Plein Air Art Podcast · PleinAir Magazine

Insights from James Gurney

·1 hr 25 min·5 clips

James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade hopped on a freight train with backpacks of art supplies.

1. Plein Air Art Podcast episode 264 centers on James Gurney and outdoor painting, with Eric Rhodes opening by defining plein air as painting outdoors. 2. Eric Rhodes is the host, publisher, founder of Plein Air Magazine, and the person interviewing James Gurney about his methods and history. 3. The episode asks why artists go outside to paint and sketch, and Gurney frames the answer around reference, memory, and ordinary life. 4. Gurney says plein air studies can serve as source material for studio paintings, and he compares that process to Albert Bierstadt gathering notes from nature. 5. He recalls that Bierstadt’s collection was destroyed in a studio fire at Malkusten, which makes the physical study itself feel more valuable. 6. Gurney and Rhodes discuss how a plein air painting can preserve smells, sounds, and the people present at the site, not just the view. 7. Gurney says he can look at a 20-year-old painting and remember the exact spot and who he was painting with. 8. The conversation moves to urban sketching, which Gurney says began as an online movement by artists in Seattle and spread through local chapters in places like Montreal, San Francisco, New York, and Buenos Aires. 9. He notes that urban sketchers often work with watercolor and pen and ink, add written notes, and sometimes sit on the ground, which he finds difficult. 10. Gurney broadens the subject beyond cities by naming the Metropolitan Opera, a supermarket fruit department, a waiting room, and a gas station mechanic as valid subjects. 11. He says curators and conservators want artists to write where they are, what the subject is, and who made the work, because signatures can be unreadable later. 12. Gurney recommends signing the front legibly and writing the name on the back so future viewers can identify the artist and place. 13. He and Rhodes discuss using GPS settings on phones so that a site can be matched to a painting decades later. 14. Gurney describes painting in the Hudson Valley, including views across to the Catskill Mountains, Frederick Church’s Olana, and the changing tree cover around historic Hudson River School sites. 15. He recounts a Frederick Church iceberg study made during a seasick boat trip, and Rhodes mentions the later rediscovery of a major iceberg painting in Dallas. 16. Gurney explains that he has painted ice yachts in winter with gouache altered by isopropyl alcohol, vodka, or Everclear so the paint would not freeze at 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. 17. The tone is conversational, reflective, and practical, with Rhodes steering the interview through history, technique, and art-world context. 18. Gurney speaks in a story-driven style, moving from art history to personal memory and then to specific fieldcraft like footing, gloves, and materials. 19. Listeners interested in plein air history, sketchbook practice, and field painting will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a short technical demo without personal stories may skip it.

As heard by us

A steady conversation about making everyday scenes worth painting.

James Gurney's episode stays close to Eric Rhodes's familiar plein air approach, beginning with Eric's own painting notes before settling into a conversation about ordinary scenes.

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Why you'd press play

If you like painting the everyday, this one keeps finding reasons to look again.

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