Welcome to our site! Thanks for stopping in. We are William McLane and Bethany Orbison. This site has been created to feature our work, tell our story and direct interested folks to our other places on the web. You can follow our progress via our blog Full Hookups or shop for original artwork in The Gallery.

What is Pleinairstream? Well, “plein air” is a French term used to describe a way of painting. To work en plein air means to paint outdoors in the ever changing atmosphere. Light and shadow are constantly evolving throughout each day and a plein air painter works to capture the essence of the moment on location.

We came up with the term “pleinairstream” to cover the over all theme of this stage of our lives. We are traveling full time in an Airstream travel trailer which has become our home and art studio on wheels. We came up with the idea after spending the last 6 years moving back and forth all over the country. Living in Nantucket, Key West, Santa Fe, Maui and Martha’s Vineyard, we moved fequently just to experience new landscapes and environments and gain inspiration for art.

We also took frequent (but always too short) road trips to places like the coast of California to shoot hundreds of photographs to later use as building blocks for paintings. Having always wished we could either linger in one spot a bit longer or pick up and leave a little sooner from a place that was getting tired… we came upon the idea to hit the road in style and comfort and with the capability of staying anywhere for as long or short as we liked. Hence, the Airstream. 

Our plan is to travel the country and paint on location for at least two years, maybe longer. We have begun our trip ( March, 2007) in the South East around Georgia and South Carolina. From this point we will go wherever the wind takes us.

We would love to hear from you! If we are traveling in your area and you have suggestions for great places to stay, paint, eat, etc., please feel free to drop us a line. Billy is also interested and willing to set up painting workshops or individual classes for folks who would like to paint outdoors with him and learn a few of his tips and techniques. Again, just Contact Us if you want to chat about it.  Thanks for your visit and we hope you will enjoy the artwork we produce on our journey!

William McLane & Bethany Orbison

The Artist at Work

William Nelson McLane III is a third generation painter from New England. Born and raised in the Fall River area of Massachusetts he grew up watching his Father paint who in turn had grown up learning from his Mother. McLane started working with paint at a very young age and has studied the craft intensively since his early teen years. He is primarily a self taught painter having honed his own style and technique after years of experimentation and practice. At this stage in his career he is focused on defining his palette and capturing the true light in a landscape through excellent application and use of values.

McLane works in oil on fine linen canvas (usually mounted on board) and paints both in the studio and out en plein air. His favorite places to paint are the coast of California, the New Mexican landscape, the Mid Western rural farm landscape and of course the coastal marshlands of the East. He is a full time professional painter and is truly dedicated to his work and whose work always incorporates effective vibrant use of color, light and shadow as well as an excellent eye for composition.

The works of William McLane are highly collectible and hang in galleries and homes throughout the United States and abroad.