During the course of a year, many of us see the same view from the same window, but not all of us paint what we see.

Plein air painter Kevin Macpherson, a 30-year veteran of the craft, did just that. His latest series of paintings, Reflections on a Pond, offers painting enthusiasts a rare glimpse into the discipline of plein air painting, not to mention the discipline of an artist’s will. The series will be a part of this year’s Sedona Plein Air Festival, which begins Friday, Oct. 21, and ends Saturday, Oct. 29.

For his current series of paintings, and subsequent hardcover book, Macpherson took his plein air painting abilities to a new level. His extraordinary series details a year of landscape painting from Macpherson’s home in Taos, N.M.

“In front of my home we have a little pond. We’re up at 8,600 feet in elevation, outside of Taos, and the view outside my window is ever-changing. We get a lot of snow up here at that elevation. We have a nice arrangement of four seasons. Mostly winter,” Macpherson said.

He moved to the remote home in 1996. It was there where he decided to paint the series as seen from his window. As he worked on the pieces, he began to grow more and more excited about what he was doing.

“Eventually it turned into that I would like to do one painting every day of the year, of the same view outside of my window,” Macpherson said.

The ambitious project proved more challenging than he thought, however, due to his busy travel schedule. He can often be away from home six months out of 12.

“So it was a project that had a beginning, but it didn’t really have an end,” Macpherson said. “I wanted to do one of every day of the year, but it took five years to complete that. For instance, if I was there today, I’d do a painting. If it fit well in the series, I would keep it. If it didn’t, I would plan to do it again next year on the same day. When I started in ’96, it might be Jan. 1, 1996, Jan. 2, 1998, Jan. 3, 1999, but it was painted on every day of the year,” Macpherson said.

For him, the paintings reflect how different the same scene can appear through the eyes of an artist.

Each of the paintings is small, six by eight inches, and all were painted using the same palette — blue, white, red and yellow. Approximately 198 of the over 368 produced for the series will be in Sedona as part of the Sedona Plein Air Festival. The series has already toured across the nation, including locations in California and New York. As he painted the series, Macpherson kept journal notes, which he incorporated into his coffee table book, “Reflections on a Pond.”

Macpherson served as president of the Plein Air Painters of America at a time when plein air festivals, nationwide, grew more and more popular. He was involved in a plein air show held on Catalina Island for nearly two decades.

“It was very popular and it kind of [grew] all around the country where a lot of different places held shows, such as the one we’re doing in Sedona,” Macpherson said.

Besides his special exhibition, Macpherson will also teach two plein air workshops during his stay in Sedona. A full schedule of events for the festival can be found online at www.sedonapleinairfestival.com. Macpherson will also hold a talk about his reflections series, Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Sedona Arts Center. Tickets for the Art Lovers Wine Gala, scheduled for Friday, Oct. 28, from 5 to 7 p.m., can be purchased online.

Vince Fazio, director of the arts for the Sedona Arts Center, said the Sedona festival continues to develop since its inception seven years ago.

“We are doing something different this year, by having a special exhibition,” Fazio said.

When he saw Macpherson’s “Reflections on a Pond” series, Fazio realized the exhibition would make a wonderful addition to the annual event.

“He’s probably the pre-eminent plein air painter, in terms of both his work and his teaching. He’s very well known as a teacher. He has two instructional books on plein air painting. One became the standard quite awhile back on plein air painting. His second book follows up on how to bring the plein air experience back to your studio and develop larger works,” Fazio said.

The festival originally began with artist William Scott Jennings, a former resident and board member of the Sedona Arts Center, who helped develop the festival, according to Fazio.

“He’s a plein air painter himself, very well known, and attended a number of festivals. He was able to bring us a good model of what that should look like and how it should be done and so on,” Fazio said. “It’s a wonderful fit with the school here at the arts center.”

A full schedule of festival events can be found online at www.sedonapleinairfestival.org.