Outdoor Sketching Four Talks Given before the Art Institute of Chicago; The Scammon Lectures, 1914

"Outdoor Sketching" by Francis Hopkinson Smith is a compilation of talks centered on painting outdoors, highlighting how important it is for artists to immediately capture nature's beauty. The author shares his insights on painting in the open air and why this is a vital part of an artist’s growth. Rather than painting in a studio, the book champions getting up close and personal with nature to sketch directly from observation. Through the author's stories, readers journey into the details of putting a painting together, understanding mass, and watercolor and charcoal techniques.