Plein Air Painting in Chiang Mai
Plein air painting is less about control and more about letting go of it, at least a little.
Things move, people pass through your scene. Even the air feels different depending on the time of day and season. If you come to it expecting the same level of control as a studio painting, it can feel frustrating. But if you treat it as something more open—something exploratory it becomes far more enjoyable.
Outdoor painting here is less about ideal conditions and more about adapting quickly to what is available. Luckily, unless it’s the rainy season, the sky is often cloudless so there is little concern that the light will change rapidly once you’ve chosen your subject.
Even so, the aim isn’t to produce a perfect painting, but to respond to what’s in front of you in the moment. Some paintings will work, some won’t, but each one teaches you something about seeing, simplifying, and working with what’s there rather than against it.
What to Paint
If you’re travelling, or relatively new to Thailand, your instinct will naturally be drawn to what feels different. That’s a good place to start.
Chiang Mai offers a wide range of subjects, but what makes it interesting is not just the variety—it’s how distinct many of those subjects are from what you might be used to painting at home. Temples, markets, rice fields, and mountain landscapes all offer something visually rich, but also slightly unfamiliar, which helps you see more carefully.
Rather than trying to capture everything, it’s often better to choose something simple within a scene, perhaps a structure or a grouping, and build from there.
Temples
Temples are often the first place people are drawn to, and for good reason. The architecture, the grounds, and if you choose well, the sense of peace.
Wat Umong
Wat Umong sits in a forested area, making it noticeably cooler and quieter than most temples in the city. The atmosphere is slower, more reflective, and easier to work in.
The underground tunnels beneath the chedi are particularly distinctive—dim, textured, and unusually atmospheric. Above ground, there is a scattered collection of broken and weathered sculptures, with surfaces that translate well into watercolour through texture and tone.
Wat Jet Yod
Wat Jet Yod offers a different architectural character. The forms are flatter, the carvings more worn, and the overall structure feels older and less formal.
It lends itself well to simplified compositions, where you can focus on shape and surface rather than intricate detail.
Wat Suan Dok
Wat Suan Dok is one we use regularly for outdoor sessions.
The white stupas create strong, repeating forms that are visually interesting without being overly complex. Depending on the light, they shift from flat shapes to something much more dimensional, making them ideal for studying tone, contrast, and structure.
Markets
Markets are full of life, but they can be more challenging to work with.
There’s a lot going on—movement, colour, shifting compositions—so it helps to simplify quickly and avoid getting too attached to any one detail.
Near Wat Umong, there are smaller art and craft markets that are generally easier to work with. They tend to be less crowded and give you more space to settle into a composition.
Warorot Market is much busier. It’s a great place to observe and gather ideas, but painting there requires a more selective approach—focusing on small sections rather than trying to capture the whole scene.
Mountains and Landscapes
The mountains around Chiang Mai offer a very different kind of subject.
You can work from viewpoints on Doi Suthep or at the base of the mountain around areas like Chang Kian, but heading further north—towards Chiang Dao—tends to be more rewarding.
There, the landscape opens into rice fields with long views towards mountain chains that have a slightly unusual, almost broken vertical structure. These shapes create stronger compositions than softer rolling hills and are well suited to watercolour.
Staying locally in small guesthouses within the fields also makes a difference. It gives you time and space to work without the pressure of moving on too quickly.
The Ping River
The Ping River isn’t necessarily the most striking subject, but it works well in practice.
It’s narrow enough in many places to paint the opposite bank directly, and the character of the river changes noticeably as you move along it. Some sections feel more open, others more enclosed, depending on how the banks have been developed.
About 40 minutes before sunset, the light softens noticeably becoming warmer and more diffuse, which can transform even simple scenes into something more paintable.
There are a few places worth considering:
- Ban Narai River Guesthouse — a relaxed, local spot with simple food and drinks. You can sit by the water or take a paddle canoe for a different perspective.
- Anantara Chiang Mai Resort — more formal, with gently sloping lawns down to the river and clear, open views.
- Wang Sing Kham Road — recently landscaped in parts, with public access to the riverbank and varied viewpoints along its length.
Buildings and Lanna Architecture
Buildings in Chiang Mai are worth paying attention to, particularly the older ones.
Traditional two-storey Lanna houses and rice storage buildings have a clarity of structure that works well in painting. The lines are simple, the materials weather over time, and there is often a natural balance in how they sit within their surroundings.
There are also more formal examples of Lanna architecture across the city, including dedicated sites and small museums that focus on northern Thai design. These can help you understand the underlying forms, which makes simplifying them much easier.
137 Pillars House offers a more refined interpretation of traditional architecture. Wut completed an artist residency there a few years ago, and it remains a useful reference point for how these structures can be observed and developed in a painting.
Practical Considerations
A few things are worth keeping in mind.
Always tape your work down. Even in cooler months, conditions can shift, and it helps keep things stable.
The light in Chiang Mai changes quickly, especially in the late afternoon. Once the sun drops behind Doi Suthep, it fades fast. Even in winter, the window for working light can be short.
In summer, the heat becomes the main factor. It’s often better to start early in the morning or move to higher elevations where it’s cooler.
The rainy season is less predictable, but not impossible. It simply requires more flexibility in how and when you work.
Outdoor painting in Chiang Mai isn’t about finding perfect condition, it’s more about working with what’s in front of you, as it is. Some days everything comes together and other days it doesn’t. But over time, you begin to see more clearly, simplify more confidently, and enjoy the process for what it is.
If you’d like to develop this approach further, our watercolour classes in Chiang Mai focus heavily on working outdoors and adapting to real conditions.
