Plein Air: The Art of Painting Outdoors in Real Time

Plein air — French for in the open air — was the discipline of painting outdoors, in front of the weather, the way Constable studied clouds in Suffolk meadows and Monet painted the same haystacks at every hour of every season.

The painters took the canvas outside because the light couldn't be remembered later, only stood inside as you painted.

The sky over your head and the sky in the painting share the same kind of hour — the same long afternoon, the same thr