Plein Air Easel

Today I tried out my new plein air palette and tripod on the deck. When my sister and I painted together last month, she was using a Coulter Easel, an ingenious folding wooden palette that hooks on to a photographer’s tripod. I had recently made a folding palette so I just bought the same tripod (Slik F740, on eBay) and added the braces that hold the palette to the easel. I also copied the canvas holder too. The picture below is cluttered but hopefully you get the idea.

I’ve also been toying with the idea of making some colored blocks to paint in the sun when I don’t have the time to pack up the car and drive to a location. Several master painters like Tim Horn, Kevin Macpherson and Camille Przewodek suggest painting the value relationships and sunlight on colored blocks is good preparation for painting buildings and other organic shapes found in nature. Expect to see some colored block paintings in future posts.

In the meantime, I’m painting colorful shapes that come out of my garden, like the tomatoes from my previous post. Today I tried to paint ‘Salsa!’ a tomato, jalapeno peppers and a red onion. I didn’t finish, because the subtle purples, reds and blues on the skin of the red onion intrigued me and I found them challenging to mix. I will paint the red onion again soon because I think it can stand all on its own.