December Pochades

Clouds 7"x9" Oil on canvas panel

I am trying to keep these sketches simple without being too impressionistic.
Just thinking about the arrangement of shapes, natures real colors, and values. I looked for subjects that had good contrast and then look for the different color shifts in the shadows and lights.

These cold days are not the best to be outside paintings but winter gives us such obvious light and shade patterns its hard for a painter to resist.

December Sunset 7"x9" Oil on canvas panel

The sun sets so quickly in these short December days, that the light and shadows change constantly. I intentionally took advantage of this back lit scene
to avoid the changing light. And capture a bit of a winter sun on a cold day.

Big Boy Down 8"x10" Oil on panel

The last big storm here brought down this eighty foot tall Hack berry tree in our back acre. Barely missing our little garden shed. What a loss this tree is but a very interesting design pattern.

Enjoy Jim

Quick Studies

5"x7" Oil on panel

These small five inch by seven inch panels are great formats for field sketches.

They really help simplify the forms and keep me from getting hung up with unnecessary details. Using a #6 filbert brush and just painting the bold patterns and simple shapes.

5"x7" Oil on Panel

On this small scale a few color masses, can suggest form and structure.

And produce a quick study with an illusion of reality.

Enjoy Jim.

Pochade Boxes

I wanted to post updates from fellow artists who have built their own Pochade Boxes based on my Pochade Box Plans. It has been interesting to see their innovations and design ideas and correspond with so many creative people.



Artist - Judy Holder
Judy is an artist from Connecticut who has a very unique and personal style, you will certainly enjoy her use of brushwork and color, which flows through out her work. I particularly like her use of architectural features in her landscapes.
She reworked her box using some of the design ideas from my post, " How to build your own Pochade Box ".

"This is a pochade painting box I started building two years ago, and just recently finished after reading and viewing Jim Serrett's blog."


You can reach her page about her Pochade kit here.
You can learn more about the artist at her site, http://judyholder.blogspot.com/


Artist - Phong Nguyen

Phong is a talented artist from Columbus Ohio, from the highly acclaimed Columbus College of Art and Design working in multiple mediums. Illustration, design and fine arts.
Phong made some unique innovations to the box design adding a wet panel carrier into the top lid.


"I changed up a few things like making the box smaller and adding the wet panel carrier to the top."

"This thing is nice! So solid. Now I can see why people pay so much money for them."

"After using the box a few times, I think it might have been better to just make the panel carrier separately to keep the weight down, but with the box now, I have 1 less thing to carry."


I truly like the adjustable panel carrier inside of the kit, everything being self contained and one unit truly is streamlined and compact. Phong did have some problems with the t-nut mount holding, but I think we figured a piece of hard wood as the base plate would resolve that issue. The craftsmanship and the design ideas are impressive.


You can reach his page about his Pochade kit here.
And learn more about this artist at his site,
www.lemonlips.blogspot.com


Artist - Ron Guthrie

Ron is an artist from Solvang, California. Ron is a very accomplished plein air painter, who has a excellent blog with demonstrations, painting tips and some just stunning work. Be sure to check it out.
Ron has access to power equipment and that is reflected in the quality of his box, but agrees that this box can easily be built with simple hand tools. He also built a panel carrier.


"I've been wanting to build a pochade box much like the $300 models you can by without spending the $300. Jim Serrett had built such a box, the Serrett Pochade Box, using simple contstruction methods and scraps of wood keeping costs down and making building the box as simple as you can get."

"I don't think I paid more than $20 for all the material. I used an air powered brad nailer but you could do this with small finishing nails and a hammer. I have a table saw too but all of the wood can be cut with a hand saw. It's a great little box and can handle anything up to 9"x12" panels."


You can reach his page about his kit here.
You can learn more about this artist at his site. www.guthrieart.blogspot.com


Be certain to visit these artist's sites for more information on their personalized boxes.
My many thanks to everyone who has shared their efforts and artwork, you have made this a great experience for many.

Enjoy, Jim

Smoky Mountain Pochades

Smoky Mountain Treeline, 9"x7", Oil on panel

Smoky Mountain Sunrise, 10"x12", Oil on panel

A couple of sketches from a backpacking trip into the mountains on the Appalachian Trail. Both done sitting in the tent while sipping morning coffee. Because at the end of day all I wanted to do, was to get into that sleeping bag. It was a physical challenging hike, but what a great trip.
Enjoy Jim

One Pochade Box

Since I first posted my “how to build your own Pochade Box” instructions back in February, I’ve had an amazing response from people all around the world. That post is being read in 48 countries and has been translated into 28 languages. There has been an array of correspondences with artist on every continent.

But these are the first images I’ve seen of a Pochade Box built from these plans.
This kit was built by Ruth Vines, a fine artist/graphic artist living in Florida, USA.
Ruth built a 10’ x 12” box with a Plexiglas palette.

Quote: "It was very easy to build, has more space than the small cigar box I have been using thus far (bought at ebay), and with the flatter mixing area I can finally do some knife painting. I put a piece of plexiglass in the mixing area, for easier cleanup."

Not only did Ruth do a beautiful job of making the Pochade kit, but she has already field tested it, producing some stunning work.
Check out Ruth’s work on her site.
http://www.krautart.blogspot.com/

Conquering the world, One Pochade Box at a time. Enjoy, Jim.

'Anyone could paint that'

Those crazy looking hay bails always attract my attention but I never thought they would be a great subject matter, just too clique. This is a oil sketch that I started with a red ochre underpainting..
Which all got me to thinking about a article on artfagcity.com
by Paddy Johnson, titled , 'Anyone could paint that' and 7 other myths about art.., well worth the read.
Enjoy Jim

June Pochade Stimulus

"While there were "only" 345,000 jobs lost last month--as compared to 504,000 in April--the report doesn't account for the upcoming job losses as well as the ripple effect that will result from the GM bankruptcy. Nor does it reflect the severe budget shortfalls states continue to face. It did, however, reveal a continued collapse of wage growth, the highest unemployment rate in 25 years,...." The Nation



While the economy tanks, we artist just move along about the same. We are all starving anyway.
So here is my end of May stimulus plan, “Get out and paint some sketches”.
I went a bit larger with these pieces, up to 9x12 panels. In hopes I would not feel like I was picking at them as I have on some of the smaller ones.



The first piece I approached much as I would a studio piece. I started with a red earth underpainting to establish my sketch. And built color layers on top of it. Certainly a more thought out and planned approach.
The second work I just tried to respond to color and light in an abstract way. Working wet paint into wet paint, alla-prima.
A good sketch is an exploration, it is not so much about a finished work for me but a source and learning experience. Is it not wonderful when you see and feel your self improve? Kind of one of those "eureka" moments that every artist appreciates.
I had a professor that refer to this as "The Crack in the Cosmic Egg", taken from a book of the same title about the creative experience and process.
The crack is the critical mass we arrive at during deep thinking and creative efforts.
Which propels our understanding foreword.
The payoff is a deeper connection with our self and our work.
And certainly a new level for our art and a stimulus for ideas and possible studio pieces
Enjoy, Jim

A little better Weather.

There is certainly some green going on.

But here it has been two days of dry weather for every five days of rain.

But did get a few more oil sketches between rain events.

All three 7"x9" Oil painting on panel

Enjoy Jim

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

It has been very uncooperative weather here, for anyone wanting to be outside.
One day it’s nice and in the sixties and the next like today, freeze warnings, rain and wind.
But I did have a chance get in some sketching.

Everything is still pretty grey, with a few glimmers of yellow ochre and chromium oxide green on the ground. The trees are still basic stick skeletons, but still interesting.
The first couple I concentrated on the trees and the cast shadows, but the linear elements seemed to dominate the composition. The later pieces I just went for masses, trying to keep the brush work down and make simple statements.

I agonized over what Pochade's to post, there is some good, and some bad and a few butt ugly ones. But for me it isn't about finished looking pieces but exploring the medium.


7x9, Oil painting on panel
9x12, Oil painting on panel
8x10, Oil painting on panel

Thanks for looking, enjoy... Jim.

How to build a Pochade Box Panel Carrier

Winter 09, pochade painting, oil on canvas

This is the second installment on,” building your own Pochade Kit. The following instructions are for an easy to make Panel Carrier. Again, the idea was to use nothing but simple hand tools and easily accessible materials and also for this kit to be a cost effective way for anyone interested in working en plein air, to join in.
I think it should be said that on the market today there are some highly crafted and beautiful Pochade Kits available. The majority of which are worth every penny they charge for them.
Their cost has gone down considerably in the last few years, and I do see even cheaper models being offered, but I worry a bit about the quality of mass marketed and mass produced kits. I just hope when it comes time for me to upgrade to one of those high end set ups, they are still around. Just take a look at some of the off brand name French Easels in art supply stores.
Those knock offs have done more to damage the reputation of that easel than anything else.
So anyway, the whole point of this Pochade adventure is to give us an inexpensive avenue into working on location, in front of nature, and also to conserve expenditures for paying the bills and buying paint. Well at least until we get that huge commission or make a sale.
On to the kit.
I decided to build this box to hold 8’x10” (20x25cm) and 6”x8”(15x20cm) canvas panels or 1/8”
hardwood panels. I also wanted it to fit easily into my backpack with the box. I ended up with a panel carrier that is 9”x11” (23x27cm) finished size, which fits into almost any normal pack,
and holds seven panels total, or in my case six panels and a hand palette.

Material List:
Hardware latch and hinge $4.18
½ x 4” x 4” Pine board 2.20
¼ x 36” Hardwood dowels 3.70
1/4” x 2’ x 4’ Birch plywood 10.00
Total Cost: $20.08 USD

Tools List:
Miter saw and box
Hammer
Screwdriver
Sandpaper


You should have plenty of wire brads, wood glue, stain and polyurethane left over from the Pocahde Box.
I will say, if you build this box, go ahead and buy an extra three feet of four inch stock and build two of them at once. With the extra stock and the remaining supplies from the first, you will have enough materials to make two carriers for just a few more dollars and a little more effort. One of those hind site things. LOL

The sides of my box will be (10 1/4”) ten and one quarter inches long. This will give me room for the lid and the bottom panel, for a finished box size of eleven inches. Take a piece of two inch stock and cut it to (20 ½”) twenty and a half inches. Then attach your ¼” square dowels with glue and 5/8” wire brads. Use one of the dowel pieces as a spacer and stair step your way across the board until you get to the end and have something that looks like this.

Allow to dry over night. Then cut in a miter box, two lengths of 9 ¼” inches. Turn the two ends around so that the teeth match and mark with an X. This is the top of your panel sides. Check the width of your box with a canvas board.

Cut two panels from your Birch plywood, at nine (9”) by eleven (11) inches. Mark the top of the panels at one half inch (1/2”) for the lid and bottom one quarter inch (1/4”) for the base plate.
Line your side supports to those two lines and glue and nail together.

Next cut a piece of four inch stock to nine inches for your lid. Cut a piece from your plywood to (9”) nine by (3½”) three one half inches for your bottom plate. Nail and glue this piece on.
You now have a Pochade Box Panel Carrier !
All that’s left to do is sand and finish if you wish, and last, install the hardware.

Because I wanted my Panel Carrier to slide in and out of a backpack, I spent some time rounding the sharp edges with a wood rasp and sanding to ease the roughness. I also stained and polyurethane the outside of the box and used a piece of the scrap to make a small hand palette which fits inside the box. When I was done and looking at the left over material, I realized I could have built two carriers with just a few dollars more of stock material. Considering the most time spent was on gluing the dowels down, you can just as easily make two carriers by using a longer piece and cutting into fours. Of course if you had a source to route out the dados instead of gluing the teeth in place, you could make this carrier in no time. But if you have limited tools and equipment, this is a great solution for a fast, simple and easy to build Pochade Box Carrier. You will then have a functioning” Pochade Kit”,Pochade Box and Carrier for only $55.44 us dollars. Spend the savings on a tripod, paints, brushes and supports, or save up for one of those high end tricked out Pochade Kits.
Enjoy Jim