What draws you to a painting subject?

[Elaine Hurst]

I am interested to find out what attracts people to the different things we paint while outdoors.  Is it the colors, the light, a grand vista, or a small intimate scene?  For me, I love the grand vistas, but when it comes down to it, I will choose something with a little different angle, or something which makes it seem different from everything else.  The light always grabs my attention.

[Michael McGuire]

For me it's always about the light. I've been intrigued, since I first became interested in the work of the French impressionists, by how it's possible to convey a sense of "visual reality" using paint on a 2D surface. I tend to avoid the grand vista (except perhaps on dull days), concentrating instead on scenes which provide the opportunity to paint a light effect. That usually means looking for scenes with a good balance of light and shadow and at least three "planes" (foreground, middleground and background) other than sky. I then push differences a little between light and shadow and the main masses, hopefully conveying to the viewer what caught my eye about the scene in the first place.

[Tony Robinson]

That's a hard one, Elaine. I hadn't given it much thought about what it is that 'takes my fancy'. I have a collection of 'favourites' on Plein Air Artists site which I have built up over time with a view to examining it to see what common threads there are, as my own stuff appears unconnected and haphazard to me - but maybe not to someone else, I don't know? I read an interesting book about Trevor Chamberlain while on a painting holiday last year. He tends to go for scenes with counterchange for a sense of depth. I must say his work appeals to me and I tried to follow it most of the time whilst on that trip. It seemed to work for me.
Vistas are a bit daunting, like sunsets and crashing seascapes and I tend to baulk at them, generally having more success with smaller scale stuff. But what I admire in others and what I manage myself may not be the same.
I'll review those favourites and see what I've got there.

[John Dinan]

Elaine I always scout around with my eyes half shut - squinting for clear exciting designs of light and dark shapes. If I see an interesting pattern/design of light and dark then I feel I can make a painting of them. So squinting, although dangerous on quaysides, is my favoured approach. I love colour too, but in my view is much less important in finding a 'great' painting possibility.
So start squinting soon so superb structures stand strongly (out) ! John

[Elaine Hurst]

I do a lot of squinting also. To find a painting location, if something doesn't jump out at me, I will look through an old slide case, or my camera, or my hands. Many times I just get a "feeling" that a place is right, nothing I can put my finger on. Very interesting to hear how different people find a painting location.

[Norah Blount]

Elaine, I think it is mainly a sense of light and feeling which draws me to a painting, I went to the Turner and the Masters exhibition last year in London and was in awe at the light and feeling his paintings evoked in me. I also like a lot of the paintings I see done on the plein air days by the Art in the Open group around the wexford area. Then I am also drawn to colours in a painting as in John Dinan's work. At other times I like intimate studies which evoke perhaps a memory or a feeling so I suppose at the moment I love all art in all its forms.

[Elaine Hurst]

I agree. I like many different types of painting, whether it is similar to my style or not. There are some that grab my attention right away, and won't let go. Usually those are the ones that are simplified, but not simple. That may not make any sense. Paintings that say a lot without a lot of elaboration. At the same time I can be awed by very detailed work. My family and I were in Jackson, Wyoming one time, and went to the National Wildlife Art Museum. Wow! I could have sat in there looking at some of the paintings until I turned old(er) and gray.

[Patricia Kavanagh]

I look for dramatic skies. I really like a scene where there is bright sunlight and really dark thundery clouds; the play of light on the mountains and land is so inspiring for me. I can't help mixing the colours and painting the scene in my mind. This can sometime be rather boring for people I'm with who may have no interest at all in thundery clouds. And I sometimes tend to think out loud. I'm not very interested in blue skies and calm days but will certainly take to the hills to paint on a blustery day when the clouds are racing by and the waves are crashing against the rocks on the seashore.

[Norah Blount]

II am also drawn to big stormyskies and seas especially good now on the west coast with the March mad weather, you will also get this type of weather on the west coast of Lanzarote but wont freeze to death !

[Elaine Hurst]

Love those kinds of dark skies and light hitting things in front!

[Veronika Samlova]

Well, it is a tough one to answer. There are so many different images around us.... It really depends on each occassion what catches my eye. Sometimes it is the colour. I have drawn the yellow Georgian door for example, because it was only 1 warm coloured door among cold ones in the raw of houses. Other time is the natural composition (stones, lansdcape etc). But above all I guess I wish to capture the atmosphere usually.