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Many artists painted outdoors en plein air, such as Joseph O’Sickey, who painted "Old Man’s Garden" at a larger-than-life size of 8 feet by 11 ½ feet, outdoors, stating “I don’t design it beforehand or worry about atmosphere.” Instead, O’Sickey let the garden be his guide, sometimes even placing his large canvases against his house while he painted.
O’Sickey reveled in painting his backyard in Twin Lakes, where he and his wife Algesa settled after he started teaching at Kent State University in 1964. O’Sickey’s backyard in Twin Lakes was full of life, with a gardener as its caretaker. He depicted his backyard in most of his works, using his paint to turn it into an earthly paradise.
O’Sickey was heavily influenced by French artists Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard, and the French Impressionists, obvious in his use of quick, spontaneous brushwork.