Weekly Plein Air Class (Jan 10 -Mar 21, 2025):
Color, Composition and Plein Air for the Stout of Heart

Schedule

Complete 10-session class:

  • January 10 - March 21, 2025 (with a scheduled break)

  • Noon - 4pm every Friday

About Painting en Plein Air in and around Portland, Oregon

Not many painters go out into winter landscapes, but we know there’s something especially meaningful about the changing light, the low sun and the early night. Monet did it. Turner did it. The Group of Seven and Tom Thompson did it, of course. And later, some more abstract painters have done it.

Over the years, a regular group of good hearted painters have formed but there’s always room for more! So get your winter clothes on and warm up your gumption to really paint hearty with friends and good cheer!

I have in mind to revisit some sites, and to do multiple small studies and a larger painting or two of each site. We’ll count on reworking these in our studios.

* Also, in the next year, we’ll be looking for an exhibition space to display our work together! *

Of special note:
Since mid 2020, group critiques and reviews have taken place through an online photo sharing site which has had surprising benefits. It’s very easy to use - student painters and I upload photos of our paintings to an app on our “silly phones” (aka: smart phones) and we can all comment and add remarks. I then drag the images into my photo software and can analyze and critique them, marking them with lines and arrows that make explicit the painting’s dynamics and shortfalls. I also upload and analyze my own paintings, and paintings by great painters with arrows and descriptions. All this has had great benefits and we all seem to love it. More to the point, I see that people are learning faster. Everyone’s painting is improving! So happy! 

The process has also almost doubled my time commitment with the class. The class tuition reflects this added benefit. Please contact me if you have any questions about this.

Class Sessions

Each class session 4 hours. A great way to spend your Fridays!

Limited to ten (10) painters of all experience levels.

Cost

$490 tuition for 10 sessions
$245 tuition for 5 sessions

Location

Locations depend on weather. When clear, there are many options. When wet, we’ll work under shelter.

Sites in or near Portland under consideration: Mt. Tabor, Rivervilla Park in Oak Grove, Foothills Park in Lake Oswego, Rooster Rock (east on Columbia River HWY), Sauvie Island ODFW viewing platform (rain shelter). Several other sites in the area offer something not often painted or even discussed. That is, endangered or threatened places, locations that have been degraded by oil industry or other heavy industry. We’ve been attending to some of these places for years. We’ll also paint at protected or restored locations.

Registration

If you have any questions, please contact me via email at howdy@jefgunn.com or phone: 503.201.2556.