My Palette

Probably what most people imagine a painter's palette to look like is an oval or kidney shaped thin board with a thumb hole in it. I don't have one of those. While the traditional palette might work well in a studio, that's not where I do most of my painting. I paint outdoors. Rectangular palettes are more packable and easier to transport. The palette board in my biggest paint box does have a thumb hole, but I sometimes wish it didn't. I rarely use the thumb hole, but when I do I usually end up with a painted thumb.

The color palette I use is a basic split primary. Of course it's arguable what "primary" colors are, but for all practical purposes here, I mean yellow, red and blue. By split primaries I mean a "warm" and a "cool" version of  yellow, red, and blue - with an extra color or two thrown on the palette. A generous pile of white is always a part of my color palette.

I don't think I'm too much of a stickler concerning paint brands. M Graham, Utrecht, Holbein, Gamblin, and Grumbacher are some of the brands I use, but I'm not adverse to trying other brands. Anything with good color, good strength, and lightfast works for me. I avoid "student" or "studio" grade paints, also any cheap, obscure paint brands. By the same token, exorbitantly priced paints - such as those made with exotic pigments like lapis lazuli - aren't likely to find their way into my paintbox, either. 

Below is a diagram of the colors I use for plein air painting.

1. Titanium white, made with safflower or walnut oil - not linseed oil. I like linseed oil in all colors except white because it yellows white in a relatively short time.
2. Cadmium lemon yellow. A slightly greenish yellow.
3. Cadmium yellow, cad. yellow medium, or cad. yellow deep. A more orangey yellow.
4. Cadmium red, or medium, or deep. A red on the yellowish side.
5. Permanent alizarin crimson, or quinacridone red, or another apropriate quinacridone. Dark, semi-transparent, and on the purplish side.
6. Cobalt blue. It's about as blue as paint pigments get, I think. I used to use cerulean blue, but found I can do everything with cobalt that I used to do with more expensive, but less strong cerulean. Cobalt blue is expensive enough.
7. Ultramarine blue. Dark, semi-transparent, and a touch violet.
8. Viridian green. A dark, cool green. Not a primary color, as oil paints go, but very useful.
9. Mixed dark purple. This is what I usually use for "black", or rather instead of black. It's a mix of alizarin and ultramarine, plus a touch of yellow to tone it down a little. This color can be made more blue or red as needed.

Other colors I occasionally add to the palette are:

• Ivory black. Mixed with yellow makes a wonderful earthy green like that found in high desert junipers.
• Yellow ochre. A good color for things like winter marsh grasses.

Colors I no longer allow on my palette: 

• Anything that starts with thalo. Thalo blue and thalo green are good strong colors. Overpowering, in fact. I've been unable to always control them. Thalo colors tend to take over any painting I've ever tried with them. Thalos also take over my hands, clothes, and anything I touch or walk on. The only way I've been able to control thalos is to tone them down with so much complementary color that I spend more time mixing paint than I do painting. But thalo colors are clear, strong, permanent, and inexpensive, so if you can learn how to use them successfully, more power to you!
• Any color with the term "hue" in it. Honestly, I won't rule out hues entirely, They can sometimes be convenient. But hues are just mixes. Generally, a painter should be able to easily mix whatever's needed.

.....

All this, of course, is subject to change.

Quercus Gambelii

8" x 10" Oil on Panel

Quercus gambelii, otherwise known as Gambel oak - or more simply, scrub oak - is a common shrubby tree found on mountain slopes and in canyons of the Wasatch Mountains. It typically grows in bunches and thickets which can be very difficult for a hiker to pass through. Where Gambel oak grows in small bunches or singly, it's rugged, deserty forms can be as fascinating as those of juniper or cliffrose. Pictured above is a painting I made earlier this year of a Gambel oak I came across while scrambling around on the slopes of the Wasatch Mountains not far from where I live.

This next photo shows how the painting gear had to be set up to paint that tree. I'm glad the lump of limestone was sticking up there. It provided the means of leveling the gear without being too low.

The day started out with very blue skies, but clouds moved in as the day progressed. Sometimes I'll paint the clouds in when that happens, but this time I kept the blue sky.

The last photo shows the painting still in the pochade box.

Be Prepared

5" x 7" Oil on Panel

The title of this post (with a nod to the Boy Scouts of America) is admittedly advice I've never been able to fully achieve. Try as I might, occasionally something will come along that catches me completely off guard. Sometimes more than occasionally. Maybe I'm being increasingly prepared to be surprised.

As an outdoor painter, I try to be prepared to paint whenever the opportunity presents itself. I always have something to sketch with. As much as possible I keep painting supplies in my car, ready to go. Some painting trips are planned. Some are spur of the moment opportunities.

The day the painting shown at the top of this post was was made, I really was just out for a late afternoon walk by the lake. Much of last year's marsh grasses were flattened, and one could walk out on marsh grass mats over shallow water without getting your feet wet. So that's where my walk took me. While out on the bunched phragmites mats, I saw some trees growing on slightly higher ground near the marina. Deciding to paint those trees, I walked a few minutes back to my car where I retrieved a tripod, a 5 x 7 pochade box, and a couple other pieces of painting equipment. Back out on the marsh I set up he painting gear and got to work painting.

The phragmites mats make for unstable "ground." The thickness of these marsh mats varies. If you step on the thinner areas, your foot can go right through and into water. If you stand in one spot on the thicker patches of marsh grass it slowly sinks until you suddenly discover you've acquired damp feet. Walking around on the mats after setting up the tripod and paintbox caused the painting gear to wobble around and almost fall over a few times. In spite of having all this "fun," it was a great afternoon to be out painting. I'm glad I could do more than just wish I had brought some painting gear along.

T Nuts for Pochade Boxes

A reader asked how I attached my home made pochade boxes to a tripod. I think that might be a good subject for a new post, so here it is. The little piece of hardware I use for that is called a T nut (or tee nut). Pictured below are a couple of 1/4-20 x 5/16 T nuts (US standard). 1/4" is the bolt size, 20 is the thread size (20 per inch), and 5/16" is the length. Whether the T nut has three or four prongs doesn't matter.

If you have any question about whether the T nut will fit your tripod, take it along with you to the hardware store for a test fit.

Warning: Before using any hand or power tools be sure you read and understand all directions pertaining to their safe use and maintenance. Also be sure to properly use all recommended safety equipment. Don't anybody get hurt!

To attach the T nut to your pochade box, first determine where you want the box to sit on the tripod. That point is usually halfway between the left and right sides of the box, and two or three inches or so from the back of the box. How far from the back is determined by the pochade box's balance point when the lid (which holds the painting panel) is open. On my little pochade boxes, how far from the back of the box isn't as important as it might be with larger boxes, so I stuck it right in the middle.

After marking the point for the T nut, drill a hole in the bottom of the box just big enough for the shaft of the T nut. A 5/16" bit will probably do. Hammer the T nut into the hole with the flange on the inside of the box. Some people countersink the flange, but I don't bother.

Here's a close-up:

The length of the T nut's shaft should be the same as, or slightly less than the thickness of the wood. If the shaft is too long, you can take a little off with a file or grinder. The image below is a close-up the underside of the little pochade box. You can see (I hope) the end of the T nut just shy of the surface.

There are other ways of attaching your pochade box to a tripod which probably work just as well, but I think the T nut method is the most common. There are different ways of attaching a T nut. This post shows how I do it, but here's a link to a plein air painting forum thread that shows a different method:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=956145

I hope this post is useful for you. Have fun building your pochade box and even more fun painting with it!

A New 5 x 7 Pochade Box

The combination of being an outdoor painter and a woodworker has resulted in me making a lot of my own painting equipment out of wood. There are five easels, five paint boxes, a couple pastel boxes, a bunch of panel holders, and I-don't-know-how-many boxes of various sizes for pencils, brushes, and other art supplies which I made and use. The problem this causes is that once I make something, I think of modifications or improvements, and then I have to make another one. And then another.

So.... Add two more pochade boxes to the list! Pictured above is one of the little 5" x 7" pochade boxes I've recently made and put to use. This pochade box is small, light and so easy to carry. The 6" x 8" and 8" x 10" pochade boxes I have are portable and often go with me on painting excursions, but they are possibly a little overbuilt and bulky. They also require their own bag for carrying. The 5" x 7" box can fit in my day pack. That will allow me to take my oils on longer hikes with ease, or take better advantage of small windows of time for painting. I'll certainly continue to make larger paintings, but little paintings can have a certain charm; an almost gem-like quality to them. That, and I had some pieces of Pennsylvania butternut wood that were asking to be made into something!

The image immediately below shows the little 5" x 7" pochade box open. The lid holds two panels. The palette slides out enabling access to paints, brushes, and other things in the bottom compartment. There is a T-nut in the bottom, attached from the inside, so the box can be mounted onto a tripod.

The brace that holds the lid open for painting is simply a sturdy piece of heavy gauge wire bent and fit into holes drilled most of the way into the side of the box and lid. For travel the brace is removed and stored inside the box. The holes for the brace may eventually wear out but for now they work great, and will be easy enough to replace if needed.

The box's versatility allows paintings to be made horizontally or vertically.

And there was just enough butternut wood to make two! That way if one of them gets dropped in a flash flood or blown over a cliff by a dust devil I have a backup. Butternut is a little on the soft side - about like pine - so it'll ding relatively easy, but it looks good, it's what I had, and it works just fine.

I took one of the little 5" x 7" pochade boxes out for a spin last Saturday. It was a day I really didn't feel like painting, and the weather was bad, but I thought I should get out and paint anyway. Besides, I had a new box to try out! It rained on me as I walked up the trail to find someplace to paint. However, the rain stopped as I set up and began to paint. The new little pochade box worked great! Here it is in action:

This is the painting I made on that rainy day:

5" x 7" Oil on Panel

On my walk back to the trail head there was an unusual sight. About fifty nighthawks were flying, swirling around above a rancher's field. I've never seen so many nighthawks in one place before. They must have been catching insects and getting ready for their seasonal migration.

Large Panel Holders

Panel Holders. Front One For 16" x 20" Panels and Back One For 18" x 24" Panels.

Last December I did a blog post about holders for small painting panels. You can find that here. Those are fine for little panels but for packing around larger panels - say, 16" x 20" or 18" x 24", something lighter weight would be better, I think. Like the smaller holders these are for transporting primed painting panels into the field for use and transporting freshly finished paintings back.

16" x 20" Holder with One Panel Removed

So I went to a friend's wood shop and we appropriated some salvaged pine that was once part of a cheap living room sofa. There I made the two panel holders pictured throughout this post. These could be made out of better wood, I suppose, but knot-free pine works just fine. Besides I'm going to be hauling and dragging them all over hill and dale, so why beat up expensive hardwood? You, however can make yours out of ebony with gold inlay and fine mother-of pearl marquetry if you'd like.

Skeletal Holders Sans Panels

CAUTION: when working with power tools or any woodworking tools, be sure to understand and use safe wood working methods and use all safety equipment. If you can count to ten on your fingers before you begin, be sure you still can afterwards. Nine and a half would not be good. Less would be even worse. Wear proper eye protection so you can still see if you have fingers later! 

First, I cut the strips that make up the frames and rabbeted them on a table saw. The rabbets* are sized to allow plenty of room for panels 3/8" thick or so, even though the panels I generally use are 1/4" or less. Next they were cut to length and the ends were cut for joining. The frame sections were assembled with wood glue and grabber screws - a single screw per corner.

The picture above shows the assembled frame with the rabbet and how the corners were cut and joined. The illustration below is of a cross section on the lower frame section showing how the vertical cuts of the rabbet were angled. This reduces contact with the painted side of a freshly painted panel while providing ample support for the painting.  An angle of 5 deg. or so would probably be enough.

Triangles were cut to reinforce the corners and attached with glue and grabber screws. These holders are intended to hold two wet painting panels facing toward each other. The next photo shows the space between the triangle braces and painting panel. The gap allows room for wet paintings to be placed in the holder without smearing paint against the triangle.

There's a couple of these little metal things at the top of both sides of the panel holders. They secure the top of the panel into the top of the holder. I forget what they're called but you can get them at any place that sells hardware or picture framing supplies. Their disadvantage is that they allow the panel to rattle around in the top of the holder. Annoying but not serious.

I found these neat mirror retainers at a local woodworking supply shop. There's a couple of them at the bottom of both sides of the panel holders. They do hold the bottom of the painting firmly in place, but the retainers stick out and snag on things when carrying the panel holders through brush or moving them in or out of the car. In spite of that, I may replace the top hardware with more of these.

These things work, but if anyone out there has any suggestions about better ways to secure painting panels in the holders, you're welcome to let me know. I've tried securing them with big rubber bands but that didn't work.

Finally, I found some really cool hardware to add to the panel holders to allow them to be carried easily.

I found these neat (and inexpensive) handles to add to the holders. They go well with the slightly rough look of the pine, no?

These groovy ring pulls were left over from another project. One at the top of each corner gives a place for a carrying strap to be attached. They're fastened by a bolt through the frame. If you decide to use these sorts of things on your panel holders (made out of ebony with gold inlay and fine mother-of-pearl marquetry), be sure to drill the bolt holes before you assemble the frame, and attach the hardware before you attach the triangle reinforcements. Otherwise you'll have to think of some other way to do that. Bon assemblage!

*That's rabbets, not rabbits. No bunnies were harmed in the making of these panel holders! At least not until rabbit season.

An Easy Easel

Caution: do not set your easel up in the middle of the road!

When painting on 8" x 10" or smaller panels I use one of my pochade boxes. When painting 9" x 12" and larger I use an easel.

Don't I look fashionable?

This easel is a simple one. It's made from alder and uses metal hardware. Each of the three legs are made of two parts, both 7/8" square and 38" long. The parts that hold the painting panel are also made out 7/8" alder. The legs are joined together with a small jack chain that goes from one front leg to the back leg, then to the other front leg. Across the "V" shape formed by the chain are three pieces of coat hanger wire that form kind of a shelf. Coat hangers are a renewable resource. It doesn't matter how many I take out of my closet, there always seems to be more! Here's a picture of the chain and wire shelf:

This is where I usually put a small paintbox or palette. The brush washer and trash bag also hang from this shelf...

...and sometimes other things, as in whatever's hanging from the easel in that last photo. On occasion I've even put a small boulder on that wire-and-chain shelf to weigh the rig down on very windy days! The chain is attached to bolts by "S" hooks. The photo below on the left shows how the chain is attached to the front legs. It's adjustable here to allow the back leg to move farther out for better stability, or shortened to pull the back leg in closer when there is less space available to set up the easel. The photo on the right shows how the chain is attached to the back leg.

The legs are adjustable for height, too. The holes are two inches apart and sized for 3/16" bolts. Wing nuts and washers secure everything. This could be used to help level the easel on uneven ground, but I usually just do this:

How to Level Your Easel - Use Rocks!

The parts that hold the painting panels are held together by a single bolt and wing nut each. Finding  3/16" bolts long enough is a challenge. I had to go to a place that specializes in nuts and bolts.

The top is joined together by another hard-to-find long bolt. This bolt is long enough to allow the easel to be folded up completely for storage.

The angles for the cuts were determined by laying the parts out on the shop floor. When I thought the layout looked right, the angles were marked and cut making sure both sides were even. The wood is finished with danish oil.

I've made two other easels just like this one, except with longer legs. One is made out of alder and the other is oak. The wood was scrap that was being thrown away at a wood shop I used to work at. The parts were cut, planed, drilled and sanded on my lunch breaks or after work. The boss gave me the wood, so the only costs were for the hardware and finish. These could be made out of most any wood. If made from oak, hickory or some other tough wood the legs could be as narrow as 3/4". Pine could be used but might have to be beefed up in size. Whatever wood is used, make sure the grain is straight and knot free. Most of the bolts, wing nuts and washers I used are brass, but stainless or ordinary steel would work, too. Brass-plated acorn nuts are used on the end of the long bolts to keep them from gouging the car upholstery. Can't say that's been entirely successful. Oh, and carry extra wing nuts.

This is a light and sturdy easel. It's been carried to painting spots a mile or more from the car, and if needed, can hold painting panels up to 24" high, maybe more. There might be better easels on the market, but this one suits me just fine!

Back to the Little 8 X 10 Paintbox

This was originally posted on a plein air painting forum. It was in response to a question someone on the forum had about how to hold open the lid on a homemade pochade box they were building. My suggestion received positive feedback, so I'm posting a slightly expanded version of it here in hopes it might be helpful to others.

There are many different ways to hold a pochade box lid open. This little thumb box uses a sliding catch with a knurled nut to fix it in place. It's sturdy enough, compact and easy to use:

Unfortunately, the only lid supports of this kind I could find were made for large wooden chests, and seemed like overkill on a small pochade box. They're way too bulky for what I wanted.

Here's an underside view of a box with hinges that have wire stops built into them. They are easy to use and aren't bulky, but they don't hold the lid firmly open in windy weather:

There are other means of holding a pochade lid open, but no commercially made hardware I could find would fit the bill. So here's how I made the lid support for a box I built. This is an 8" x 10" pochade box, but I used the same idea on the smaller ones I built. The hole in the lower part of the box goes through the side. The holes in the lid only need to go partway through. One of the holes in the lid holds the top open slightly past 90 degrees. The other hole holds the lid open at a wider angle. (I rarely if ever use the wider angle, so it may be unnecessary.) 

The holes in the side of the box are sized so the bolts on the support can easily slide in without excess play. The bolt holes in the support arm are sized for a tight fit to hold the bolts firmly in the arm. Here's the box open:

And a close up:

The support can be made to go on either side of the box, depending on whether your pallet slides open or lifts out, and whether you're left or right handed. This is a close up of the inside of the box showing the wing nut that secures the support:

Here's all there is to it: a piece of wood, a short screw, a longer screw, and a wing nut. When not in use, the lid support is detached and stored inside the box. That way there is nothing sticking off the box to snag on things inside your pack or carrying bag.

Some advantages are that it's very simple and easy to make, and absolutely positively holds the lid firmly open - wind won't slam the box shut on you like it does on a commercially made box I bought. Some disadvantages are that it holds the lid open at only a limited number of fixed positions. It also has loose parts that can get lost. If you decide on this kind of lid support, be sure to carry extra wing nuts!