Cigar Box Pochades, Plein air painting, and Rublev Watercolors

A year ago my interest in landscape painting experienced a re-birth. Before that landscape rarely made it's way into my art and I didn't look at landscape painting in general. My last landscape without human figures was in Fall 1997 and it was a Bob Ross style autumn painting. Yup, I know, rather embarrassing. Though I was young and naive back then Bob Ross did help me understand how to create atmospheric perspective in oil paint. This is something I've joked about in art school when Bob Ross came up in a discussion.

Back to last year- I started to seriously study the Hudson River School painters especially Albert Bierstadt. In Seattle we have one of his masterpieces, "Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast" along with a Frederic Edwin Church. Those are the only two paintings I have easy access to. Other paintings I've studied on the internet. I also began to gain interest in British landscape painters such as Constable and Turner. My fiance and I even watched Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner." That movie was okay, but I'm not a movie aficionado.

By the end of last June I had started a 30" x 24" painting of Mt. Rainier. The whole thing was the product of my invention, not observed from nature and it turned out somewhat stylized. I decided that if I wanted to paint a better landscape I needed to do some studies en plein air.

Cigar Box Pochades- 2015 Prototype

Before I had done any research my idea of painting plein air involved a French easel. Because I'm passionate about my materials I decided to do some research before spending any money on equipment. I learned that French easels are heavy, awkward to set up, and often not durable. I also learned that the best plein air equipment is not sold by Blick. This includes Open M, EasyL, and Alla Prima Pochade boxes.

As I was researching pochade boxes I was intrigued by the idea of building my own. There are many resources on the internet about building your own pochade box, especially ones made from cigar boxes. I decided I'd try to build one of these. I was unsuccessful in getting a box from a cigar shop because the ones that were available weren't ideal for me. Of course if I kept going to cigar shops I would have located one. Instead I found a bamboo tea box at a Salvation Army store near one of the cigar shops. Thus using the tea box I built my first pochade.

I had built it specifically for oil painting. The box has a lower compartment divided for paint and brushes. Above that is a removable masonite palette. The panel holding system is my own invention. I'm not very handy when it comes to crafting any metal related stuff. The panel holder was based on simple stuff that I could easily buy then put together. All I used were some brass bars, speed nuts, and bass wood. The brass bars are adjustable and can accommodate a panel ten inches high. Many artists like to build their pochades so that it can be used to carry wet paintings. My pochade is not able to do that and I would have to rely on a separate panel carrier. Raymar panel carriers would be my choice.

Unfortunately I never did get to any plein air painting last summer. I held myself back because I felt anxious, didn't bother to buy a sturdy tripod, and I lacked the wet panel carrier. However I did purchase a set of plein air brushes from Rosemary Brushes. I was somewhat ready but my plans to do plein air painting fizzled.

Rublev Watercolors and Plein Air Painting

As part of Scholars Atelier my students spent two weeks watercolor painting. I did a few demos for my students with the M.Graham watercolors they use. I believe that students should have access to artist grade paint rather then settle for Crayola or cheap student grade stuff. The landscapes they made turned out great. I will post these in a few weeks. 

While I was teaching my kids watercolor painting my interest in the medium was renewed. I began to think about the British watercolorists of the 18th and 19th Centuries, especially Constable and Turner. They had used watercolors for studies en plein air and Turner created some amazing work. I decided that watercolors would be a great way to ease myself into plein air painting. 

I bought a set of 12 Rublev Watercolors because I love Natural Pigment's products. Plus I like using the old school pigments which I use in oil painting. In addition to the set of 12 I purchased Chrome Yellow Primrose, Zinc White, Van Dyck Brown, Violet Hematite, Verona Green Earth, and Maya Blue. I also bought a tube of Hydrogel. I'm still trying to figure out the Hydrogel and if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. To augment my paints I purchased a selection of Rosemary Red Sable Brushes.

On Memorial Day I went to Woodinville, WA to try out my new paints in a plein air setting. It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out and about. I took my tea box pochade with me and after walking around a bit I set up on a picnic table behind Redhook Brewery, next to the Sammamish River. I was limited where to set up because I lacked a tripod. I could have sat in the grass along the Sammamish River Trail but I observed that dogs have been using it as their own personal restroom. In addition to that I saw piles of horse poop scattered about.  It wasn't exactly all over the place but I was also concerned a snake might come out of the grass along the river or at the edge of the farm fields.

After I had moved to Seattle I was intrigued by the beauty of the Lombardy Poplars that accent the landscape. Living in Virginia most of my life I had never seen the poplars. Woodinville has plenty of them near the wineries and I decided to paint the trees.

Woodinville, WA, watercolor and body color on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper, 10" x 7", 2016

Cigar Box Pochades-2016

The next day at school I brought in my tea box pochade along with the painting I did at Woodinville. I showed it to my atelier students and they thought the box was really cool. One of them wished we could make similar boxes in atelier. I told my students that if they each give me $5 I would make them a box from a cigar box. One student immediately gave me a five dollar bill. The following afternoon I went to a cigar shop in Shoreline looking for boxes. The shop had many nice usable ones. I chose these because I find the wood appealing vs. the decorative stuff. The boxes were only $2 each and I bought six.

I added the adjustable hinges to the boxes. All I need to do is add the panel holder.

Several boxes had these stickers with a 19th Century looking painting. 

I didn't notice it at the cigar shop, but one of the women in the painting had an exposed breast! It's not that bad and you'd see the same thing in an art museum. I decided to remove the stickers since my students are only 4th and 5th graders. I did tell them about it though and one student pointed out that the painting is actually all over the trim too!

My Plein Air Setup

While I was working on the boxes for my atelier students I decided to build one for myself to replace the tea pochade box. I wanted a lighter box and the larger of the cigar boxes works perfectly. It's too shallow to hold supplies and a palette while closed, but I can put my oil paints in a zip lock bag and carry my brushes in a roll. 

Today I used my kit for the first time at Seattle's Discovery Park. For my watercolors the box works out nicely. I can fit my case of 12 full pans in the box while I'm painting. Because of my panel holder I can't carry the watercolor case in there, but that's no problem. I can also secure additional pans above the watercolor case.

My two jars of water attach to my box via brass hooks I made. I used Gorilla tape to make this rig. The brass hooks lock into place when the watercolor palette is in the box.

View of the box without my watercolor block. Right now I'm using a 7 x 10 block and I also have a 9 x 12 block. They add unnecessary weight to my pack and in the future I may carry paper that's been stretched on masonite or Gatorboard. I found that I'm only doing one painting per session and I don't need a block of paper, especially two.

The tripod I use is a Manfrotto 190XB which I bought used off eBay for less than $100. The ball head attachment is a DMKFoto Heavy Duty Ball Head with Quick Release Plate. That was only $16.90 on Amazon and it feels durable to me. I didn't want to spend $50 on a ball head. I bought a Guerrilla Painter Tripod Attachment Plate which is bolted to the bottom of my box. 

Rather than use a rock bag for stability I have a carabiner attached to the tripod. I got this idea from Thomas Jefferson Kitts' Blog. My pack is suspended from the ring and if I wanted to I could put rocks in there. I'll carry a canvas tote bag for that. Also suspended from the ring is my brush case and sketch kit. This is a convenient spot for my brushes and I don't need a tray attached to my pochade box. 

      

                                                   

Discovery Park, Seattle, WA, watercolor on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper, 7" x 10", 2016

Overall I didn't have any problems while painting. My kit was quick and easy to setup and it was stable. I plan on trying this with oils after I buy a Raymar wet panel carrier. Yesterday I bought a small masonite panel which I will fashion into a palette. 

Though I'm happy with my setup, I plan to get either an Open M or EasyL pochade box in the future. Right now my current kit allows me to get out and paint so I can hone my landscape painting skills.