How to Find Good Plein Air Spots with Sandi Hester

When Sandi Hester (Ep.93) decided she wanted to paint plein air, she knew she needed to get tactical.

Painting plein air isn’t as easy as just walking up to the first green place you see and plunking down. If you’re not careful, you spend a lot of time wandering around figuring out where and what to paint.

Hester didn’t want to get stuck in this loop. So she did this instead.

She made a plan.

She wanted to make it as easy as possible to show up and get to work. So she consciously made a list of what she needed in locations.

For easy access, she needed the locations to be relatively close to where she lived. She needed to be able to drive home and use a restroom. She needed locations that had parking so she could bring as much stuff as she wanted in her car. She needed to feel safe.

Once she knew what she needed, she began looking and finding places that fit her criteria.

Now she keeps a list on her phone of all the different places she likes to work and she can match them to her energy levels, her interests, and the weather.

Put it to Practice:

Working plein air is complicated enough. There's no need to choose places that are unknown every time.

If you want to paint plein air, the more you trust your locations, the more likely you are to go to them and actually paint plein air.

So figure out what you need in your spots. Then get strategic about researching and finding a great list of places you trust that you can go for a good experience.