Plein Air Info

What you paint on depends on the medium. If using gouache or watercolor you can use a watercolor sketchbook or watercolor block. If oil, small canvas panels work great. I wouldn’t go over 9 x 12. Keep it fairly small no matter the medium. Bring a roll of drafting/art tape. We will probably tape off small areas to start. First day bring black and white paint. If watercolor you can bring black only since you use the white of the paper with that medium. I listed my palette before, but here it is again:

Basic Set of Colors:

Ultramarine blue

Cobalt blue

Viridian Green

Sap Green

Lemon yellow

Cadmium yellow Med (warm)

Pyrrole Red (or any neutral red)

Alizarin Crimson

Yellow Ochre

Burnt Sienna 

White (if not watercolor) But I keep a tube of white gouache for watercolor

My palette is basically a split primary (yes I know green is not a primary). Which means I have a warm and cool yellow, blue, red and green. Then two earth tones, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. And white.

Notice no burnt umber, payne’s gray, black etc. I consider those “crutch colors”, non-colors that people lean on to darken things. It also kills color.

I have multiple setups. For sketchbook painting or watercolor block, usually in gouache or acrylic I use this simple shelf easl:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDjZYvjjuw6/?utm_medium=copy_link

Or this “easel” which is just a stick.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKHOMj8j8sz/

All my setups mount on a tripod.

For oil I use a pochade box. Here’s a few of those:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmbLWodB89u/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkIfhYLlJQK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj2UpYNlg0w/

This is my current setup in the foreground.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE4yIttxDUQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Brushes:

Rule of thumb, bristles for oil and you usually have soft brushes also. For watercolor/gouache/acrylic, soft brushes (nylon/synthetic). I have various flats and rounds. Also I would get a liner brush. Do not spend money on expensive brushes. A lot of what I use for plein air are inexpensive. 

 

The Obvious:

Dress accordingly, hat, sunscreen, temperature appropriate clothing. I’ll try to pick easy access spots, but we sometimes encounter tigers, bears, moose etc. Don’t taunt them.