We at Eric En Plein Air are very grateful for the support and generosity of Raymar.  I love their products and to receive a surprise box from them is very exciting!  Watch this video to see what's inside!

  If you like irises as much as I do, then you'll need to visit Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in Montclair, NJ.  The annual spring bloom season is typically mid-May through the first week of June.
  And if you're interested in painting there, it is allowed, but please be careful not to step on or disturb the flowers.

  I wanted to pass along this information for The Garden Conservancy, an organization for anyone interested in the history and preservation of America's gardens.  I am not affiliated with this organization, but I support their mission and efforts.
  The Garden Conservancy also lists "open days" - days you can visit these beautiful properties, many of which are located around NY, NJ, CT and MA.

  Isn't is fun to discover new places?  And as artists, these new places provide new inspiration!  One of my favorite things is to be somewhere that I've never been before and I also enjoy the fact that painting en plein air gives me a reason to seek out and visit new places.
  Wherever you live, you can have a lot of fun exploring the environment around you.  I love painting gardens and I'm happy to live in NJ, "The Garden State", but there are beautiful spots to paint all over the world!  Bring a sketchbook or your whole plein air kit and see what's around you.  Many public locations welcome artists, but it's good to reach out and double check (especially with any private areas).
  I need to thank my student, Lorraine for sharing these locations with me so that I can also share them here on my blog.  And I have been compiling a list of destinations to visit for Eric En Plein Air so if anyone wants to share more with me, please send me a message through my CONTACT PAGE!

  Here it is!  I am so excited to share this "pilot" episode of Eric En Plein Air!  I put my whole heart into this project and to see it come together is really special.  Here is the Vimeo Link or you can click the image below to watch.
  And another big thank you to everyone who has sent in viewer responses which I'm sharing on my Viewer Support page!  Some viewers have shared that this show makes them want to start painting or get back into painting; all I can say is how happy that makes me to hear.  Thank you everyone!

  As a teacher, I have had many students of all ages and skill levels.  And many students will tell me that they can "only draw stick-figures" or they "have never been artistic."  Some students hit the ground running, while others feel more frustrated.  Why is this?  Let's talk about this artistic learning process.
  Firstly,  It's important to have realistic expectations from the beginning.  Here's an analogy for you:  Let's say I want to learn how to play piano.  I begin taking classes and what do I start with?  Mozart? Chopin?  Well... I would probably start with some finger placement or scales.  FYI - I am not a music teacher nor a musician, but I know  that you learn gradually, step-by-step.  
  Think about the language learning process.  It takes a lot of practice and there are always new words to learn!  Everything in life is actually like a language; painting and drawing are simply a visual language with specific terminology.  Terms like value are crucial to understanding art.  Learning these terms lets us speak the same language, but it takes time so be patient.

Reading books is also helpful, but there are so many books out there--how do you know what's helpful?  I see a lot of step-by-step books, but these "technique-based" books that say "Step one: draw a circle, Step two: draw a square" are not very helpful.  Instead, I gravitate more towards principle-based books that are about larger concepts like shape, value and color!
 Check out a book called The Art Spirit.  It doesn't focus on technique, but it speaks more about bigger ideas and philosophical topics.

  I won't pretend that I can teach you everything here in this blog post, but I can point you in the right direction and encourage you that you can learn how to paint.
   And if you take away one thing from Eric En Plein Air, please try to enjoy the process and the experience of creating art.  Be kind to yourself and remember that baby steps are still steps!
 Keep learning, focus on the big principles, take classes, read books, watch videos, talk to friends, share ideas, make memories and enjoy every minute of it.

  It's been a very busy few weeks as we further develop Eric En Plein Air!  Last Friday, we visited the Celery Farm nature preserve in Allendale, NJ.  I was there to paint and also to film what you could call a "pilot" episode, which is essentially a proof of concept.
  I am sharing the introduction here and the full episode will be available soon.  Huge thanks to my guest, Jim Wright and to Tim Hillmann at Studio94 Video!  More coming soon!

  Sending out a message of thanks and gratitude as we celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22nd.
  From local areas to exotic destinations, it's always beneficial to learn about and appreciate different environments.
  I hope you enjoy these two photos from the Giardino delle Rose in Florence, Italy.  They remind me of how beautiful nature is.
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"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished" - Lao Tzu.  

  I've always been interested in art history and the methods of past artists.  As I became a teacher, I was able to learn and share more about this history.  Art history is also a great way to study general history because artists have always had their finger on the pulse of society and important events.
  The history of painting en plein air (outdoors) is fascinating for many reasons.  It ties in to the industrial revolution and the adventurous spirit that many artists share with inventors and explorers.  As artists, it's important to be able to study and learn from this rich history.  I will be including a lot of history into the creation of Eric En Plein Air since American Public Television supports these educational goals.
   I was able to explore more of this through an online lecture that I gave a few years ago for the Atelier at Flowerfield.  Here is a link for those of you who are interested in the history and also the practice of working en plein air!