I never paint outdoors. This may sound strange, but in many ways I find it impractical. For the outdoor painter who has time to battle with flies and mosquitoes, who can brave the glaring sun, the wind, the rain and cold, the sleet, snow, sand and dust, and can bask under the wondering stares of the lowly laymen who pass by -- I say good luck. 

       But this is not the only reason I don't like painting outdoors. The artist with a sketch book and pencil is untrammeled. He wanders. He enjoys nature as it should be enjoyed. He has time to have a feeling about his subject, instead of setting up his stand for the afternoon and then worrying about the every changing light. The outdoor painter is tempted to catch a certain mood existing, when he starts his picture. The sun goes behind a cloud and it is gone. Also, the endless beauty of every bit of nature is so intriguing that it lures him on to a preoccupation with detail so that the big composition is ignored. 

      Another fact to bear in mind is that pictures are eventually always hung indoors. A picture painted outdoors may look well in daylight, but when it iis hung on a wall it may lose greatly in the more subdued light of a room, let alone under artificial light. The greatest reason, however, for painting landscapes indoors lies, at least for myself, in the fact that the artist has a better chance of painting out of his imagination. He remembers the important characteristics of a scene. He can simplify and change the compositional arrangement and the color scheme so that he has a better chance of creating a moving and exciting composition.

From: Water Color Painting (1945)

Artist: Adolf Denh (1895-1968) 

     Born in Waterville, Minnesota, Adolf Dehn created artwork from the age of 6 and after formal training began to create ink drawings and lithographs by 1920 for sale. The lithography medium was so dear to him that by 1967 he had created some 637 images, which were documented in a catalogue raisonne by the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul. (That museum, as well as the Portland Museum of Art in Oregon, have in their permanent collections all images).