For at least a decade or so, there has been an international revival of plein air painting. The spelling of the term suggests a French origin, but although the Barbizon painters of early 19th century France have been given credit for initiating the practice, the first artists to actually paint out of doors, probably go back to 17th century Italy and even possibly to 16th century Germany.

During the 18th century, it was also a common practice among English watercolourists. With the invention of the tube as a container late in the 18th century and the business of packaging oil paints in tubes by the early 19th century, the practice of painting out of doors proliferated all over Europe, but notably in England, especially with Turner and Constable and in France with the Barbizon painters.

By the 1860s, it was a common practice among French Impressionists. Since then, the popularity of plein air painting has waxed and waned but has never completely vanished from the art scene. The recent revival of plein air painting is possibly due to the rise of the environmental movement and renewed interest in preserving open space and nature generally.

For whatever reason, it is a pleasant enough way to paint. The Bermuda plein air painting group, got going some five or more years ago. The benefits gained from working together are manifold, but some of the positive advantages are the possibility of critiquing each and the opportunity to learn from each other. The social benefit is surely another reason as well.

Currently the Plein Air Painters of Bermuda are exhibiting together at the Bermuda Art Centre at Dockyard. This is the the fourth time that they have done so as a group. After a quick walk around the exhibition, my initial impression is that the range of abilities evident in the show, is from the professional to that of beginners.

The exhibition is weighted heavily toward beginners, however. The fact that both professionals, as well as beginners and all in between are exhibiting together is notable. It is good to see this, for surely it is a great encouragement to those who are just starting. It says something about the more experienced and accomplished as well, for it is heartening to see that they do not consider themselves to be so good as to be above exhibiting with the others.

The obvious stars of the exhibition are Molly Godet and Chris Marson. Both are watercolourists. Chris Marson is well known, especially for the watercolour technique known as aquarelle; that is, he restricts his use of watercolour paint to that of transparent paint only.

The white of the paper is the source of white in the painting. Mr. Marson is a master of this methods of painting and although it looks easy, it is one of the more difficult ways to paint. Indeed, it is an incredibly unforgiving way of painting. There is very little latitude for mistakes. When thinking about Chris Marson's work, a number of words come to mind, such as delicate, spontaneous, free or fresh.

With his watercolours, one senses that it is really made with water. They all have a watery, fluid quality. This is obvious in his "Rain and Mist, South Shore". Marson paints like he knows what he is doing and indeed, he does.

Molly Godet's work is more solid appearing, and yet it too has something of the freshness that is so desirable with watercolour painting. In general, her subjects are architectural or at least there is that something man-made in the paintings she is exhibiting. To a degree, this accounts for the greater appearance of solidity.

I was especially drawn to her "Beach Cove". In this painting, there is a quirky cement stairway that goes from the beach to the top of a cliff. This is the "keel" of the painting, as it provides a centre of attention and it is what holds the composition together. In addition to the quality of Mrs. Godet's paintings, the quality of her frames is an important element in the presentation of her paintings, as well. They are all simple and understated. Certainly her presentation stands out as the best in the show and underscores the assertion that less is more.

An obvious weakness in this show is the framing quality. This is perhaps why Mrs. Godet's good framing stands out, despite being so understated. Had all other frames been of equal quality, I doubt that I would have noticed her frames as much.

Of course there are others in the exhibition with good framing as well, but still, the general quality of framing is low.

Exceptions to poor quality framing are those used by Jonah Jones and Chris Marson. The frames surrounding Sheilagh Head's paintings are also notable. She always gives a lot of attention to good framing, but that brings up another point. Near the entrance, Mrs Head has a painting framed in gold entitled "In Trust".

The point is this, her frame works very well with that particular painting, but I find that more often than not, gold frames are difficult. There are exceptions of course, as is this example, but perhaps this is the exception that proves the rule. I find gold to be generally too domineering. Again!, back to framing generally: It almost seems that there is an attitude that any frame will do, just so longs as it is a frame. After all, frames are generally required when exhibiting. Contrary-wise, if one has done good work, it deserves a good frame.

Another obvious weakness that is evident in many of the paintings in this exhibition, is the lack of solid drawing skills, so I will presume to make a suggestion. For at least a few weeks, or maybe more if necessary, when going out as a group or even when working alone, it would be good to restrict oneself to just drawing and attempt to capture with a pencil the subject at hand.

Try to find the underlying structure. For those who are skilled and professional, you might try drawing with the group, for this will encourage the others.

With a fair number of the paintings, there is a lack of thought and planning in regard to composition. It might be helpful for some to make and use a view finder, which can be quickly made out of heavy paper or mat board.

Now that we are in the age of digital photography, try taking a picture of your subject, not to copy it but to help in planning the composition. Implementing these few suggestions might make a considerable difference.

As I walked around the gallery, certain paintings stood out as being more successful. I especially enjoyed the magic that Margaret Potts incorporated into her painting "Southland Drive".

Another successful painting that also had a suitable frame was "Looking Through Rocklands," by Christopher Grimes. The colours used in the painting actually worked well with the gold frame, but also, the gold on this frame is very muted. I thought the composition of Carole Figueirdo's "Tuscan Valley" quite successful, although it certainly needed a different frame.

That would make a considerable difference to the success of this painting. The underlying drawing in Dorothy Billings painting of "Cederhurst" is notably precise, which in turn helped to give the painting structure.

Rick Marson's small paintings are a delight, not only in their simplicity of composition, but also in the delicacy of colour. Rhona Emmerson's "The Back Door ? Rockmore, Paget", is strong in colour, although I was not so sure about her use of such strong blacks. This made the painting heavier than necessary.

It is not my intention to be overly critical, especially with beginners, for I want to see the visual arts flourish in Bermuda. I want to see those who are just starting out, grow to their full artistic potential, as well as those of you who are well along the artistic "road".

I wish each of you continued development, for when we stop growing artistically, we start to die artistically. With this in mind, I hope what I have written will be more helpful than hurtful. For the visitor to the exhibition, there is much to enjoy and more then enough to inspire.

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