Everyone says you have to get out of your own way before you can paint something really personally meaningful. Doubtful technique, anxiety about the outcome, overthinking in general – intrusive thoughts throw us off from the reason we wanted to paint something in the first place.

Many artists come to painting because they sense that as a culture our daily lives are spent in a fragmented perception of the wholeness of life. For many, art promises a reconnection to totality and meaning, the unfolding of a stronger, more conscious and fulfilling way of being in the world. Painting can freeze a moment of heightened perception into beauty likely to last generations.

CW Mundy Dancer Reflections

Often when a plein air painter goes into a field or a forest clearing, consciously or not they’re looking for that sense of sudden clarity, a heightened feeling of being present, connected, and alive. It’s an inspired feeling, an uplifting sense of the wholeness of life – call it the sacred if you like – which sparks the desire to paint.]

“Only if we are still enough inside and the noise of thinking subsides,” says New Age writer Eckhart Tolle, “can we become aware that there is a hidden harmony here (in nature), a sacredness, a higher order in which everything has its perfect place and could not be other than what it is and the way it is.”

Here’s the thing though. It’s a huge challenge is to prioritize this perception and keep it close during the process of creation. Doubts and other mind games are inevitable. Even professional artists have multiple moments of distraction and uncertainty during the course of a painting. The pro understands this and works with it.

Clyde Aspevig, “Big Horn Basin” 12×16” oil on board

The professional artist gets out of her own way by

  • only half-listening and only sometimes acting on the inner critic’s constant chatter. Instead, the artist pushes past doubt by constantly recalling and prioritizing the end result – the feeling to be conveyed in the work.
  • If she finds herself getting stuck, she’ll mentally step away and work on another part of the painting, where it’s still possible to let feeling – the original impulse – guide her hand.

Connectedness to nature requires a radical act of acceptance and a recognition that one is part of a larger whole. The same thing goes for painting.

“You cannot understand it through thought,” Tolle says. “but you can sense it when you let go of thought and become still and alert, and don’t try to understand or explain. Only then can you become aware of the sacredness of the forest.”

Seeking the hidden harmony, the sense of the sacred in nature, we realize we can be a conscious participant and realign with the inherent beauty and purpose of life. Art promises to preserve this connection for us, if we can see our way to let it.

All of the artists featured in today’s issue have teaching videos. Check out the offerings from Mary Garrish, CW Mundy and Kyle Buckland.

PACE Yourself!

Kyle Buckland, September Reflections, oil, 12×16 inches

Painter Kyle Buckland will be among the more than 80 artists giving demos and instruction at this year’s Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE) in Denver, CO May 21-25, 2023.

The “Woodstock of Plein Air”

Every year, hundreds of the world’s most enthusiastic outdoor painters gather at the Plein Air Convention & Expo (PACE) to learn painting techniques from the world’s top artists. They come to see what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s working RIGHT NOW in art marketing.

It is the largest gathering of plein air painters on the planet and there is no other event like it. The “Woodstock of plein air” is different every year, yet every year there are artists at PACE who are, or will become, some of the greatest artists of our time… and you get to meet and mingle with them.

Learn more about PACE.