PlEin as day

Nature constantly changes — the skies, water, land and flora. Don’t think of just seasonal variation, because for a painter or photographer the light changes every 20 minutes.

How’s that for a challenge?

Yes, the wind, cold, heat, rain and fog can present hurdles for that outdoor creator. I’ve seen easels blown off a cliff into the sea. Freezing hands have trouble holding a brush or pastel. You can’t paint watercolors or acrylics in rain, nor in heavy fog. It’s a jungle out there, sometimes literally.

Yet intrepid artists do it all around us. If you don’t bother them, you can even watch the process.

In fact, you can join the fun. You may discover new sights and sites, along with your own insights.

This is the season to give it a try.

Oxalis is already turning our fields yellow and all sorts of wildflowers will be popping up in their turn for months ahead. The same landscape that attracts you can change daily. The weather is continually warming, rains become less frequent, and it’s less of fog season for the Bay Area. Most days are neither too hot nor too cold.

Sound good to you, Goldilocks? Get out here.

There are three primary plein air painting groups in San Mateo County open to the public for budding or experienced artists alike. Membership is easy on the pocket and the ego; they’re there for fun and sharing.

Burlingame Plein Air Painters, my group, is accessible via meetup.com/Burlingame-plein-air-painters. We range all over the Bay Area and beyond, mostly on the Peninsula, but we’ve gone as far as Inverness, Carmel and the East Bay. This group meets weekend mornings twice monthly.

Peninsula Outdoor Painters has a website: sites.google.com/view/peninsulaoutdoorpainters. Primary locations are around our county Tuesdays.

Bay Area Plein Air Painters (formerly Half Moon Bay Plein Air) work on the coast Wednesday mornings. Organizer Eric Greenhut can be reached by email at ericegent@gmail.com.  

There are other plein air groups scattered farther around the greater Bay Area too. Urban sketchers abound, but these are often indoors for their subjects.

Painting in a group is both fun and instructive. Everyone does their own thing, these are not classes. Seeing the media other artists use, their equipment, techniques and style can help anyone become a better creator. You’re visualizing the very same place through different eyes.

“I like seeing how each artist uses each location differently for their setup,” notes artist Gene Firpo. “This inspires me.”

It’s fun, meditative and you get to enjoy some great scenery in good company.

“Cheaper than seeing a psychiatrist,” teases internist Dr. Craig Hoffman as he brushes a watercolor, while psychiatrist Dr. Alan Marx paints in oil beside him laughing.

Occasionally these groups mount a collective show in a local gallery.

In 2019, Sanchez Art Center coordinated four art groups painting historically significant sites in Pacifica for the “Along the Ohlone-Portola Trail” exhibition. Over 40 painters tackled the same four locations, yet the range of interpretations of each site varied widely. An eye-opener.

Open your eyes to the potential for painting in the open air.

Heads Up: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco hold their “Bouquets to Art” show spanning both museums March 3-8. Tickets go fast: famsf.org/exhibitions/bouquets-to-art-2026. Atherton Arts Foundation holds “Women in Art” March 7-8: athertonartsfoundation.org and a “Botanical Art” series, RSVP dlhunterart@gmail.com.

Bart Charlow, author, artist and consultant blends over 45 years of painting and photography with narrative storytelling. Explore the intersection of observation and expression through his insights on the local art scene, find his books at bartcharlow.com and his art at bartsart.weebly.com.