Arts [ Persona ] Plein Air Artist February 2007

by Stephen Sanfilippo

Stephen is an artist who takes his easel outdoors and paints a scene as he really sees it and not as he imagines it to be or as a photographer has pictured it.

I’m a Northern California plein air artist. “Plein air” refers to painting that is done outside. In other words, I create images that are not based upon photographs, memories, or imagination. One of my paintings comes directly from whatever scene that I am looking at while at work with my brushes.

A great feature of plein air painting is that it provides me with excuses to make day-trips to wonderful places like Carmel, Napa, and the Gold Country and to go to beautiful destinations like Arizona.

Last October I traveled to Arizona for the Sedona Plein Air Festival. Forty artists had gathered, including me. I wasn’t officially part of the event but spent four days working in that beautiful place and completing six plein air paintings.

I was able to get up while it was still dark, hop in the car, and drive until light began to show in the East. By 6 o’clock I would be standing in front of my easel and catching the splendor of an Arizona sunrise. It was wonderful! And almost as good, during those days, was being able to schmooze with the artists. I learned a lot from their wisdom and advice.

Beginnings
I’ve been interested in art and drawing my whole life. I remember in kindergarten standing at a wooden easel with butcher paper and a box of crayons. I felt empowered and confident that I was able to take control of a situation and to express myself creatively.

From then on I was always drawing birds and airplanes. My second grade teacher, at Simon’s Elementary School in the Almaden area of San Jose, noticed that I was drawing more than studying. She and some other teachers were planning to do a mural project for the school and wanted to create The History of Aviation over a large 8-foot by 40-foot area.

I designed the mural featuring a number of historic airplanes arranged on a long piece of butcher paper that was divided into gridlines. I then reproduced the gridlines on the walls and used a number 2 pencil to transfer the drawings from paper to wall. The mural was too large for me to complete by myself so a team of students helped me paint the objects. I supervised the work and did some of the painting. It was an important accomplishment for a six-year-old.

In Junior High I took all the art electives available. My picture appeared in the Seventh Grade Year Book together with a stipple image – using points to create half tones – that I had drawn. In 1989 I received my baccalaureate degree in Graphic Design and Advertising from San Jose State.

The California economy was slumping and jobs were scarce for newbie graphic designers so I moved with a buddy to Aurora, Colorado. We intended to be ski bums for a while and live in a small apartment complex that my buddy’s dad had bought. The plan was to maintain the facility for room, board, and enough money for lift tickets. We intended to have fun!

The plan was derailed when I almost immediately landed a job in a reprographics company doing logos, letterheads, and newsletter design. I spent nearly a decade doing graphic design in that area working for a couple of companies.

I met Tracy, the woman who would become my wife, when we were both working in the design department at one of the companies.

I eventually started my own company but finally had enough of Colorado. Shoveling snow became a drag. Besides that, I was working too much to be able to take time off for skiing and the magic had gone out of my relationship with my business partner.

The magic was really working overtime in my relationship with Tracy, however. I finally proposed marriage and we decided to move to California together. In 1998 we moved to San Francisco, since that’s where the marketing and design companies were located. This was in the middle of the dot-com era so we were free-lancing and earning a very lucrative income.

After the dot-com blew up into dot-bomb I took a job in Franklin Templeton Investment’s Creative Department doing pre-press quality control. I was living in cube world and totally out of my element. Lacking no commercial outlet for my pent-up artistic passions I started painting again.

I saw a plein air object someplace and decided to try that myself. I remember the first time I painted a plein air piece I really liked. That act of creation had the effect of reconnecting me with my soul.

I inherited my grandmothers outdoor painting easel and decided to try painting en plein air. I began taking my outdoor painting gear to work with me and during my lunch hour would capture the image of a tree or a hillside. The hour gradually grew into an hour-and-a-half as I began making the emotional transition from the world of business and commerce into the world of fine art.

The more paintings I did, the stronger became my passion to get out of my cubical and into nature. On August 27, 2004, the day I turned 40, I finally abandoned my lucrative graphics career and followed where my soul was leading.

The decision wasn’t easy – like leaping out of a perfectly good airplane with no parachute. But it was the right decision. I had accomplished what I needed to in the corporate world, and now it was time to move on.

Process of My Art
I consider my plein air paintings as studies – sketches from nature. Some pieces are more elaborate. I’ve taken as many as three outdoor sessions in order to complete a single larger painting. I once painted a fall scene in Sunol. During the first session I was able only to complete a sketch of the trees. It was late in the season and the trees were bare. I returned on two separate occasions earlier the next fall to add the colorful leaves that by then were adorning the trees.

If I like a particular piece, I’ll bring it into my studio and make a larger oil painting from it. I use stretched canvas for my large studio works, but I paint my smaller plein air pieces on nearly indestructible 1/8-inch plywood or Masonite.

I’m able to fit everything into a backpack, which permits me to explore places inaccessible by automobile. I carry a pouchade pelican box especially designed for plein air painters. The case is high impact and watertight. I could drop it off a cliff without it being damaged or into a river without the contents getting wet.

Besides providing space for paints, brushes, and palette, the box contains a carrier that will hold four panels. I sometimes work on multiple paintings in a single day. I can put these into the carrier while they are still wet without damaging or smearing them. The case holds a special easel with a quick release mount that fits on my camera tripod.

Plein air painting is usually done in a rush. After selecting a location I can often be set up and ready for business within two minutes and will often finish a picture in under two hours.

I must be able to set up quickly and work efficiently because, after all, things like clouds and the angle of sunlight change continually. Efficiency becomes extremely important at the beginning or ending of a day, since sunsets and sunrises are particularly ephemeral, with colors that change from one moment to the next.

To increase my efficiency I sometimes practice mixing paints in my studio without painting anything. I’m preparing myself so that when I’m out in the field I can, without wasting time, get a particular shade of blue sky, for example, or a sunny yellow to exactly match the colors I’m seeing.

Validation
In 2005 I was juried into the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Paintout. Many of the artists in attendance were people I look up to. I completed 13 paintings during the seven-day event, which was double the required output.

At one point the organizers staged a Quick Draw. We were given two hours in which to paint a picture, frame it, and mount it on a stand for display. The organizers then auctioned off our completed paintings.

We were painting on the site of the mission for the competition. I painted a cross and bell framed by surrounding trees. As I was working on it, the painting got some nice comments from others who were present. Representatives from Southwest Art Magazine took photos. An event facilitator said, “This is one of the best pieces.”

About 40 paintings were auctioned off, in alphabetical order, so my piece was practically the last one. I was really unsure of what would happen. One of the works sold for as much as $3,000. There were one or two opening bids were under $100, and still others didn’t get a single bid. I was concerned that being so close to the end of the auction there wouldn’t be any interest in my piece. A number of people had left by that point, but some had stayed behind waiting for the opportunity to bid on my work. The opening bid was $400. The process was really dramatic and everyone seemed to be getting excited.

By the time the dust had settled the painting I had spent two hours creating had amazingly sold for $1,475, which was more than had been brought in by the works of some artists I had admired most.

I knew that Tracy and my mom always thought I was good. However, it was great to get affirmation from discriminating people who didn’t know me. I understood how Sally Field felt when she said, “They like me! They really like me!”

My former life as a graphic designer didn’t contain many milestones. My fine art paintings, however, have become a diary of the places I’ve been to. I can look at a work and recall the trip and remember what it felt like to be in that place, how it looked, what the weather was like, what it smelled like even.

Plein air painting is hard work. My first paintings were a little muddy. The budding artist must begin like a person learns to play a guitar. Start with a few cords and gradually begin to pick out some tunes.

You have to walk before you can run. Now I’m beginning to dance! It’s great! °

To learn more about Stephen and his art, go to www.stephensanfilippo.com.

You can also see Stephen's art on display at the Arts Commission Gallery, at the Brentwood Business Technology Incubator, 101 Sand Creek Road, Suite B, February through April.

Meet the artist himself at a reception February 7, 6-8 pm, at the Gallery.