Plein air painting with my new pochade box September 26, 2011

by Janet Bonneau in Plein air painting
     
I recently went plein air painting to try out my brand-spanking-new pochade box from Alla Prima Pochade.  These pochade boxes (french for ‘small paint box’) are hand-crafted by Ben Haggett out in Missoula, MT.
 http://www.allaprimapochade.com/
 
I did a lot of research before buying my pochade, and decided on Ben’s because they were the most clever thing I’d ever seen. There are other great pochades out there too, I’m sure, but I REALLY liked Ben’s design using the magnets and the piggyback add-on for carrying larger canvas boards. He’s not only a fine woodworker, but an artist too, so I felt he would know exactly what we artists need for painting en plein air – and I was right. This little pochade is awesome!
 
Here are some shots of my first day trying it out. Enjoy the Vermont views!
 
 
 The Alla Prima Pochade box with auxilary palette on left. Beautiful Vermont fall color just starting to come in on the background hills.
 
 
 On this next shot you can see my usual habit of attaching an old plastic soda bottle for a brush holder. I cut the bottom out and hang it upside down. In this case, I just hung it from the pull-out drawer. Makes a great place for extra brushes. (I’m not a soda drinker by the way!)
 
 
 
 
 
 Below is a better shot of my setup. You can see the pull out drawer on right where I keep my paint tubes and medium container. My tripod is a SLIK Universal U-112 which I used for my photography, but it also works beautifully with this pochade.
 
 
 
 
 
A better close-up – a local farmer just happened to pass on his tractor while I was up in his fields painting. What a great way to spend gorgeous autumn day- plein air painting in Vermont! 
 
 
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