Nancy Roberts Offers Plein Air Insights at CAA's First Membership Meeting of The Year

By David Scholz

Local artist Nancy Roberts presented a demonstration as part of a talk focused on her approach to en plein air (painting outdoors) when the Concord Art Association gathered January 13th at the Concord Library for its first meeting of 2026.

Nancy began her talk by going over two handouts. One spotlights artists (historical and contemporary) that have served as inspiration and resources for her work. That handout also listed books and videos available via YouTube.

A second handout detailed her favorite plein air acrylic painting supplies that she uses in the field. To that end, before beginning her demo, she also showed the group how her easel and stand set up easily as well as the umbrella that attaches to it to create shade for herself when working it the field.

As the Oakley resident worked from a photograph of plants that she snapped during a visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden, she walked the 16 members in attendance through the choices she makes about acrylic paints and the use of Ampersand Gessobord, a panel that does not require a traditional frame.

Stopping periodically to step aside to both assess her own progress on the piece and to let the audience see how the painting was developing, Nancy also fielded questions about her work and how she handles different challenges that she  experiences in the field.

To receive the two handouts that were distributed by Nancy as part of her presentation, email her at NancyRobertsStudio.com. You can see Nancy's beautiful work at her website: Nancy Roberts Studio.

For more information about Nancy's organization, Contra Costa Plein Air, visit Plein Aire Painting Groups - Alliance for the Visual Arts. If you get a chance to go out with Contra Costa Plein Air, you will have the opportunity to paint in stunning natural settings, organized by Nancy. Thank you to Nancy for the opportunity to learn indoors or out.

As always, we had the Mini-Art Show. We need more entries! Next meeting, please bring some current art for the Show. We love seeing our members' work.