Lowcountry Sketchbook: 2011

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Pochade Box Project

I am fortunate enough to have a father who(among other things) is a skilled woodworker - so I got the notion that we could collaborate on a little pochade box project for plein aire oil painting. When I say collaborate, I mean that I showed him what I was shooting for and he pretty much made the whole thing. We started off with elaborate plans that I drew up and I quickly found out that it is a lot easier to draw something than build something. He took my plans and worked it into something that was build-able. All said and done, It fits 4 dry 9x12 panels, brushes, paints, a pull out palette, and a small box which can clip to the side as a brush-holder. The box is built so well I could probably drop it off my roof without it breaking.

Things I learned:
1. Fear the circular saw blade
2. Be flexible
3. Be patient if you want it built right

My wife was nice enough to bear 90 degree heat and go with me to take it for a test drive.

A look inside

From the left

My general set-up

From the right

A quick watercolor study to get the ball rolling

The inital underpainting

At the end of the first stage

After a couple of hours I figured that that was a good stopping point - It's far enough along that I could probably finish it at home, but I will probably bring it back out on location and wrap it up.