Meet the Artist: Haidee-Jo Summers
Haidee-Jo Summers is an award-winning artist whose work has appeared in exhibitions worldwide. Oils are her preferred medium, though she has taught in many different media, on subjects ranging from gardens to portraits. Her new book, Plein Air Painting with Oils explores the appeal of working outside with oils and the enormous benefits it can bring in terms of personal well-being. We caught up with Haidee-Jo to learn a bit more about her work and the inspiration behind her new book.
How are you Haidee-Jo? For those that don’t already know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’ve been working as an artist since I graduated with a degree in illustration in the early 1990s. For over 25 years I’ve also taught painting, in recent years only plein air painting so that is, working with students outside painting from life. I’m now taking a break from teaching to focus entirely on my own work and gallery commitments. My husband and I divide our time between Lincolnshire, where my studio is, and the Lake District where we have a lovely little stone cottage and subjects abound for plein air painting.
We’ve all been loving your new book, Plein Air Painting with Oils, what was the inspiration behind the book and how does it differ from Vibrant Oils?
When Search Press first asked me to write a book it made sense to write about my approach to oil painting. Although I’ve worked in many other mediums I specialized in oils at a fairly young age after winning a couple of competitions and in 2015 I was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. In Vibrant Oils, I really wanted to show that oil painting can be fresh and colourful and spontaneous, because I think a lot of people have the idea that it must be used in a traditional atelier style method with lots of layers and glazes. Also, I think there is a widely held perception amongst amateur painters that oils must be complicated to use when in fact they’re probably the easiest, most forgiving medium.
When I thought about writing another book a couple of years later it seemed natural that I would write about plein air painting, because that’s particularly been my genre since around 2010. For me, nothing beats the thrill of painting from life outdoors and capturing your subject from life, and I hope to inspire many others to try it. I also wanted to offer advice and encouragement to those who are already hooked!
What is your favourite section of the book?
My favourite section is perhaps painting outdoor portraits and figures, because this combines my love of figurative work together with my love of painting outdoors and this as an area that I see becoming increasingly important in my own work.
How did you first come to painting en plein air and what is it about it that you enjoy the most?
In 2010 we took the children and pets to live on a small island in France for a year. I had a break from teaching or any other commitments, and there are no cars on the island so I couldn’t drive off anywhere. We only left via the ferry once a week to get groceries at a larger supermarket. So having all the time in the world to sketch and paint and being in this beautiful place is when I really started painting plein air more fully, previously it had just been a summer activity.
What I like most about it is threefold really. I feel that being out in the fresh air, and particularly in nature, has huge benefits for my mental health. I also have become rather addicted to the challenges and difficulties of painting outside. No matter what the painting ends up like, the fact that you have conquered so much in the making of the painting really feels like an achievement in the way that painting in a cosy studio never can. And finally, you can have the most extraordinary things happen and meet amazing people (and animals and birds) when painting plein air, which really beats always working alone and hidden away.
Can you tell us a little about your process? How do you go about choosing a new subject or scene to paint?
The various lockdowns over the last couple of years have confirmed to me what I think I already knew, which is that you really don’t have to go far to find a plein air subject. Having said that I do book in a few weeks away in places such as Norfolk, Devon and the Cotswolds, often returning to the same spots. In May and June all I want to do is paint in beautiful gardens! I may travel somewhere for the day but I don’t like to have a plan in advance for what subject I will paint when I get there. I really need to arrive and look around and see what the light is doing, then I’ll settle to paint the thing that has the strongest pull.
Do you have any advice for those who are thinking of exploring painting en plein air?
I think the main thing is to explore lots of subjects and to find a way of working that really speaks to you. Paint what gets you excited, and that will come across to the viewer of the painting. It is a great challenge at first to paint a subject where everything is changing before your eyes but I offer lots of tips in the book to help with that, like setting a timer so that you don’t chase the light and end up painting three paintings in one, and fixing shadows early on in the painting.
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently, I’m working a lot in the studio, on oil paintings of spring flowers and also on semi-abstract interior studies both in oil and gouache. I’m also out plein air painting in the Lake District, it’s a beautiful time of year when the trees are still bare, there is snow on the mountain tops and the spring flowers are starting to push through.
Do you have any exciting plans for 2022?
I’m going over to the USA in May to the Plein Air Convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and also to a plein air event in North Carolina. I’ve never been to either of those places so it will be exciting to see some new landscapes and also to catch up with many plein air painter friends in one place.
Visit Haidee-Jo online via her website www.haideejo.com or connect on Facebook and Instagram @haideejosummers
Find out more about Haidee-Jo's books:
Plein Air Painting with Oils by Haidee-Jo Summers is available from Search Press, RRP £15.99.
Vibrant Oils by Haidee-Jo Summers is avaliable from Search Press, RRP £15.99.
