Plein Air Art Podcast · PleinAir Magazine

Richard Sneary on the Worst Thing You Can Do When Painting, and More

·1 hr 18 min·5 clips

Richard Sneary says the worst thing is treating painting as a way of making a living.

1. Plein Air Art Podcast episode 255, titled "Double Nickels," centers on Richard Sneary and his shift from architecture to plein air painting. 2. Eric Rhodes hosts the episode as publisher and founder of Plein Air magazine, and Richard Sneary speaks as a former architect and architectural illustrator who began plein air painting in 2011. 3. The conversation asks why architects often become watercolor painters and whether disciplined design training helps or hinders plein air work. 4. Rhodes opens with updates from Fall Color Week in the Adirondacks, where he says the event sold out early, took in about 30% new participants, and included painters from roughly age 30 to 85 or 88. 5. He also describes trips to Sweden, Mora, the Zorn Museum, Stockholm, Madrid, and Mallorca, including private access to the Prado and other collections. 6. Rhodes says he saw Anders Zorn's palette at the Zorn Museum and learned from John Sederlund that the "four color palette" was more of a public image than the full story. 7. Sneary traces his early training to University of Kansas, where professor Curtis Biesinger suggested watercolor presentations and other variations such as pencil, ink, and washes. 8. He says architectural education kept pushing students to redraw, revise, and work quickly, which shaped his later approach to art. 9. Sneary recalls using short pastels, enlarged sketches, and airbrush work for commercial architectural presentations in Kansas City and New York. 10. He explains that his career moved from architecture into illustration, then into plein air after the 2001 slowdown and the 2008 recession weakened architectural work. 11. Sneary says he stayed with detailed illustration for years because clients expected precise built environments and because his own habits favored complexity. 12. He describes plein air as feeling like a sketch and says that, compared with a desk, outdoor painting gives him less headache and more relaxation. 13. Rhodes and Sneary compare watercolor, oil, and pastel, with Rhodes saying watercolor's challenge is anticipating highlights before applying paint. 14. Sneary answers by describing watercolor as a medium that often works from light to dark and requires an understanding of form, simple shapes, and block structure. 15. Sneary says he usually paints with slight pencil lines, mixed washes, and a focused area of detail rather than outlining everything. 16. He says shapes, contrast, light, harbors, forests, and simple subjects matter most to him, and he warns that artists can waste time searching for a perfect location. 17. The tone is conversational and practical, with Rhodes asking follow-up questions from his own experience as a painter and organizer of art events. 18. Sneary sounds reflective and matter-of-fact, especially when he describes architecture school as demanding and plein air as a process of continual learning. 19. Best for painters interested in architecture, watercolor, and plein air discipline. 20. Probably skip if you want a short, story-driven episode with a dramatic arc.

As heard by us

A grounded conversation about plein air painting, watercolor, and why working outside can sharpen the work.

Episode 255 keeps its focus on Richard Sneary's plainspoken view of plein air painting and watercolor. The advice is simple enough to stick: sketch a little, work outside, keep learning, and stay with a medium that still has room to teach back.

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Why you'd press play

If you paint outdoors, this one stays close to why the practice matters.

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