Original art, art classes, plein air, Lake Saint Louis, MO

Since the weather has warmed up a bit, I find myself getting antsy to get out and at least sketch.

I broke my arm back in November, I am still struggling , so I find sketching is the way to go for now..it's easiest on me. My solution to my struggle, and getting my "art fix/therapy" is to go out and do small watercolor, or gouache paintings/sketches. 

One the easel you will see a white pelican, sketched in gouache last week, at the World Bird Sanctuary here in  Valley Park, MO. As usual, the day had its challenges. He was not at all cooperative. Just as I got my gear out, all set up, and sketched in, he decided to stretch, preen for a while,  and then settle in, completely changing position.. The new position was not wonderful. I ended up doing him from memory. Such is plein air! Oh well!

I have been asked recently about my gear, so I thought I would blog about that a bit.

I have been giving it some thought, and have concluded that it changes with the day, influenced by the seasons, the weather, the activity involved, my mood, and also depending on what I have as the goal for the day. Lately, because of the gimpy arm, the goal was to be light, compact, easy, as well as not need much strength to make it through, since I am just not getting back to full strength, or range of motion on my dominant arm. 

 So here is a run down of the gear I took out on this sketch Day:

The cart is called a "Dolly Trolly"

  I have to say, I am in love! click 

-I like the rounded, padded handle, and the fact that the unit is really light, and folds up flat.

-The wheels are chunky, so it rolls across various surfaces, without wheels digging in to the mud or dirt. Rolls nicely.

-The canvas bag lifts off completely, for easy loading, and unloading, into the Jeep. 

-The unit stands secure, both in chair mode or rest mode. Not topsy turvy.

-The cart becomes a regular hand truck, great for those end of the week set ups/sales of the art work, at plein air events.

-The seat is solid, and not a sling like the other one I had, that I bought through an art supply store...(of which I was not at all a fan. ) 

-The solid seat, doubles as a table for "extras". I don't much like to sit.

-There are numerous pouches on the outside of this thing, so I can stow gear away easily, and have it easy to access. 

-The main big pouch, is large and will hold a ton. I don't suggest bringing a ton for sure, but it's a good place to put the pallet, and your coat. I like keeping my tools in the outside pouches. I'd rather not rummage through a deep cavernous pouch. 

-I keep my slick light weight tripod, legs extended, so I don't have to struggle with them. (gimpy arm) I stow it stashed,  legs down in the side pocket, of the unit, and clamp it to the side bar of the handle, to secure it for traveling to location. Easy peasy set up...and I don't have to struggle (my gimpy arm) with the locking leg clamps of the tripod. Just hit the clamp used to secure to the Dolly Trolly, release, and poof, tripod, with it's quick disconnect, ready to receive the pochade. 

-I am thinking I could attach an umbrella to the side of the dolly trolly as well. 

-One side pouch is for the water bottle.

-If  you look, you'll see a phone mount clamped on to the side of the handle of Dolly Trolly, where I attached my phone, so I could do time-lapse while I am working. Nice perk.

Ordinarily, I like to be tough, and not whimpy using such a thing as this, but, there comes a time, when it is either that, or don't go at all. That time, is now for me. 

Easel:

My easel is one I made myself. A James Guerney easel. This is a book format, with compression hinges, and magnets embedded in the board, to keep things secure.  I clamp my painting surface to the top side of the rig. You can see James Guerney easel and his do-dads here.

Painting surface:

The Pelican, was painted on a piece of acid free mat board cut to a standard size. Often I will use illustration board, cut to a standard size.  or mount watercolor paper with Yes Glue onto mat board or illustration board. I also bring watercolor sketchbooks. I have started building my own.

Brushes:

I work with inexpensive synthetic brushes when working with gouache as I have on this day. Usually a half inch brush, a small round, and a liner will be enough to give me what I need for a quick sketch. Sometimes I bring along a mop brush or an aquabrush.  I prefer the flat and the large. 

Paint: Goauche. I try to use regular artist gouache, rather than acryli-gouache as regular can reconstitute. The acryli-gouache is basically mat acrylic paint and dries hard, non moveable. 

Pallet:

For this day I used a Matteson Sta-wet Handy Pallet. This is the compact version.  I wet the sponge, and the soaked the paper before I went out. The paints get put out fresh, and stay nice while I am working. I do keep a small misting spritz bottle, to keep the paper damp, and try to keep the skin off the paint piles. 

Various other tools and supplies:

Pencil, view finder, paper towel, small sketchbook, permanent ink pens like Micron Pigma, a small mister, or small spritz bottle, a small container for rinsing my brushes, water, Sunscreen, bug spray, hat, business cards, phone, protein bar, Camera.

Here are a few small sketches done recently. Three are on postcards and the two larger are on Mat board and illustration board.