Finding Calm Amid Coronavirus: Learning Plein Air Painting with Julianna Wells

It’s still and quiet outside, a beautiful golden afternoon. The sunlight filters lazily across the grass. Big, humming carpenter bees wobble across the edge of the tree line, hunting for the clover flowers that have blossomed in the spring. It’s a calm day, a fine day. It’s also the middle of a pandemic.

The guidance from the CDC, from our health experts, from our leaders, from our friends and colleagues, is to keep distant, to protect each other. We’ve canceled shows and festivals and plans, and work and school, and have put up safeguards to protect the vulnerable. It’s the right thing for us to do, and it’s hard.

Still, when the world seems bleak, there is no better time to look for color. Art is not canceled, and our capacity for creation isn’t either. There’s no reason to stay stuck in our homes or apartments. We can make art, we can go outside. We can even do both.

Julianna Wells, a Columbus-based professional artist, knows this well. She practices a type of painting called “plein air” painting, where the artist picks a spot outside, lingers, considers, sketches, and paints what they see. It’s a practice that even a true beginner can try right outside their own home, no matter where they live.

“There’s a lot of beauty in everyday life, especially when we’re being forced to slow down and appreciate our surroundings and take a breath. You become open to seeing things in that way, when you set up to paint something for a few hours, you understand something more than when you glance at it,” she said.

Wells grew up in Pine Mountain before attending art school at CSU. She trained under Bo Bartlett, the legendary local painter, before moving to New York for advanced studies. Now she’s back in town, painting gorgeous scenes of our city. She was happy to share a few tips for folks in Columbus who want to find peace through painting during this unstable time.

“We’re a city full of art and culture, people are used to being able to go out and see things. This time for people in Columbus is really odd. I think it’s a great idea to encourage people to take some time and encourage art on their own,” she said. “For people starting out, I would say use something like a shoe box or cigar vbox so you can rest your painting on something. Find a bench to sit on if you can, that puts you in a little more control.”
For paint, all you need is acrylic or even watercolor. You also need a brush or brushes and something to paint on – paper, canvas or another surface.

“I would say as far as subject matter, you can paint anywhere, it doesn’t have to be a grand location. But I would look for the way the light is falling on a surface. That’s really the heart of a really good plein air, capturing that transient light that you know is going to be totally different in a few hours. It’s really exciting to try to chase that light. You realize how much in motion everything is,” Wells said.

To get started, Wells said she sometimes does a light sketch in charcoal pencil of the scene before putting paint to canvas. Other times, she just goes for it.

“The artist Nelson Shanks said, ‘Painting is easy. You just have to put the right color in the right place.’ That’s kind of how the painting progresses. I try to look as hard as I can, try to pick the color I see in front of me and put it on the canvas. Then I try to readjust,” she said.

Some other tips? Bring some paper towels to clean up, some sunscreen, some bug spray, and a water bottle to keep hydrated. Make sure you’re comfortable to work for a while.

“I find it very meditative,” Wells said. “If my mind’s going a million miles an hour, if I have everything, then it’s just me, looking at the environment and being the medium between what’s going on in front of me and the canvas. I think it could be very good for a lot of people right now.”

Above all, Wells says she hopes she can inspire people to get out of their homes a little and focus on wringing some positivity out of a dreary situation. “Have fun, happy painting, and just enjoy it,” she said.

You can find Julianna’s work, including her paintings and sketches, and information on how to contact her, at www.juliannawells.com.

By Scott Berson