Plein Air Paintings by Calvin Liang

You do not get more outdoorsy than 'Plein Air'. And when nature and the elements lend themselves to the painter's magic, you get luminous landscapes that breathe the strength of the outdoors. Calvin Liang is a Plein Air painter who obviously loves sunkissed coastlines, and to view one of his paintings is to immerse oneself in a daytrip from the comfort of home. I wouldn't mind a couple of those on the walls of my living room, let me tell you! As much as I am sold, all of those paintings herein have been sold, which is usually (figuratively) the price to pay when faced with talent. This little daytrip of a post is also a trip down memory lane as I am revisiting places which I discovered back in Spring 2001, when I travelled to California; Laguna Beach and Carmel were firmly on my roadmap. Will be back!

Source: (1-7) Calvin Liang Fine Art. Chinese-born Calvin Liang is a highly-esteemed American Plein Air painter, a Master Member of Oil Painters of America and American Impressionist Society, and a Signature Member of California Art Club and Laguna Plein Air Painters Association.

Plein Air painting is an immersive Fine Art technique popularised in the 19th century in France. It takes painters out of the art studio and into the great outdoors, where the aim is to strive to recreate movement, light effects, luminosity as it is being experienced on location, at a particular time of day. Historically the mastery of natural light was the key element that defined the Impressionist movement. Plein Air developed further into Realism, Naturalism and Luminism, via the French Barbizon School and the American Hudson River School, praised for the detailed, lifelike, almost photographic quality of their landscapes.

Further Reading:

• Barbizon School, via Artsy
• L'Impressionisme (French article), via Larousse