Plein Art Sketching: My Art Love Letter to Austria and Palm Beach County

On Plein Air Sketching
Video Blog Transcript
By Jackie Morreale

PART I: DRAWING AL FRESCO

What if your office was outside?

What if instead of sitting at a desk, or sitting on the sidelines of an activity, you could simply draw whatever you see in front of you. That's what plein air sketching has become for me. What's funny is, I never set out to become a landscape artist.

In fact, when I started doing this, I wasn't even in Palm Beach County. I was in Austria.

Jackie Morreale with her Austrian Alps sketch in soft pastel, June 2026

SKETCH 1: AUSTRIAN ALPS

I was traveling through the Alps, away from my studio. I wanted to make something as a gift for family. I remember looking out at this incredible postcard-like view, the mountains, the folds of terrain, the grass, the trees.

The light was disappearing, and it was getting darker and darker by the minute. I had until about nine o'clock before it was going to be pitch black. I remember thinking, 'I don't know how to draw landscapes.' 'It's been so long.' 'I'm probably not very good at this.'

But all the stores were closed. It was a Sunday. It was family dinner. I wanted to leave my family with something unique, from me. I thought, 'You know what? I'm just going to draw what I see. No matter how good or bad it is.' That's really where this whole thing started.

I stopped worrying about whether I was good at landscapes. I just started looking, layer by layer, top of the sheet to bottom, farthest away to closest to me.

Morreale, J. (2026, June) Austrian Alps and Horse [Pastels on paper].

Morreale, J. (2026, June) Cut Edelweiss flowers [Pastels on paper].

Shapes that could be blocked by colors, where the natural lines are composed on the page. I cared about making something beautiful for the people that I love. Somewhere during that drawing, I realized maybe this way of making art actually works. Maybe I don't have to know exactly what I'm doing. Maybe I just have to pay attention.

I've carried that lesson into every plein air sketch that I have done since.

When I came back home to Palm Beach County, plein air sketching became something completely different. It became my favorite kind of office. I worked from home now for almost 10 years, and sometimes, I just need a change of scenery. With plein air sketching, my office is outside. I never know what I'm going to find when I get there.

I always come home feeling better. Feels like art therapy.

Morreale, J. (2026, June) Sunlight through the Pine Trees [Pastels on paper].

SKETCH 2: LIGHT THROUGH THE PINE TREES

The first plein air art sketch that I did back here in Palm Beach County happened while I was with my daughter, at swim practice. I was going to be sitting there for an hour and a half, so I thought, 'Why not take my pastels and my sketchpad and find something to draw?' I walked around the pool looking for a table and something interesting to draw.

I found these palm trees, pine trees, and pine cones scattered across the ground next to a table. Nothing particularly extraordinary except for the light. There was this beautiful sunlight coming through the trees that just illuminated the entire scene. It almost felt divine. I sat down and I started drawing.

I worked from the front to the back.

This is why I love plein air sketching, because all of a sudden in Florida it could be raining when you start doing a speech outside. Let me take this inside...

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PART II: BACK IN THE STUDIO

Inside. Out of the rain, talking about plein air sketching. Back to my story.

I sat down and started drawing, layers of trees, the bark, the pine cones in the soft green grasses, and that beautiful light coming through everything. That's when I really started to understand something about plein air. You don't have to find an extraordinary place to make an extraordinary experience.

You just have to look closely at an ordinary place, like some trees at a park next to a swimming pool.

Morreale, J. (2026, July) Mango Tree with Ripe Mangoes [Pastels on paper].

SKETCH 3: MANGO TREE

We have this little mango tree that just started producing fruit. That in itself feels special. My daughter loves to cook. She loves making mango salsa. I wanted to capture the mangoes while they were ripe and ready to eat. I love drawing fruit because it gives your eyes something to focus on.

I'll admit I did take one of the mangoes and put it on the ground, because I wanted the painting to communicate: They're ready to pick, they're ready to eat. Of course, after I drew them, we harvested them and made mango salsa. That drawing became part of an actual family experience.

Literally tree to table. That's another thing I love about plein air sketching. The drawing isn't just the finished piece, it's the memory attached to it. While I was drawing, ducks came swimming over, my dog was sitting next to me. Family was all around.

Suddenly this little mango tree became an entire story, an entire experience.

Morreale, J. (2026, July) Everglades with water lilies and butterflies [Pastels on paper].

SKETCH 4: EVERGLADES

Let's talk about the Everglades. This one was hot.

There are some days in Florida where you step outside and there is absolutely no breeze. This was one of those days. I found this swampy grassland area with a little boardwalk bridge and a bench next to it and just started looking. The more I looked, the more I saw. Layers upon layers of grasses, different colors and kinds of trees, different shades of green throughout. Then the water lilies right there on the surface, white water lilies.

And butterflies, these tiny orange butterflies, everywhere right next to my feet. I probably wouldn't have noticed all those things if I hadn't been sitting there trying to draw the landscape. That is one of my favorite things about making plein air art. It forces you to pay attention.

The landscape didn't necessarily change. I changed because I was looking at it differently with the intention of capturing the beauty of it.

Morreale, J. (2026, July) Jupiter Lighthouse [Pastels on paper].

SKETCH 5: JUPITER LIGHTHOUSE

I wanted to draw an iconic Florida landmark, the Jupiter Lighthouse.

This is one of my favorite places in Palm Beach County. As I sat down to draw that lighthouse, I had one thought running through my head:

'Don't mess it up!' because this time the focal point is super obvious. The lighthouse is rising right out of the trees and bushes.

There were boats in the water too. Boats are interesting because they don't wait for you to draw them. You really have to look, and you have to draw quickly.

Nature doesn't pause for you while you're drawing it.

Morreale, J. (2026, July) Worth Avenue Clock Tower [Pastels on paper].

SKETCH 6: WORTH AVENUE CLOCK TOWER, PALM BEACH

Then it came to another iconic Palm Beach landmark, the Worth Avenue Clock Tower.

I went early because this is one of those places where there's almost always somebody taking pictures. Graduations, tourists, families, people just trying to capture this beautiful view that is the Worth Avenue Clock Tower.

The ocean behind the clock tower looks like a postcard. I sat down next to the clock tower with my sketchpad on my lap and started working. Again, 'Don't mess this up!' because everybody knows what this landmark looks like. I focused on the light reflecting off the architecture, the foliage around the tower.

While I was drawing, people started stopping. Stopped to look. Asked what I was drawing. That's one of the unexpected gifts of drawing in public. You think you're going to sit alone and quickly and quietly make art, but people become part of the experience.

Morreale, J. (2026, July) Lake Worth Beach by the Pier [Pastels on paper].

SKETCH 7: LAKE WORTH PIER

Then there's Lake Worth Pier and Beach. There's always something happening. I couldn't find a place to sit except under a covered area next to a group. I thought, 'Okay,

This is where I'm drawing today.' What happened next was so much fun. Even though I had my headphones on and my head very much down, almost everyone in the group came over to talk to me. They wanted to see what I was doing, they wanted to see what I was making.

They told me about family members who were artists. They asked me questions. Suddenly, this very quiet, antisocial activity of drawing became incredibly social. It's probably not the most detailed drawing that I've ever done, but that's okay because that really wasn't the point. The point was the experience.

Morreale, J. (2026, July 18) Boynton Beach Everglades with Bird [Pastels on paper].

Part III: ON PLEIN AIR SKETCHING

After doing all of these plein air sketches, I realized that I am not trying to make photographs. I don't want my drawings to look exactly like the scene in front of me. They're more like time stamps. Just like my blog posts, just like my interviews, they are a record of that particular moment in time or my interpretation of it. Where I was, what I saw, what caught my attention.

Maybe most importantly how I felt in that moment. That is what makes each drawing different.

The Everglades drawing isn't just the Everglades. It's butterflies and water lilies. The mango tree isn't just the mango tree. It's my daughter's mango salsa. The lighthouse isn't just a lighthouse. It's a place my family loves.

This Worth Avenue clock tower isn't just a clock tower. It's runners, it's workers, and it's people taking pictures.

There's another lesson in all of this. I've been sharing my artwork publicly and that has been its own exercise in bravery. For a long time I worried, 'What if people look over my shoulder?' 'What if they don't think I'm good enough?'

But the funny thing is, people do not seem to care about whether or not it's perfect. In my experience, they just want to see what you're making. They want to tell you about their own artists and the places that they love. And sometimes they just say, 'That's beautiful.'

Because the whole experience is pretty beautiful.

Morreale, J. (2026, July 5) Lake Worth Bryant Park intercoastal view with tropical dart frog, inspired by Grandpa's original acrylic art [Pastels on paper].

ART CHALLENGE:

So if you have ever said, 'Somebody I know likes to draw.' Or maybe you've thought, 'I'd love to try that.' Here is my challenge: Next time you go somewhere beautiful or even somewhere completely ordinary, take a pencil, take some crayons, or that old camera, or even an app on your phone that lets you draw.

Just draw what you see.

You don't have to be good. You don't even have to finish. And you don't have to show it to anybody. I drew for a very long time without showing it to anybody. Just look, really look.

It gets you out of your own head. It gets you outside. Most importantly, it gets you to notice the beauty that is around you. That is what plein air sketching has done for me. It started in the Alps, because I needed to make a family gift, and somehow it became one of my favorite things to do.

So now my office is outside. I never know what I'm going to see. I never know who I'm going to meet. I never know what little detail is going to catch my eye.

Maybe even the beauty of rain.

I can't think of a better day at the office.

I'm Jackie Morreale, host of Wisdom for Wannabes. This is not only wisdom that I have learned, but this is my little love letter to plein air sketching.

Thank you for coming along. Can't wait to see what you make.

My favorite place in Palm Beach: Worth Avenue Clock Tower

Jackie Morreale next to the Worth Avenue Clock Tower with her pastel sketch of it