En Plein Air Painting… Paying Attention and Being in the Moment
Such a lovely art lesson with this wonderful lady, surrounded by the incredible beauty of Mawgan Porth, Cornwall.
En plein air painting is about so much more than putting paint onto canvas. For a few hours, we gave our attention to each other, to learning and to the extraordinary world around us.
There were no screens competing for attention… instead, we were looking, questioning, talking and discovering.
When I teach art outdoors, the lesson naturally reaches far beyond painting techniques. We explore the science behind the sea and sky, the psychology of how we see, colour, light and all those wonderful details in nature that are so easily missed when we are rushing from one thing to another.
There is time to notice how the light changes, feel the breeze, hear the sea and really look at what is in front of us.
That, for me, is part of the magic of painting outdoors. Art asks us to pay attention. It encourages curiosity and gives us the opportunity to become completely absorbed in the moment while discovering quite how fascinating the world around us really is.
Here in Mawgan Porth, I have the enormous privilege of teaching surrounded by the Cornish coast itself. The landscape becomes part of the lesson… not simply something to paint, but something to observe, question and understand.
And the best bit… at the end you have a painting to take home with you, to remember that moment and that feeling.
Jeanni
Artist and art teacher in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall
Art At The Beach
