Pocket plein air kit (watercolor)
Marilyn
I bought the Sennelier travel kit, with a sable travel brush and I take a few extra
brushes in a brush carrier. Then I bought replacement empty pans. I fill them myself
from tubes and let them air dry. The colour I refill the most is the cool yellow. I
use it to vary the greens. My palette includes 3 blues, 3 greens, 2 reds, 3 earths,
and a cool yellow.
An instructor once told us that we shouldn't get hung up on names of colours as
different companies vary them etc. The blues and greens are dark, medium and light,
same for the earths, and the reds are warm and cool.
Sometimes I've painted on the train (it's a little shaky), or in a motel, or
friends' /family houses with the travel kit. I never think of making a finished
painting outdoors, it's just to get down ideas and information so I limit my
palette.
Marilyn
dkra wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes
>
> I'm intrigued by the idea of having a watercolor set available in my purse
> or pocket to use whenever the fancy strikes me. The paper of choice will
> probably be a block of watercolor paper postcards or a sketch book.
>
> Here is a setup I've recently put together:
>
> Altoids mint box (metal, hinged lid, about 4" x 2")
> Plastic adhesive putty in the bottom, for securing pans
> 14 half pans of watercolor (assorted Winsor & Newton, Sennelier, see below)
> a cheap ($2) set of makeup brushes (N.Y.C. brand, from Walgreen's drugstore)
> blush brush
> sponge eyeshadow applicator
> lipstick brush
> eye shadow brush
> eye liner brush
> (natural hair used, brushes all less than 3 inches long!)
>
> The half pans are sort of crammed in there. Maybe I'll limit the colors to
> 12. Does anyone have any suggestions for a limited plein air palette? What
> I have in there now:
>
> Quinacridone magenta [PR122] (Winsor & Newton)
> Terre Verte [PG23] (Sennelier)
> Burnt Sienna [PBr7] (Sennelier)
> French Vermilion [PR242] (Sennelier)
> Indathrone Blue [PB60] (Winsor & Newton)
> Sennelier Red [a.k.a. pyrrole red, PR254] (Sennelier)
> Winsor Blue, Blue Shade [a.k.a. pthalocyanine blue, PB15:1] (Winsor & Newton)
> Sennelier Yellow Light [PY154] (Sennelier)
> Cobalt Blue [PB28] (Sennelier)
> Cadmium Yellow Light [PY35] (Sennelier)
> Lemon Yellow (Nickel Titanate) [PY53] (Winsor & Newton)
> Ultramarine Deep [PB29] (Sennelier)
> Yellow Ochre [PY43] (Sennelier)
> Cobalt Green (light green oxide) [PG50] (Winsor & Newton)
>
> Some people (Brandt) think the palette should consist of at least a "cool"
> and a "warm" of every primary (red, yellow, blue). Others (Dobie) think
> the palette can be built up from four transparent colors (aureolin,
> viridian, cobalt blue, rose madder) with other staining or earth colors
> added as needed.
>
> With the possible exception of PR122, all of those colors are supposed to
> be very lightfast.
>
> My reasoning behind putting together this kit:
>
> Colors not available from any single manufacturer. Many manufacturers
> (e.g. Winsor & Newton, Daler-Rowney, Schmincke) offer travel kits (6
> colors to 48 colors) which are of course all filled with their own brand.
> I opted for the eclectic approach; I wanted to choose particular colors
> which might not be available from any single manufacturer.
> Better colors available from another manufacturer. Someone else might have
> a better version of the same color.
> Colors not available in pan form. I have some empty half and whole pans on
> order from Daniel Smith, and when these arrive I'll pour in some favorite
> colors, e.g. manganese blue, which I haven't been able to find in pan
> form.
> Cheap brushes (also, shorter than artist's "travel brushes"). The brushes
> are cheap because I've heard pan paints are abrasive and can wear out
> expensive brushes.
>
> Besides, Altoids tins are kind of neat.
>
> -- dkra
>
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