More Thoughts on Outdoor Painting

Since returning from an outdoor painting workshop a few weeks back my work has continued outdoors. While most of my art practice and career has been based in the studio, going out into the world with paint has been an elevating experience. There have been a number of downsides--spilled turpentine, lost painting knives, cumbersome equipment, the weather, and insects to name only a few. But all of those challenges and issues can be avoided by experience, preparation, careful attention to good equipment, and insect repellent.

Winslow Homer, "Artists Sketching in the White Mountains," oil, 1868

Equipment for outdoor painting varies. The venerable French easel (sometimes called a "field easel") is still in use, for example, but dates to the mid-19th century. The French easel setup does provide a good sturdy palette and work holder, with ample storage for needed items like brushes and paint tubes. The weight prompted another sort of field easel with a box half the size of the original, but each case holds paint tubes, brushes, medium cups, rags and the like, so either size is heavy and cumbersome to

Typical French easel

transport and set up. Today we have other paint boxes dedicated to open air painting that vary in design. One kind of portable paint setup is a

Pochade box mounted on a tripod

pochade box (or sketch box), a lighter and legless version of the field easel. Pochade boxes are often built to accommodate a folding tripod so that the painter can stand or sit when working. Pochade boxes commonly do not feature space for paint storage or even for brushes. Artists whom I know that use this sort of setup load the included palette surface with blobs of paint before going outside. In addition there's generally not much space in the box for anything but panels so artist often bring their brushes rolled into a canvas brush carrier. Covered medium cups allow one to bring along enough oil and/or solvent for a single painting session, and of course any additional equipment must be carried separately. Even so the weight is at least reduced. So for the daily outdoor painter a pochade box is probably preferable.

(Although this post deals with oil painting, other kinds of painting are often done outdoors. Watermedia in particular are amenable to outdoor painting, including watercolor, gouache, casein, and even acrylics. With water-based paints the drying time is much reduced, no solvents are needed, and cleanup is easy. And the setups are often lightweight. A portable watercolor set (widely available with standard colors) a water brush or two, and sketchbooks of various sizes manufactured to accept water-based paint are easy to slip into a pocket or two--no need to lug heavy equipment.)

After struggling with an unmounted pochade box during my recent workshop and because my heavy French easel is so cumbersome, my next piece of equipment is a considerably more sophisticated setup. My new pochade box is made to be lightweight, portable, and compatible with a folding tripod. The product comes with a detachable shelf (similar to the photo above) with panel mounts on the lid. The design provides stability on the tripod, will stand up to wind and weather., and terrain.

Hoff, "The Dredge, Newburgh," oil on panel, 2019

The first two posts in this series showed outdoor oils from the my recent outdoor workshop plus a couple done since my return. Many painters work outdoors to study a subject more intensely, intending to translate the subject in question during later studio sessions. Others work directly, outdoors, and produce work that stands as fully realized. Either way is useful. The painting posted here is a larger studio work based on graphite and watercolor sketches done on the spot during Garin Baker's recent plein air workshop.

More to come.

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Previously:
Thoughts on Painting Outdoors
More About Plein Air