What is plein air painting?
If you're at all familiar with art and painting, even peripherally, chances are you've heard of "plein air" painting. Despite appearances, painting en plein air is not just a snooty phrase tossed around by painters who are trying to be impressive: it's a real thing, practiced for hundreds of years, and one most likely in practice today by many artists who just aren't aware of its fancy French name.
The term en plein air is simply French for "in the open air," meaning plein air painting is just creating art outdoors. Now, you'll be thinking, "What about cavemen? What about Australian aborigines? What about all those outdoor megaliths and Egyptian statues and everything that's been around for thousands of years before France even existed? Surely THEY didn't work en plein air!" Okay, technically that's correct. It's just that the French coined the phrase for it back in the 1800's when painting outdoors really took off and its popularity skyrocketed.
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http://www.jerrysartarama.com/blog/post/2013/03/19/Plein-Air-Painting-An-Introduction.aspx
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