Glossary (ongoing list)

acrylic

alla prima

en plein air

guerilla painter

medium, media(pl)

oils

pastel

pencils

plein air

substrate

urban sketcher

urban sketching

watercolor

Resources for Painting On Location (An ongoing list)

ArtClubs and Plein Air Organizations

International

International Plein Air Painters www.i-p-a-p.com

USA

Plein Air Painters of America www.p-a-p-a.com

Colorado

Plein Air Artists Colorado

Indiana

Indiana Plein Air Painters http://inpainters.org/

Illinois

Plein Air Painters of Chicago www.papchicago.com

Michigan

Michigan Plein Air Painters http://www.michiganpleinair.com/artist/

Ohio Plein Air Society

http://www.ohiopleinairsociety.com/

Wisconsin

Manito Art League, Manitowish Waters http://manitoartleague.blogspot.com/

Milwaukee Sketch Club www.MilwaukeeSketchClub.blogspot.com

Northwoods Outdoor Artists http://northwoodsoutdoorartists.blogspot.com/

Peninsula Plein Air Painters

Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association www.wipapa.blogspot.com

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Events (Places where events have been held in the past and may be held in the future.)

Illinois

Minnesota

Outdoor Painters of Minnesota http://www.outdoorpaintersofminnesota.blogspot.com/

Wisconsin

3rd Ward Plein Air Painting Competition www.historicthirdward.org

Cedarburg Plein Air Event pleinaircedarburg.blogspot.com/

Door county Plein Air Festival

Downer??? St. Marks???

Edge of the Rock Plein air Painting Events www.friendsofriverfront.com

Milwaukee Domes Art Festival

Milwaukee Sketch Clubs Plein Air Schedule

Plymouth Festival of Arts www.plymoutharts.org

Theodore Robinson Plein Air (Painting) Competition, Evansville

Kewaskum Arts Festival

Pewaukee Antique Boat Show

Richfield's Art at the Mill

Shorewood Plein Air Painting Event

WIPAPA Open Paint Days, see www.wipapa.blogspot.com

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Magazines / Newsletters

Plein Air Magazine www.outdoorpainter.com

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Online Groups

National Paintouts http://paintouts.com/

Plein Air Artists pleinairartists.ning.com/

The Plein Air Scene http://www.thepleinairscene.com/

Urban Sketchers http://www.urbansketchers.org/

What to bring when painting on location - Comments welcome

How do you start painting on location?

What do you bring?

Availability versus Portability 

First imagine painting to determine what you will need.

• Then practice with your painting on location kit. What are you missing?
• Then carry it around your house, yard, and/or block a few times. Is it portable enough?

Or just wing it, find out when you get there what you are missing, then improvise.

You will always be fighting having everything you could possibly want that covers every possibility versus that which is easily carried.

Here's a list of materials from extremely portable, lightweight and easy to carry to those supplies that take more planning.

First of all you'll almost always want to include in your kit

• Water to drink, bug spray, sunscreen, hat, clothing appropriate for weather
• Portable pack of babywipes, kleenex, bag for garbage, small knife with break off blade.
• Sketchbook to work out ideas and pencil or pen. Maybe an eraser.
• Viewfinder, Camera

Most portable and unobtrusive. Improvise where you sit or stand to sketch.

• Fanny pack, small knapsack
• Sketchbook, pencil, pen

Choose between these media

• marker set and multi-media sketchbook
• Set of pre-filled watercolor brushes and multi-media sketchbook, rag or paper towels
• Prange watercolor set and multi-media sketchbook, small water container, small spray bottle, rag or paper towels

Medium portability

• light collapsible stool that fits in a Knapsack
• drawing board, tape and/or clips with maybe a bag to carry it in.
• rags or paper towels

Choose desired painting medium

• Set of regular pastels that includes black and white, canson mis-teints paper
• Set of oil pastels that includes black and white, acrylic paper
• Set of regular colored pencils, paper

Add in watercolor or multi-media paper, small water container and brush or pre-filled water brush for these media.

• Set of water soluble pastels (like Caran D'Ache),
• Set of water soluble colored pencils
• Regular watercolor, palette
• Gouche, palette

Still portable but not exactly unobtrusive

• Easel, guerilla or pochade box that holds most of your supplies
• Fanny pack or Knapsack to hold supplies that don't fit in your easel, guerilla or pochade box
• Possibly an extra tray to set your painting supplies on while painting that don't fit on your easel.
• Optional tripod for guerilla, or pochade box (These boxes can fit on your lap, the ground, ledge, or table.)
• Canvas, prepared boards, special papers for media

Choose your medium

• A more complete set of watercolors with larger mixing tray, possibly 2 water containers, prepared paper, spray bottle, brushes, masking fluid and tape for masking
• A more complete set of pastels, regular or oil, organized by hue, value, and temperature, Maybe carried in separate case or tackle box with their own stand. Sanded paper or prepared watercolor paper taped to board and/or prepared matte board or pastel boards, possibly workable fixative. A brush and alcohol for regular pastel underpainting. A brush and water for water soluble pastels. Chamois cloth. Piece of Styrofoam for blending to save your fingers and also keep them cleaner. (Pan pastels come with their own blending sponges and tools.)
• Acrylic paint set, usually white, a warm and cool shade of blue, yellow, and red, maybe raw and burnt sienna. You may want to add colors specific to the area that you paint. Water container. Acrylic medium, such as Golden Acrylic Flow Release and/or Golden Retarder, to adjust dry time. Spray bottle with either just water or water plus Golden Acrylic Flow release to spray on your paints in your palette to keep them from drying out so quickly on hot, sunny, and windy days. Stay wet palette with tight fitting lid in ziplock bag or count on carrying it separately so paint does not run when the palette ends up on its side. Mixing or palette knife. Brushes.
• Water Soluble Oil paint set, usually white, a warm and cool shade of blue, yellow, and red, maybe raw and burnt sienna. You may want to add colors specific to the area that you paint. Water and container. Possibly mediums to adjust dry time. Palette. Mixing or palette knife. Brushes.
• Oil paint set, usually white, a warm and cool shade of blue, yellow, and red, maybe raw and burnt sienna. You may want to add colors specific to the area that you paint. Solvent and solvent container. (Make sure to use a solvent with a higher flashpoint than the outdoor temperature or a frozen gel pack and cooler to keep your solvent in when working in hot environments.) Possibly mediums to adjust dry time. Palette. Mixing or palette knife. Brushes.

Of course then you can add in, wet canvas carriers, rolling boxes and folding chairs, painting in your vehicle.

From Debbie Callahan, debbiecallahan.com and themartinigirlsgallery.com

I found Plein air painting from a friend of a friend,

So from the rumor mill I got the idea that it might be fun.

I got a bunch of brushes, paper towels, spray bottles, canvases of multiple size, every paint tube I own, a rolling cart, a duffle bag, easel, one chair and set off to find a park, a pond and a duck. I ended up at a park with a pond and a goose- close enough.

I dragged all of my necessary equipment from the car to the pond, set up and an hour and twenty minutes later I started painting, lost the afternoon light and had to call it a day.

Oh well.

That's how I learned to pack light, very light.

A special thanks to my friends for reading and commenting
I really appreciate you reading this and commenting. I also enjoy painting with everyone of you.

Debbie Callahan, debbiecallahan.com and themartinigirlsgallery.com

Vivian Foster

Donna Heffner

Jeanne Olivieri www.jnikolaiart.com
Ray McInerny

Their comments are below.
Debbie Callahan 8/14/13

Looks like a pretty good list, the only things I might add is to bring a bag for garbage and

I often paint with acrylics and I find it helpful to fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of Golden Acrylic Flow Release. I spray the paints on the palette with this and it helps to keep the paints from drying out so quickly.

I also mix a little Golden Retarder into the paints according to the directions on the bottle,  Retarder increases the open time for acrylic paints.

Acrylics dry very quickly on a hot day day in summer.....

and these two tricks often help a lot.

Vivian Foster 8/14/13

You need a carrying case for wet canvases.

Looks like you got everything else.

Donna Heffner 8/14/13
Great job Kathy!
I usually bring a small knife with break off blade, always using it.
Also trash bags to carry out, viewfinder, and just completed a canvas panel carrier made from foam core that should accommodate any 8 in. Panel (8x6, 8x8, 8x10). Lightweight, cost about $2 to make.

Donna Heffner 8/15/13
Hi Kathy, I forgot to mention ......not wanting to find out what the flash point for thinner is on a hot summer day.......usually put my thinner in a small cooler in my car with a frozen gel pack. Then I don't have to go right home after painting. 

Jeanne Olivieri 8/14/13 www.jnikolaiart.com

A very clear, comprehensive guide. 

I try to remember a hat to protect me from the sun, as well as sunscreen.

Nice job, Kathy.

Ray McInerny 8/16/13
Very nice and informative. Keep 'er going! Ray

A special thanks to my husband, Jerry, for supporting me in my creative endeavors.

I also wish to thank my teacher, Jo McReynolds Blochowiak and my classmates at Alverno's monthly Telesis Writers Workshop for their friendly encouragement and suggestions.

Even though Joe A. Konrath http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/, Dan Poynter http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/about/danpoynter.cfm and Carl Judson AKA Guerilla Painter http://www.judsonsart.com/ don't know me, I wish to thank them. Joe's blog  along with Dan's books and monthly newsletter have inspired me to write. Carl's company, books, website, and blog inspire me to Plein Air Paint.

copyright 2013 by Kathy Welsch
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Comments on post
8/15/13 Debbie Callahan debbiecallahan.com and themartinigirlsgallery.com
You did a great job Kathy!

I think this will be a lot of help for plein air painters.

Very Rough Draft completed

After finishing the first rough draft I sat down and read Dan Poynter's Successful Nonfiction, tips & Inspiration for Getting Published. I really like how this book is laid out.

One tip per page; Each Page has a title, subtitle, illustration, 1 paragraph by expert on a subject with link back to expert, Advice/Action Item, Quotation.

He has an action plan on p. 134 of his Appendix that I'd like to work on.

However I'd like to finish one chapter for my upcoming writer's workshop on Saturday. So that's probably what I need to do first.

I just noticed that I did finish a very rough draft in August by my previously stated goals. Nanowrimo is coming up in November. I'd like to participate again this year if time allows.