An Artist's Guide to Plein Air Painting Oct. 2015 | Page 8

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BASIC EQUIPMENT

Essentials include:
 Paint: a smaller palette makes outdoors work more intuitive than
fiddling with many tube colors. Try titanium white, cad red light, cad
yellow light and ultramarine blue. Add to this alizarin and pthalo
green. If you prefer the luxury of more colors then burnt sienna may
make your life easier. There is no need for more than this.
 Brushes: a selection of size 6-8 of flats and filberts will do the trick.
Keep your painting surface to approximately 20cm x 25cm. Bigger
surfaces? Then a size 10 or 12 will be handy for laying in larger
shapes. Bristle or finer hair is all good. Add a rigger for a few details
like branches, telephone wires and such. It is also useful to draw
your initial shapes if you are so inclined.
 Add a palette knife that is flexible enough to paint with too.
Mediums:
 To save space I am happy to have basic odorless white spirits. Get
best quality - it does make all the difference. You may wish to add
a little premixed medium like linseed oil mixed with spirits to aid
with initial lay in of colors with thin layers. A ratio of fifty/fifty will be
suitable. Also a medium to speed drying such a Liquin may be
helpful. You can get by with just the white spirits.
Containers:
 These make life outdoors so much easier. A few plastic containers
that have reliable screw on lids will help to hold the white spirits. A
second container for any other medium will do. A plastic bag for
trash is necessary. A plastic brush container will keep your brushes
out of harm during transportation. No bent bristles please!
 A container to carry you art supplies is essential. A well designed
tool box is cheaper than a fancy wooden paint box and may have
more options too. Make sure the container is big enough to take

An Artist’s Guide to Plein Air Painting

Malcolm Dewey