An international art challenge led artist Joanne Fenech Portelli to practise plein air painting on a daily basis for the month of April. Come rain or shine, windy or overcast weather, she would carry her easel and paint supplies to various locations across the islands and spend a couple of hours there, painting the scene in front of her and focusing on whatever caught her eye – the sea, a tree or a rocky outcrop. The resultant 30 works are going on display today in Valletta.

Joanne Fenech Portelli during one of her plein air painting sessions.

The artist’s love for plein air painting goes back a few years. It actually started during a trip to Wales with her husband in 2013.

“I wanted to immortalise a couple of scenes and bring them home with me as a memento. I immediately felt at one with this outdoor painting experience and, on my return, I never looked back or painted a scene from a photograph again,” Fenech Portelli says.

“I realised that there is a big difference between what a camera sees and how our eyes see it. It is about connection: the whole experience of absorbing the environment I am in, to bond with my surroundings, to feel the vibe of the place, use all your senses while painting and transferring that whole experience in paint onto canvas.

“It is about capturing the emotion of that moment in time, that particular day and time and managing to convey it to the viewer.”

She is often asked why she doesn’t just take a photo and paint from it. But she is adamant that a photo can never replace the actual experience of painting on location.

“This live experience of outdoor painting makes the artist a protagonist in this situation, where nature is in control and is the director of the scene. Nature dictates the weather and, thus, the artist has to adapt to the circumstances and make the best out of that situation,” she points out.

“The artist is, thus, out of the comfort zone of the studio and is instead in an attentive and observant state of a particular moment in time. All of this requires the artist to paint quickly… there is no time to lose. It is important to think fast and capture the light and mood clearly, with no hesitation, with risk even. And it is this risk-taking that makes an artist grow and gain self-confidence to be able to sum up this living experience in paint and become a visual storyteller.”

Plein air painting as an art form was popularised by the French Impressionist painters in the 19th century. Fenech Portelli says her favourite plein air painter, however, is Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), ‘the master of light’, as Claude Monet, the founder of Impressionist painting, called him. She had the opportunity to visit two of his exhibitions, in Spain and Ireland.

It is about capturing the emotion of that moment in time... and managing to convey it to the viewer

“I think Sorolla was the greatest plein air painter that ever existed. He did studio work as well but when it came to plein air painting, he was serious about it and excelled in it. His works are a true inspiration,” she says.

Fenech Portelli admits that she takes great satisfaction from the whole plein air process, from start to finish  – from preparing the equipment, to reaching and choosing the spot, to enduring the natural elements, to managing to start and finish alla prima,  meaning in one painting session and to being able to put together that experience in paint.She also sees this practice as a way of disconnecting from the hustle and bustle of the hectic everyday life and “becoming at one with nature for a while and feeling part of the universe”.

She uses various mediums for her works, depending on the time frame and the situation. “If I do not have much time, it is just a sketchbook and watercolours and if I have a longer time span, it is either gouache or mostly oil paints,” she says.

Her favourite medium is oil paint.

“It is so versatile and responds to what I want to convey best. It is my number-one choice, even when I go abroad to participate in plein air painting festivals.”

During the pandemic, she obviously couldn’t go to any such festivals but she managed to take part in a painting challenge which was organised by a painting society in the US called Warrior Painters.

Various artists from around the world took part. They had to paint every day during the month of April and upload their experience and a photo of their paintings on Instagram on a daily basis. At the end of the month, the organisers went through the posts and chose the winners.

“I believe every artist who took part and endured the challenge of painting every day was a winner. It is ultimately the feeling of satisfaction of having persevered and committed to the task that mostly counts,” Fenech Portelli says, happy to have placed among the 25 runner-up winners in the oil painting category. “The competition was huge and this was unexpected.”

She explains in some detail some of the challenges she faced, including the fact that her daily routine had to revolve around the outdoor painting sessions and that the haphazard weather did not make the feat any easier.

“One day it was sunny and warm, the next rainy, windy and gloomy. So, I was checking the weather forecast and wind directions daily to be able to choose the best spot for that day. Yet, there were days where it was windy everywhere, so I had to just face it, literally,” she says.

On the positive side, these ‘imposed’ circumstances helped her sharpen her skills.

“You have to work quick and think faster. The brush is not a magic wand that does the job on its own. On the contrary, it is the coordination of the brain, along with the experience gained, with the hand coordination, the ability to choose the right composition from where you are standing and transfer that feeling and essence into colour harmony, the closest that they can be to nature, because nature is already beautiful and does not need to be tweaked or altered,” the artists says.

As regards locations, she painted mostly the southern part of the coast, mainly Xrobb l-Għaġin, St Peter’s Pool, Lapsi, St Thomas Bay and the coast in Marsascala where the former Jerma Hotel once stood. She also painted the iconic view of Marsamxett and Valletta from Ta’ Xbiex.

“We are blessed with a magnificent coastline, which I must say is my favourite subject to paint, especially when the sea is not so calm. Trying to capture the texture of the erosions and waves is an inspiration in itself.”

Fenech Portelli is grateful for her family’s support throughout the 30-day challenge and feels blessed that it brought her closer to nature during the pandemic and also helped her spread her passion for painting outdoors.

“Being quiet in the same spot for hours made me appreciate more our surroundings, and being aware of the moment, the fleeting time, and observe nature’s pulse and patterns. I enjoyed the sense of isolation, the peace, the tranquillity,” she remarks.

“And when passers-by would stop to see what I was doing, I enjoyed connecting with them and passing on the culture of painting outdoors, even if they would perhaps never do it themselves. But it makes you realise that art is a universal language, something everybody loves and connects to.”

Joy: The Art of Painting Outdoors is opening today at Desko, at 104, St Lucia Street, Valletta. It runs until June 22. For more information about the exhibition, visit Desko’s Facebook page. For more information about the artist, visit the Facebook page Joanne Fenech Portelli Fine Art.