Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Paint Out is proud to have Philip N. Geiger, as our 2010 Juror. As a professor of painting at the University of Virginia, he brings a knowledgeable eye to the work of others, as well as being a gifted painter in his own right. Geiger is no stranger to plein air painting. Although best known for his interiors, he has worked and continues to do so, outdoors. Capturing the effects of light, Geiger is the constant "observer".

Philip Geiger earned his BFA from Washington University, and then went on to complete his MFA at Yale. He joined the studio faculty of UVA's Department of Art in 1983, after first teaching at Colorado State University. He teaches introductory level drawing courses as well as figure drawing and all levels of painting.
His paintings have been shown across the U.S. in solo and group exhibitions, and he has had numerous solo exhibitions at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery and Tatisctheff and Company in New York, at the Hackett-Freedman Gallery in San Francisco and at the Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, Virginia.

"I start paintings from observation on board or canvas, thinning with stand and turp, using bristle brushes. I block in large relationships of color, trying to state light and near and far. For me, the motif is found, not set up. I search, making quick drawings in a notebook, moving myself not the objects or models.
Once an idea has formed, I start directly on the support. Most of the painting
is completed from observation. I do measure relationships simply, but not in a systematic way. Intuitive seems to be the right word. I stop thinking when I am painting and try to let intensity carry the painting. Wholeness and thrill are what I am after.

I do not intend narrative in my work although people have found it there.
The subject is important to me. I see my work as fiction, a moment of life
in the world, found, not set up. That said, if there are expressive qualities
in my work, I feel that they come from the intensity and discovery of looking and forming."   - Philip Geiger       

Influences: Vermeer, Degas, Corot, Hopper.