En Plein Air

I try to get outside as much as possible. Short half to one hour long sessions can produce amazing results. More than one picture has caught a clients eye and been sold with little or no studio touch up work. My preferred set up is an old field easel, purpose-made back pack with a selection of boxed sets, mainly Jaxell, Schminke half sticks and a full 100 box Sennelier Landscape set. Why not join me one day?

I also try to make the effort of painting and sketching whilst on holiday whenever possible. It is my opportunity to capture that very essence of where I am and gives me time to absorb the locality to a level few seem to bother with. Photos act is good back-up but one's own images provide so much more. I have found taking pastels abroad difficult - especially the full sticks - as pastels can be detected on the X-ray screenings and look like bullets!! Invariably therefore its watercolours, my trusty old Rembrandt set of half pans, a scroll of mixed brushes and a collapsible water pot with string - handy for throwing into streams etc.. I like to use both pages of my sketch books to produce a landscape view (see above) - gives you more room but does take longer. Examples, including those from my sketch books are below.

In a corn field in Essex one Autumn - perfect for the Sennelier Landscape set, a quick watercolour sketch near the restaurants in Tenerife and finally a watercolour sketch in Cortona town square in Tuscany

Sketch in progress Tenerife above & Cortona, Italy left