Blog

Bill Protzmann writing here, Rebecca Noelle's business manager.

Have you ever been outside painting where lots of people are milling around? I've accompanied Rebecca many times to some fairly crowded places, such as Balboa Park in San Diego, or anywhere near the harbor, and random people just like to talk to her and ask questions -- it's great exposure. Often we "live tweet" the progress of a painting for her fans and collectors (follow that on Rebecca's FaceBook page here).

As popular as plein air is, it's still a new term for most people on the street. We try to explain it -- standing in a snake-infested field with a hot wind blowing your easel all over, or in the rain, or a mosquito-infested swamp, or in a freezing snowstorm -- but that sort of thing just makes the average person look at you funny. Why would anyone go to all that trouble when you could just take a smartphone photo home and do the same painting in the (relative) comfort of your studio?

So here's the deal: for us, it only gets to be a "en plein air"if the painting was actually done out there with the weather and bugs and dangerous creatures and tourists and skateboarders and....

You get the idea, right?

Sure, there is lots of "plein air" art available -- the term "en plein air" has become a lot like "outlet" when it comes to sales and marketing -- but how do you REALLY know if a particular painting is an authentic work "en plein air" or not? The truth is, you must trust the painter.

Rebecca's collections are organized by trust.

You can trust that when a particular piece of Rebecca's work is listed in her Plein Air collection, she was actually there at the location with all her artist stuff painting exactly what she saw. It's a testament to her integrity and authenticity -- that's just how she is.

If a partially-finished painting was taken back to the studio and finished later, you can find it in the Landscapes / Alla Prima collection.

This means a lot to collectors: wouldn't you prefer to know that you are investing in an original painting done "en plein air"  -- started and finished outdoors, maybe with some dirt embedded in the paint? Many times Rebecca is battling light that changes ever few minutes as well as the weather, bugs and other annoying creeping creatures, and to do that...well, it takes more effort than making the same painting in the studio.

You see, there's more to a painting than colors on a board, and we find collectors often develop a bigger attachment to a painting when they know more about it's story. That story could be a beautiful sunny day at the beach, or a fight with nature that maybe ended in the studio when nature won. Doesn't much matter...but being honest about the provenance of a painting, we feel, begins with its creation.

Happy collecting!