En plein air, or plein air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. Forrests, cities, you can find plein air artists everywhere, and now, also, underwater. Plein Eau, the act of painting underwater while using scuba or snorkeling gear.
Zarh Pritchard (1866-1956) was probably the first to paint underwater. Pritchard used modified diving gear to paint underwater, setting up an easel at depths up to fifty feet, and using oil crayons and canvases specially treated to work in that environment. Pritchard traveled the world looking for new underwater scenes, with trips to Bermuda, Tahiti, The Philippines, Santa Barbara, Brazil, and several locations in the Mediterranean Sea.
Most artists use regular oil paint. Since oil and water do not mix, this is the perfect medium to use with underwater painting. There are artists who use oil based pastels. It is al based on trial and error what works best for you. There are artists out there that claim to have some sort of secret formula for their paints. Since paints contains mainly out of pigment and oils, you can take this claim with a grain of salt ;-)
Stretched canvas or regular wood is widely used underwater. Some artists use special prepared boards, again it is just a matter of trial and error, see what works for you.
When we think about oil painting we think immidiately about pollution. However most of the paint is made from food-grade linseed oil. What makes it toxic is that some of the pigments contains heavy metals. Many of these metals are found in nature so small quantitites do not present a massive long environmental impact. The polluting part comes with the clean up. Since this is done after the dive, there is no reason to be worried about this. Just make sure what you bring with you, you also take with you!
Any in water activity has its risks. For scuba diving you need a certification in order to go out diving, so you should know about the rules. Snorkeling can be learned easily by yourself. Just make sure you stay well within your comfort level and better to do this under the supervision of a qualified instructor.
Any one who can snorkel or scuba dive can learn to paint underwater. You do not have to be an artists, or a good drawer. All you need is a good teacher who can show you the wonders of underwater painting.
