Blondheim Art Original Paintings

Dusk Palms
5x7 inches
oil on panel
wood frame
100.00

See my paintings HERE

Art Notes Blog HERE


Painters Tip


Being organized will help you with plein air painting. Over the years I have had just about every brand of French easel, pochade box, and gizmo you can imagine. It is important to decide early on what sort of set up suits your personality and your physical needs. I have severe RA and so it is very important for me to go light on equipment and materials when I'm in the field. The less I have to drag around with me the better.

I am a minimalist by nature anyway. I hate fussing around with a lot of stuff. One of my friends is just the opposite. When we travel together it drives us both crazy. I have one bag of luggage and she has three. I have a pochade box, a tripod and a bottle of water. She has this whole get up with back pack rolling cart with a seat, and extra bag too.

It's important to figure out what sort of comfort zone you have regarding the amount of equipment and supplies you will need. Once you know whether you need to carry your entire studio with you or whether you need 8 tubes of paint and a bottle of water, you can make an intelligent selection on equipment.

If you are a minimalist you will either want to choose a half box French easel or a pochade box and tripod. The advantage of the half box easel is that it will hold large format canvases. The disadvantage is that it is clumsy to set up and no French easel ever lasts more than a year for me, including the Julian. The hardware falls off and the legs break eventually. However, they do make great table top easels, once the legs are broken.

There are a huge variety in the boxes too, some require extra baggage for supplies, others are self contained. I like the Judson Guerrilla box the best. It has always been my favorite because it is self contained and extremely well built. It also comes in multiple sizes so you can have one for each format if you like. Of course the Open Box M is the Mercedes of boxes, but I don't like it because it is good only for the actual palette and panel you are using. You still need to have other stuff with you for your supplies. Too many parts and pieces for my taste. It is really finely made and very expensive, but for me, that is overkill and a waste. My boxes get thrown all over the place and are covered with paint. I'm not interested in fine furniture, just a solid well made box which can take my abuse. The Guerrilla box delivers. I have had one for many years. It looks like crap but is still as solid as can be. If you go the route of a pochade box, invest in a top line tripod. You need the stability.

If you need to move your studio outside, the options increase to full box easels, Easy L boxes, The hideous metal French easels which fold up like a flat suit case, and other field easels. Even Stanrite studio easels will work. You can bring out all kinds of tote bags, fancy seats, rolling carts etc. If you want to paint in comfort. I use two different carts. My favorite is a file box on wheels with a collapsible handle. Light weight and big enough to carry everything I need. My other cart is large and tall to carry a lot of equipment if I will be going out for long periods away from the car.

More on plein air tomorrow.....