Longtime plein-air painter and friend of the Garden, James Gurney has guided and inspired many artists, as well as visitors, through NYBG’s annual Plein-Air Invitational. Though this year’s Invitational has been cancelled, Gurney shares his methods and stories with us in the video below, which was filmed in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden in June of 2016. The footage transports us to a glorious spring day in the Rose Garden, and the following conversation with Gurney illuminates his personal relationship with plein-air painting and provides suggestions for those who wish to pick up a paint brush and create interpretations of their natural surroundings.