One type of art that helps replenish my love of life and fills my soul is Plein Air Painting.
Plein Air, translated from French into English, means 'outdoor', and that is the exact idea behind it; you leave the photos behind, leave the computer behind, pack your drawing materials, your painting materials, and head out to location, painting or drawing from sight.
Though plein air implies painting, or drawing, in the outdoors, sometimes sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant works just fine. 'People watching' becomes necessary for educational purposes when one engages in plein air painting, and the lessons learned from in-person work are irreplaceable.
Most of my experiences with plein air painting involves naturalistic places and subjects. When I go on hikes, or can grab some alone time for myself during camp outs, I prefer to take a little time to watercolor paint. Sitting spaces jump between rocks, logs, dirt, and just about anything that allows me to place my palette down flat. Well, mostly flat.
When I paint I do so with watercolors for time's sake; watercolor set up is quick, it's easy to make a small case to pack in and out, and I can usually spit out a full mini painting in one hour, making it perfect for getting a hike in as well, either before or after painting.
Inside My Pochade Box
Palettes
Pochade Box with Drawing MaterialsMy case is simple; I bought a box with a small latch at a craft store, cut a small piece of light weight thin wood to use to clip my paper or mini sketchbook to, I bring two small clips, a Stillman & Birn mini watercolor book - Beta or Zeta series works great -, a small watercolor tray that closes all the way that includes space to mix, not just store paints, paper towels, a small thing of salt, a couple small paint brushes that fit in the box all the way, and occasionally I'll bring the small tubes of paint - I use Winsor & Newton Series 3 or 4, and am now giving Daniel Smith paints a try - to replace the paints in the case. Though I have the wood box, and that's what I started with, I recently bought and Art Bin to transfer things into. The bin can separate things a little more, allows for a TINY bit more room, and it feels more robust, less likely to be dropped and hinges break on me, or the clasp give way and everything tumble out.
I have a few large trays for watercolor painting, some forty colors in one of those trays, but honestly I've forgotten the majority of those colors and the tray. What I use now are the mini travel trays, even for my painting at home, and the five colors I use in those trays. My preferred method is to stick with a color scheme per mini tray; I'll pick the tone of yellow I want, the tone of red I want, and the tone of blue I want. On top of those three I might add a second red if I feel I need a colder or warmer tone that I can't get from the original choice, and I'll usually have a black or Payne's gray placed at one end of the tray. Sometimes going back to the most basic of color theory can simplify your process and create a unity in your paintings you might not gain otherwise. It allows me to relax more and not worry about deep color theory, and instead I can focus on pumping out a decent, nice little painting in the time allotted.
My favorite part about plein air painting is getting out, sometimes with music, and rarely being needed, interrupted, or surrounded by too many people. I can get away from my home where all the chores are constantly calling my name, where interruptions are unrelenting, and where I am NEVER alone. I think plein air painting was created by introverts.
The idea of going out plein air painting was introduced two ways to me; the first was through James Gurney. He creates within his studio as well, but his Color and Light book showed several plein air paintings, and his youtube and instagram had many videos and images on his outdoor painting adventures. The thought arose within me while looking through his pictures and videos "I can combine being outside AND art? I can do that? I thought that was only for fine art oil painters!". Thoughts like that floated around in my mind, and I dabbled a bit here and there in plein air painting, but didn't make much effort towards it until my friend Hannah(THANK YOU) began talking of it and we had the opportunity to go out a few times. She showed me the idea of having a little painting kit, or a Pochade Box, and how fun they could be to put together. I now have two of them that I swap between. I tried to keep costs low so I could focus on getting to the painting side of things rather than caught up in my pochade box design, but I have since saved many ideas on how to design and redesign my painting set up. Also, I found that James Gurney created a facebook group that focuses on plein air painting and Pochade box designing, which is very insightful and fun to browse through. I feel as if my own set up is still in it's infant stages so seeing how others have developed their boxes helps me plan for the future.
Plein air painting is still new to me in many ways, and I hope to find more time for it as my children grow older and are less dependent on me. My goal in the future is to get out a couple times each week to different places just to paint a little bit, and probably get a hike in as well. I need practice drawing buildings and people from life, but my heart will always remain in the wild places of the world.
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