Lori S. Robinson is a passionate plein-air painter. “The outdoors is where I learned to paint in the impressionist style I love, and I believe it provides the best foundation for learning to paint light and color,” she says. While her goal is always to complete her paintings outside, she will occasionally work in the studio to add finishing touches or to enlarge a smaller plein-air piece.
Her process often starts with driving up and down the Northern California coast where she lives until she finds a scene that calls her to paint it. Then she grabs her easel, oils, brushes, and palette knife and quickly sets up to work. She starts by taking a “crop” of the scene she wants to focus on, then does a couple of sketches to test different compositions.
Once she’s comfortable with the sketch, she starts blocking in the essential shapes, forms, and shadows on the canvas. Then she does an underpainting using either warm or cool colors. Using her brush and sometimes a palette knife, she keeps adding paint until she achieves what she set out to—or until the lighting is gone or the weather turns.
“Plein-air painting is very meditative for me, but it can also be like an extreme sport,” she laughs. Indeed, painting outdoors comes with a lot of uncertainty—but it’s all part of the process for Robinson. “There’s usually a moment when the quality of light and an ephemeral feeling of beauty is just striking,” she says, and that experience is more than enough to keep her at it.
To learn more about Lori S. Robinson’s artwork and creative process, visit http://lorisrobinson.com. –Lindsay Mitchell
