Joe’s Garden

Original Oil

by Allen Brockbank

Art Size:  10” x 10”

Framed Size:

Getting outside is good for the soul. Painting outdoors is what I do. It’s what I love, think about, work at, and struggle with.

​The outdoor studio provides so much more information than a simple photograph.  Views beyond the borders of my composition inform what goes on the canvas.  The sounds, the scents, the heat, the cold, the wind, the rain and the elements combine to shape my work.  Sometimes “the elements” actually participate in the final piece.  In many of my paintings, you'll find bugs and dirt embedded in the paint.

​Capturing the light is everything! It is my inspiration.  Its elusive and fleeting quality can transform the landscape in a moment and be gone in the next.  That urgency to capture that moment gives an energy to the work that is hard to replicate in the studio.

​My goal in doing plein-air work is to convey to others my experience and love for a place.  I try to bring the outside in.