted color and shapes; which included painting to the edges of each canvas.
I will never forget how he would make his way around the classroom studio and review each of our paintings. He always pointed out the good things we painted first, then would ask to paint on our canvas to show us what we did not see. Do you know how painful it was to have him come along and move the figure over half an inch? That meant everything in the painting had to be moved over half an inch…all the way to the edges!
I learned so much. Wilbur Niewald was an expert on French Impressionism. He taught us well and freed us up from turning our studies into precious little pieces at a time when we needed to learn how to paint. He also took us out of the studio and made us paint outside. That was how I started painting “En Plain Air,” 40 years ago.
Below are some of the places I’ve painted en plain air over the years.
