Passersby and Painting Outdoors
How to Deal With Spectators
People are generally intrigued when seeing an artist at work, they are somewhat inquisitive, more likely to talk to a stranger, and they can go as far as to even give unwanted opinions. It can be quite annoying, especially if your painting isn’t going all that well. It can also take a chunk of time and become disruptive if it happens a lot. Depending on whether you are comfortable with this of not, you can find a spot where people can’t come up behind you, such as against a tree or a wall.
If you don’t wish to chat, be politely nonresponsive along the lines of, “I’m sorry. I can’t talk right now. I’ve only a limited time to do this.” Most people simply want a closer look at what you’re doing, and so saying “Feel free to have a look,” then getting on with what you’re doing is all it takes. Some people will be keen to give you all sorts of uninvited advice; just smile and try to get rid of them with extreme politeness, for instance with a “Thank you, but I’m fine with what I’m doing.” I’m so absorbed and concentrated on my painting, that I often dissolve in the process, and probably it shows on my face. So I seldom get to deal with the onlookers.
How to become one of those plein air painters who are not bothered by passersby?
Some artists put passersby into their paintings, and chat with them. How? They paint a number of plein air oil studies, which makes it easier when it comes to incorporating people into compositions. You start with the landscape, colors, and values. And once you see a person or people arrive at the right place, just put them into the painting. I go as far as sometimes ask a person to please stay for a while at a spot where I need them. Many kindly agree to become a part of a painting.
How does one place people in paintings on location?
If you intend to paint a group of people, focus quickly on certain people and their poses. They are easy to place on the canvas using the wood end of your brush to scratch them as a stick figure. If the scale is right and you like how it turned out, dip your brush into a color and shape the person’s position with paint. When you paint a group of people in the distance, their heads are just dots.
Try to not be too colorful with the people, as the painting can become spotty. Yellow ochre and bit of orange works for the figures in a summer landscape. Then you place a bit of color for their clothes.
As you are painting, many people love to watch, and you can explain how you paint them into the painting. Some artists find talking while painting to be relaxing, and so do I. I even paint better, unfortunately not faster. As I was out there starting out painting en plein air, I had no idea how to place people in, or even have the time to do it, because light changes too fast to even complete the landscape. With time I learned to use quick strokes of the same color [depending on light and situation] for the whole figure, and a different one for the head or hat. If a person is closer to the foreground of the landscape, than you place them in using as few brush strokes as possible, like I did in this painting with an Alpine horn player. 