Outdoor Painters of Minnesota presents:
Plein Air with the Masters
A Tour of Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting
with Nelia Harper French
The Source Material: Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson
Your guide for our first tour is Nelia Harper French, a graduate of the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art and an avid plein air painter with a decade of outdoor painting experience. Nelia will break down the key components of John F. Carlson’s guiding principles into bite-size pieces with weekly practice exercises and demonstrations. Regardless of your preferred medium, mastering these principles will bring depth and atmosphere to your paintings. This interactive session will include demos, opportunity for questions, and time for feedback on attendees work.
Session 1: Wednesday, March 26, 2025 • 7:00-8:15pm CDT
In the first session, Nelia will provide a tonal demonstration of planes in the landscape. She will explain how to apply the principles to photo reference or while working on location. Attendees will be able to ask questions throughout the demo and then practice each of the simple exercises on their own before joining session two.
Session 2: Wednesday, April 2, 2025 • 7:00-8:15pm CDT
When we come back together for session two, Nelia will take us through the next step of understanding light, color, and atmosphere as she conducts a color demo and answers your questions and provides feedback. Participants will then practice the color exercises on their own, either using the material and references provided or their own paintings and/or reference material.
Session 3: Wednesday, April 9, 2025 • 7:00-8:15pm CDT
In session three, we bring everything together. Nelia will provide examples of how to approach various scenes that artists encounter and how to use John F. Carlson’s teaching to create more cohesive, truthful landscape paintings — just in time for the 2025 plein air painting season!
OPM is a 501c3 charitable nonprofit. Your donation may be tax deductible under the Internal Revenue Code. Thank you for supporting our programs with your membership or donation!
Questions? Contact: events@outdoorpaintersofminnesota.org