Williamson Tapia
Sedona resident and Arizona native, Williamson Tapia, studied art and oil painting at Glendale College and Arizona State University ... a pursuit that ultimately led him out of the studio and into the wilds, where direct study en plein air (French for “in open air”) became a steadfast addiction.  He, like many other artists before, became fascinated with painting nature without the benefit of a camera (or secondary reference of any kind) by way of an earlier process relying entirely upon the painter’s own eye and direct interpretation of an outdoor subject (eye-to-subject-to-canvas) ... what he calls Dedicated Plein Air.  Results “en plein air” are typically more unpredictable and challenging than studio work: The declination of the sun constantly changes; Clouds alter shape or disappear; Weather conditions can be uncompromising or even threatening; Any number of unplanned occurrences (you name it) can either interrupt or distract an artist; Not to mention, the “critter factor” (e.g., biting insects and snakes). 

Large-scale DPA work requires repeated visits to an oftentimes remote site, that must be carefully approached with a considerable payload, and enough determination to combine the hard work of “set-up” with a controlled brush & palette study, and still enough energy remaining to safely pack everything out.  For all the difficulty involved, plein air paintings seem to retain an element of atmospheric realism, rarely found in studio-produced landscapes.  While the definitions of plein air can vary somewhat from artist to artist, all will generally agree that some form of direct study is absolutely essential to properly demonstrate the best aspects (or hallmarks) of plein air composition.  To Will Tapia, and others like him, it is the uncompromised event of the artist’s working on location, “body and soul,” that imparts such an extraordinary quality to the type of painting that is called Plein Air.