tsimon's blog

As a creative individual, I have had my struggles getting art projects completed, working really odd hours and wasting time that could have been spent in front of an easel or computer screen. I probably have struck a chord with many others dealing with the same issues. It would seem that creative people in general tend to struggle with these things. I wanted to outline some practical steps to begin getting projects completed in a timely manner, while developing some new work habits to not only be commited to project and task management but allow for the creative process.

As a pastel artist living in Western Colorado, I am familiar with taking my easel and going to the Colorado National Monument to paint. I started hearing about painting "en plein air" and thought that it was a new technique - like a loose style similar to Claude Monet. I felt foolish when I went to Wikipedia and read, "En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors". Wow, the thing we have been doing all along but with a fancy French name.

What are the benefits to painting en plein air?

As I started to think of things to blog about for Artisans of Colorado, I thought about digital art for people with a formal art background. I am one of those with formal art training. My training began as a young child. I remember going to the old Jeffco center in Arvada on Saturday morning's for art classes while my friends were playing basketball. At the time I resented it. But it has paid dividends later in life. I found I was only able to play basketball for a short time while I can do art my whole life.