Jim Clyde
21 Eastern Avenue
Essex, MA 01929
978-239-0471
Jclyde2@verizon.net

BIO:  When the immortal Scottish poet Robert Burns penned the words…”the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang oft agley…” he must have had the plein air painter in mind.
Many times I have set up my easel in the brilliant sun of a mid-winter day only to find a short time later that the temperature has dropped 20 degrees and the wind has created a chill factor that renders one’s fingers inoperable.  Struggle on or pack up?

Or the refulgent summer sky deteriorates into overcast and thunderstorms.  Not wishing to confirm Franklin’s theory of electricity, I fold up my easel and head home.

But there is nothing like painting outdoors, or “en plein air”.  Under the tutelage of Gloucester painter/teacher David Curtis, I have gained an appreciation of outdoor painting and the spontaneity that it necessarily generates.

(By the way, you can always tell a painting that has been rendered “en plein air”, there are bugs in the paint!)