FORGET the Pre-Raphaelites – a new art brotherhood is under way and its inaugural exhibition is being held in a Harpenden gallery.

The Plein Air Brotherhood is a group of painters who have formed a bond of camaraderie and mutual support. They are exhibiting from next Friday, September 2, until Friday, September 30, at the A&K Wilson Gallery in Station Approach.

Drew Wilson, owner of the gallery explained: “En plein air’ is the term used to describe painting outside. It is French and simply means ‘in the open air’. Painting en plein air presents the artist with a unique set of challenges.

“Light changes constantly, altering the subject hour by hour, minute by minute. Clouds can plunge a scene into darkness, sunlight throws a figure into sharp relief. Tides rise and fall, people come and go.

“The plein air painter must seize upon these moments – distilling from this evolving scene a permanent record of time and place.”

The brotherhood consists of Adebanji Alade, Antony Bridge, Roy Connelly, John Dobbs, David Pilgrim and Karl Terry – the last of whom appeared on the BBC programme Show Me The Monet during which the judges found it hard to believe that his painting had been completed entirely on the spot in just two hours.

Three members of the group have been working in Harpenden painting local scenes for the exhibition.