At the heart of plein air painting is rebellion. With its origins in rejecting the classical tradition requiring landscapes to be composed in studios as backdrops for historical and allegorical tales, plein air forces artists to confront and focus on reality and their immediate surroundings. Today, the genre still demands...

THE NATURAL world has always fascinated Melissa Arthur. It’s one reason she earned her bachelor’s degree in biology. After college she worked in a cancer-research lab, and on vacations, she volunteered with a variety of research projects, from studying humpback whales off the coast of Maui to scuba diving in...