I hate the term 'en plein air'

[Chronos]

Its just a pet peeve of mine. Sure it has historical relevance and etc, it just seems so pretentious to me to not just say 'painting outside'. Whats next, are you going to call your boomerang shaped pastry a 'croissant'?
You can add 'atelier' on the list.

[s.ketch]

I hate that everyone calls popsicles "cool on the cob"

[armando]

lol I also never use it, I just say outside or outdoors. The only reason they said it back then was because they were french.

[Vay]

I hate when they call yellow curvy fruit bananas.

[Blackthorne]

Umm, what the hell else would you call a croissant? Would calling it a "boomerang shaped pastry" really be less ridiculous? lol

[TASmith]

*sarcasm* Yeah, fucking French!

Joke! Much love Clochette et alia!

[DeviousMeerkat]

My mother tongue is french(but I am not french, I come from Switzerland) and there is nothing better than americans who use french words, they are just hilarious. Just my 2 cents ;D

[Vay]

Oh yea, reminds me of an article I read about snipers at:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/sniper.htm

Specifically here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/sniper10.htm

When snipers define an object they see, they describe its traits or characteristics rather than the name of the object. In their training, they wouldn't say a paperclip if they saw one, they would instead say "a wire bent in two oval shapes".

It would be interesting to see how a conversation would go, if you can only use the traits of objects instead of its names.

[TinyBird]

To me it always made perfect sense, mainly because I kept reading it as "plenty air" which is obviously something you get when painting outside.

[[email protected]]

You don't have to know French to work 'en plain air' If it still itches, stay inside...

[Flashback]

I hate the term "still life". I prefer random objects on a table.

[Bowlin]

I noticed in James Gurney's "Imaginative Realism" book, he said...

For the first century or so after plein-air painting was perfected in the late 1700s, the goal of the artist was not to create an attractive picture to sell in a gallery. The purpose was to make nature studies to bring back to the studio as reference. These studies are the seeds for future paintings, kept for the artist's personal use.

So now we have all these magazines that's been coming out for years promoting plein-air, teaching you how to make color roughs from nature. In other words, it's just a painting rough.

[[email protected]]

So now we have all these magazines that's been coming out for years promoting plein-air, teaching you how to make color roughs from nature. In other words, it's just a painting rough.

You missed "for the first century or so"...

[vineris]

Its just a pet peeve of mine. Sure it has historical relevance and etc, it just seems so pretentious to me to not just say 'painting outside'. Whats next, are you going to call your boomerang shaped pastry a 'croissant'?
You can add 'atelier' on the list.

Every industry has jargon, we're not going to go changing it because the odd artist feels silly using foreign words. If you're going to be in an industry or subculture, refusing to use its jargon makes you look way more stupid than the jargon ever will.

[Cory Hinman]

Its just a pet peeve of mine. Sure it has historical relevance and etc, it just seems so pretentious to me to not just say 'painting outside'. Whats next, are you going to call your boomerang shaped pastry a 'croissant'?
You can add 'atelier' on the list.

I hate the suffix "esque", as in "Kafkaesque".
'

[blogmatix]

I hate the suffix "esque", as in "Kafkaesque".
'

What a wonderfully Hinmanesque post... :-)

[JJacks]

I noticed in James Gurney's "Imaginative Realism" book, he said...




So now we have all these magazines that's been coming out for years promoting plein-air, teaching you how to make color roughs from nature. In other words, it's just a painting rough.

What? Plein-air paintings can be finished pieces. You have to just...you know...finish it. :/

[Chris Bennett]

I hate the term "still life". I prefer random objects on a table.

Nature morte, is better.

[Arshes Nei]

I hate when people use "it's exactly like...except"

If there's an exception, then it's not "exactly"

[Noah Bradley]

So what you're saying is that you don't like words.

[squidmonk3j]

Maybe "Freedom Painting" would suit you better?

[Bowlin]

I hate when people use "it's exactly like...except"

If there's an exception, then it's not "exactly"

Exactly.

[Blackthorne]

As much as I love oils, some of the words they use in the ad's are annoying; "juicy", "buttery", "silky", "luscious". Yet none of them actually ever tell you if the paint is stiff or loose.

[Voodoo_Mama]

I like those words. Precissely because they're French ;P

[enrigo]

I hate saying 'brushstrokes' and 'preliminary sketch' just because it's a bitch to pronounce.

why didn't they call it a 'tee' for strokes just like golf ? that would make life much simpler.

[Chronos]

Every industry has jargon, we're not going to go changing it because the odd artist feels silly using foreign words. If you're going to be in an industry or subculture, refusing to use its jargon makes you look way more stupid than the jargon ever will.

An old cryptic french word is nothing to spill your fair trade coffee over.
Calling an artist odd is...almost a compliment I feel undeserving of.
If a certain group of beret wearing subculture thinks I'm stupid for not using a term then I dont think I'd want to belong in that subculture.
In fact, I might start my own group. We'd be called the low bro(w)s, and we'd call our paintings 'shit', and we'd go outside and paint shit and critique our shit, and a good work would be called shitty.
Shit>>>plein air.

[JDSart]

I have noticed some people over here that just now are getting the habit of calling peas "petit pois"

"Ohh but i have called them that forever, dont get why anyone doesn´t"

Of course not, you asshole, you read it online 5 minutes ago from that other asshole and want to appear literate. Peas are peas, go kill yourself.

/whitewhine

[Arshes Nei]

As much as I love oils, some of the words they use in the ad's are annoying; "juicy", "buttery", "silky", "luscious". Yet none of them actually ever tell you if the paint is stiff or loose.

Glad we're talking about oils and not bowel movements.

[Voodoo_Mama]

An old cryptic french word is nothing to spill your fair trade coffee over.

Perhaps you should follow your own words :U

Although I doubt the words plein air are cryptic and old. I'm pretty sure they're still used in French nowadays.

[JeffX99]

Deal with it. It's just an adjective that has been distilled down and describes a fairly set approach to painting...or the painting itself, as in, "That's a plein-air piece". I guess you could say, "That's an outside piece" but that sounds lame and is ambiguous or redundant if it's a landscape. No differrent than imprimatura, glaze, impasto, etc. I suppose you could come up with, what to your senses would be, less pretentious terms for everything...and as Vay said you would sound like an idiot, ie: "I'm an outside painter" and people will think you paint the outsides of buildings as opposed to interiors.