Take The Challange Yourself
It really is a delight to sit outdoors with a brush in hand. My secret wish is that in reading this story, you might be encouraged to try this simple process. You don't have to be talented. You must simply tell yourself that the painting you do is just an excuse to sit in some lovely spot for a few hours, a thing you would never normally do, and that it doesn't matter a bit how the work turns out. With this attitude, you cannot fail to find enjoyment. You may fear you'll be dissatisfied with the likeness, but unlike a portrait subject, the trees won't complain. Anyway, you'll be so surprised by the bold marks you've made, and the happy accidents of colour mixing, that any worries about accuracy will not even surface. I PROMISE!
To get yourself going, all you need are some undercoated white boards, some nice broad brushes and about $50 worth of oils. Oils, because they will give you a dramatic and satisfying result no matter how clumsy and untalented you are. They are much easier to handle than watercolours. It is truly a guaranteed high. I wish people doing drugs, for instance, would try this. My feeling is that a good way to get people off drugs, would be to show them a better high. Painting outdoors, learning to commune with nature through paint, is certainly that! But it should be outside. No personal angst, slapped on in a neon lit studio, will do the trick. The other benefit of outdoor painting is to connect you to places that have a special meaning, your own sacred spots. Women often take to this suggestion to try painting, men almost never do. Men seem much more threatened by the idea that they may fail, even though I tell them it is impossible to fail. The trouble is that many of us have been told by someone in the past that we are no good at art. This lie goes on and on, cutting you off from a very special self realisation.
To paint, you must learn to look. Most of us don't observe the form of things at all. We look as a driver looks, practically, defensively. "Turn here, avoid that!" To paint, you have to look at the world as if you were a Martian, and don't know anything by its name or purpose. You can help Martianise your senses by squinting till shapes and shadows are almost a blur. Then you'll see things as if for the first time. Even if painting never becomes a hobby, paint outside two or three times, and it will change the way you see. You'll have a new appreciation of the play of light on things, and from then on, will paint with your eyes, if not a brush. In fact, next time the sun is shining, look at nature as you imagine a painter might look, squint to see that pattern of light and shade. You will find yourself already in a new world!