Plein Air Paintings
by Craig Houghton
All the works here were started and finished entirely on location. They're mostly about the process -- I get to take a walk or wander about outside and leave with something to show for it. It's also a great exercise in both technique and the practice of presenting the world as I see it. Plein Air (outdoor) painters often refer to the immediate intimacy of the practice. There is truth to this, but it seems the same practice behind all of the visual arts -- the artist takes the given and reshapes it into something conceptual, abstracted, and entirely his own. In plein air painting however, the process is simplified (there's no set-up beyond selection, only interpretation) so it seems easier to notice the process -- it's also great fun.
