Process of Plein Air Painting

Plein Air Painting is seeing, thinking and expressing.  It seems that our minds are wired to capture what we believe to be the essential parts of a situation, event, object or scene. 

Seeing, thinking & expressing

Some of you may have seen a video that illustrates this phenomenon where the viewer is told to count the number of times a basketball is passed back and forth.  

Video 1       Video 2

The viewer dutifully counts and at the end of the video, is asked whether he noticed the gorilla passing through by the players.  Most of us missed it and refuse to believe that we could have missed something so obvious until the video is played again.  And so it is with life, much passes by us unobserved in plain view. 

en plein air laguna beach by THRoberts

Artists observe life ignored

For the artist, life is a lesson in seeing, observing all of life that was previously ignored and the search to understand the relationship between the parts and the whole, and then our interpretation and expression. 

Many find it unusual that an artist might also litigate as an attorney.  Litigation is not so different.  A litigator searches for the parts that have been ignored or overlooked, seeks to understand the relationship between the parts and the whole, and finally expresses an interpretation.  As an artist, I bring to litigation creativity in a profession known for formulas and traveling well worn paths.

American Artist Tom Roberts, Esq.