A Guide to Plein Air Painting | Jackson's Art

Hello my name is Lisa Takahashi I'm a writer and lecturer and I'm here to talk about painting planning This art of painting landscapes was heading toward the fountain in the 1800s e choice of route was left entirely to the discretion of the traveler meaning that good beautiful painting could emerge from the process It was consulting the fact of choosing for the greatest number of people such as Renoir and Monet painting the photographs out on the streets by framing and producing the photographs This was something new and unnoticed a choice made deliberately and of course And the sheer exhaustion the overwhelming exhaustion of trying to keep up with the efforts Felly the first thing you need to consider is the location When you're deciding I believe many people find it interesting that they might They’ll need you to choose something interesting and unusual and unusual but that’s not true Consider your local circumstances what affects you and your efforts You can begin by selecting a panel on your lap at the top of the park No need for You're always free to choose If you're new to the process of choosing it's good to choose and practical decisions for me So are you having trouble with your hand Will seeing it be something you' ll want to choose for a long time You'll be doing a number of panels in your first selection session You must beautiful If you are going I'm just not that concerned about a few choices make sure you'ready ganddo ddewis ychydig o ddewis os ydych chi'n mynd i ddewis yn ysbiwlaethau anhodd angen i chi ddewis acceptance of the fish behind If you are planning to choose a full catch of fish So I'm just going to walk through some of the equipment that would be helpful during an outdoor painting session Every painter is different and some of the suggestions I'll make might seem unnecessary to you but I'll simply explain the benefits of each one First of all there's an easel—I have a half-box French easel here which provides some storage space Actually the drawer slides out and I use it as a platform to balance my palette and water pot on—though in this case it's a solvent pot since I'm working with oils And then on the back I'll keep my box of oil paints there But of course it could just as well be acrylic paint So everything is neatly stored in this lovely wooden easel And because of that it's quite heavy to carry So if you're planning a long walk to reach your destination this might not be the right choice It's excellent in windy conditions since it won't tip over It's extremely secure—there's a noticeable breeze today but this won't tip over under any circumstances If you're looking for something a bit lighter and plan to be walking a considerable distance you might want to consider an aluminum or wooden field sketching easel So it won’t have any of these storage compartments It’s literally a tripod you can place your panel paper or canvas on Since it's lightweight it's more likely topple over But many of them come with a hook allowing you to attach a heavy bag for stability Your paint container should be heavy enough—whether you're using oil or acrylics—to stay稳稳地立住 and not tip over Alternatively another option for working in windy conditions is using a bungee cord and some tent pegs You can simply secure them to the legs and literally peg your easel into the ground as long as the surface is soft enough and then it won't blow over So those are the easels You might also want a camping chair If you prefer sitting down while working a camping chair is a good choice But of course it's another fairly bulky item to carry around I have one of those lightweight walking stick camping stools and it's a great option I'm actually using it to keep my brushes organized so I can easily grab the one I need while working But if you'd prefer not to carry extra gear and enjoy working while seated It’s definitely worth doing a bit of scouting in your local area to see where park benches are located and whether there’s a view nice enough to inspire you to paint or sketch it If so you'll know where it is so the next day you can go out and position yourself on that park bench Other equipment you'll need a water bottle is very useful I have one of these aluminum water pots with a watertight lid so I can easily attach this to it And since I'm working with oils today it contains some solvent making it solvent-resistant but it can also be used with water And that's watertight—it won't spill So that's really really handy Of course you could just use a jam jar or a plastic water bottle but this is more convenient It features a convenient handle allowing you to hang it on your easel to save space when needed Of course you'll also need a palette If you're working with watercolour an aluminium metal watercolour set will have a colour mixing area on the lid and also a fold-out palette Oil and acrylic painters typically need something a bit larger unless they're working on miniatures I've been using this extremely old kidney palette for ages And the paints themselves the selection of colors — for watercolors I'd say at least twelve pans So you've got a nice range of colors across the spectrum to work with But in my experience 24 pans give you everything There truly is no sense of missing out on a particular shade But naturally the fewer colors you have the greater the chance for mixing hues For oil and acrylic paints you’ll want at least six to eight tubes of color—ideally so you can mix your own shades effectively Start by selecting colors spanning the color wheel—primary hues along with a few earth tones such as raw umber titanium white and ivory black And then you can experiment with mixing colors using those hues As you gain experience you may find yourself wanting to swap those primary colors for other shades whatever suits your preferred style But as I mentioned when beginning with plein air painting it's wise to stick to a fairly limited palette so you can experiment with color mixing and become thoroughly familiar with your paints So I won't be giving any specific advice on which brushes to bring I'll assume you already know the ones you prefer to pack But if you're asking which brushes I like to bring on a plein air painting session I usually pack about half a dozen and end up using around three Because I’m kind of a sucker for constantly rinsing my brushes And I know there are other artists out there who like to assign a brush to a specific color group But that's not how I work So I'll use a few wide flat brushes and maybe a size eight round one too But one with a really nice tip so I can do some detailed work I might also have some filberts on hand Six to eight round brushes tend to be my preferred sizes And I'll have half a dozen or so And I keep them all in a brush case And that helps keep the brushes protected so they won’t get bent or crushed in my bag Likewise I have a sturdy wooden box to store my paint tubes in Sometimes I’ll use an ice cream box if they fit And it ensures the aluminum tubes won’t puncture each other when you're carrying them inside unlike in a bag where they could easily damage one another Keeping them in a sturdy box ensures your paint tubes stay neatly and securely in place and a brush case does the same for your brushes Also a palette knife is incredibly handy for blending colors on your palette and it helps keep everything neat and clean Since you can blend colors and then wipe your palette knife clean with a rag you can mix the next color and continue this process When you mix with a brush the paint gets trapped in the bristles That makes it much harder to clean rinse and fully prepare the brush for the next use And make sure your color mixes are nice and clean If you're not using a palette knife bring one anyway just for mixing colors And you might find that you enjoy using the palette knife to begin applying paint to your surface as well Whether you're working with oils acrylics or watercolors having something to blot your brushes on is truly indispensable For oil and acrylic painters rags—such as cut-up old T-shirts or bed sheets— are incredibly useful you can simply blot your brushes when switching colors You can also use it to remove color from your canvas So if you apply a very bold brushstroke and need to reduce its intensity slightly If you use a rag to lift that up you'll reintroduce some transparency to your painting surface So it just keeps it nice and light and light-filled For watercolour artists a sea sponge is traditionally an excellent tool for blotting brushes and it can also be used to lift watercolour from the paper to reduce saturation And besides your sponge or rag you'll find kitchen paper incredibly helpful—so useful for wiping up spills and cleaning surfaces So if you run out of rags you can use kitchen roll instead It's also excellent for cleaning off an oil or acrylic palette at the end of a session or when you run out of space and need to add fresh mixtures And make sure you have a spare plastic or paper bag handy That way you can toss all your dirty rags inside and prevent paint from unnecessarily smearing across your entire painting setup So it can be a good idea once you've finished your painting session and given your brushes a thorough rinse to simply wrap them in a clean cloth or some clean kitchen paper Just to make sure the bristles stay protected And once you get home as soon as possible as soon as you're near a sink Thoroughly clean all your brushes using brush soap and lukewarm water and this will keep them in excellent condition while extending their lifespan So whatever painting you're planning to do whether it's watercolor oil or acrylic It's helpful to have preliminary sketches so you can precisely determine how your composition will look So if you can bring a small pocket sketchbook and some drawing supplies that’s a great idea A viewfinder is also extremely helpful something like this with a grid so you can hold it up to your view and actually work out the proportions f you enjoy working with the rule of thirds as I do you can divide your picture plane into thirds both vertically and horizontally and place your compositional elements along those lines o keep the composition feeling dynamic and visually engaging Of course you'll also need something to paint on I've brought a canvas panel today but it could be a stretch canvas mounted on a frame which is fairly lightweight and might blow over slightly But that's always going to carry a bit of risk when working on an easel You can also use a block such as a piece of paper glued down on all four sides which will keep it nice and taut making it ideal for painting We have blocks designed for oil painting acrylic painting and watercolor so you can work on the sheet and then peel off the top layer once you're done Just keep in mind that with oil paintings in particular it might still be slightly wet when it's time to go home so please handle it with care You'll need to figure out how to get your wet painting home and I 'll touch on that a bit later but the block is an excellent option If you work extremely quickly and prefer to work in series to produce many rapid sketches then it's an excellent way to carry numerous surfaces without adding much weight So once you've finished your painting the next challenge is figuring out how to get them back to where you need to go Obviously when you've started and you're hauling all your gear out These panels are incredibly easy to stack and slip under your arm But when you've got a wet painting in front of you It's a challenge with oils especially since acrylic dries a bit faster But if you're truly unsure how to proceed you can use fast-drying oil painting mediums which will speed up drying when you're outdoors especially on a sunny day like today They'll be mostly dry to the touch by the end of the session if you're painting for two or three hours If they're still wet and you only have one panel simply keep it on your easel like this fold the legs underneath and carry it upright You can use the aluminum fill lift easels just as easily as these box easels and the ledge along with the top support will keep your panel securely in place It won't come loose and will keep it nice and secure so you can easily place it in your car or take it home no matter what you're doing If you have multiple wet surfaces you may need to plan ahead One option is to obtain some headless matchsticks available at a craft store Apply a small amount of PVA glue and attach them about one centimetre in from the edge around the back of your panel And if you've applied the paint quite thinly you can stack them on top of each other and hold them like a tray And then you'really only concerned with the top surface of that one panel since the others are securely held underneath in the stack There are also other devices available for purchase The canvas stretcher bars if you're working with stretched canvas They're like bulldog clips that can hold two canvases of the same size side by side with a small gap between them so they don't touch You can also cut up pieces of cork or even use the wooden wedges that come with pre-stretched canvases Just place them in the corners so you can stack the paintings together and keep them held in place like that There are also some charming boxes with internal dividers that you can either purchase or create yourself using wood or repurposed shelf pieces You can create a device with dividers—essentially what you need—to hold multiple canvases It's easier when they're all the same size but you can try negotiating that As long as you're not moving the box too much you can fit different sizes inside There are several ways to transport your canvases like that To be honest in my experience it's actually quite a challenge to do more than two paintings and you can barely manage them with your hands