Roger and Cathy Powell’s backyard became an art classroom on Wednesday, as students in a three-day class moved their easels and paints to town and captured a perfect fall day on canvas.

Led by the German artist Guido Frick, who returned for a third year to Andalusia, the students have been doing plein air work this week. Plein air painting, is a phrase borrowed from the French equivalent meaning “open (in full) air.”

On Monday and Tuesday, the students painting at Marcus and Jo Kelley’s. Frick said they moved to town for a specific reason.

“Students want to paint the whole landscape,” Frick said. “They would like to make it as large as Alabama. I tell them, ‘Paint a little piece of Alabama. You will have a more powerful painting.’ ”

In a backyard, he said, it is easier for students to see that.

“There are so many things to paint here,” he said. “You see all of the different greens in the trees. The fence there, adds brightness. From another angle, there are red flowers. It is all very beautiful.”

Frick, who is headed to Fredericksburg, in the Texas hill country, said he is already planning a return trip to Andalusia next fall. He spends six months each year in the United States, producing workshops from California to Florida.