Gouache Painting Plein Air
Riley Doyle
$408
The weekend workshop will focus on seeing and distilling the world around us into quick color notes. We will spend the first day of the workshop exploring our surroundings and making quick thumbnails in gouache as a way to gather color and compositional data. We will go over some of the basic things to know about landscape painting and about gouache as a medium. Day two of the workshop will be taking our favorite compositions and developing them further as larger paintings in gouache. We will go over optimal setup strategies, finding your composition, navigating colors and values outdoors, dealing with the changing lighting conditions, and of course, the principles of atmospheric perspective. The class is great for painters at any level of experience.
Required Supplies
The supplies for this workshop are flexible, and open to whatever you maybe have already. If you have painted in gouache before and/or if you have plein air painted before, please bring what you are used to using and comfortable with. The things on the list below are not a requirement, but intended as a helpful guide if you are equipping yourself for the first time.
Easel Types:
-French easel- heavy and large to carry, but stable
-Field Easel- lightweight and compact, but need to be weighed down for stability
-Pochade Box- Stable and useful, most require a tripod, and they can be expensive
You are free to bring any setup that you already have or are comfortable with, but remember that you may have to carry it a little ways to the painting location from the parking lot. I would recommend trying out your setup before class, even if just in your own yard
Since we will be starting with smaller pieces, the simplest setup is just a compact folding chair, (or just standing) like listed below, and a watercolor sketchbook and your gouache paints and brushes. Having something to hold your sketchbook/paper so your hands are free to hold your palette, for mixing, and brushes is ideal.
My gouache plein air set up is usually just a small chair, my paints and brushes, and a small wooden board with my water color paper taped on. The palette and brushes are held along with some creative thinking for the water mixing cup and paper towel. The above options are great for easing comfort and efficiency, and are highly recommended in the long run, but if you’re on a budget, or just want to try things out first, you can get by without them.
Resources - You can google all these and find great options
Field Easel: I’ve used a Napoli easel for several years, it was cheap and simple, found it at cheap joes art. This will hold your painting surface - paper or sketchbook
Pochade box: Prolific Painter (my current setup) , Strada Easel, Edge Pro easel, Guerilla Painter, New Wave pochade, En Plein Air Pro. Many of these you will also need a tripod, some companies offer a kit with all included. You can also bring a basic setup and get recommendations and ideas from the other students. These products can be used for many different media and applications. For instance, I use my Prolific Painter setup when I plein air paint, when I paint in my studio, and when I attend life drawing or painting sessions. It is really a mobile studio.
Read this article for more: https://www.outdoorpainter.com/best-plein-air-easels-for-artists/
Brushes- soft, water media brushes. I tend to use cheap synthetics. Make sure you have a good variety of sizes.
*A brush carrying case is very helpful:
https://smile.amazon.com/JTDEAL-Storage-Acrylic-Watercolor-Gouache/dp/B06X93CZ2F/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2TVWFOSUDS680&dchild=1&keywords=paint+brush+carrying+case&qid=1589042728&sprefix=paint+brush+carr%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1
Paper Towel, blue shop towels are best
Jars or containers for your water.
Apron or clothes you don’t mind getting paint on.
Trash bag for dirty rags
140 lbs watercolor paper, small sheets or
6” x 9” or 7” x 10” Watercolor sketchbook
Any watercolor palette will work, I have used this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Mijello-Airtight-Watercolor-18-Well-Palette/dp/B0049UZEWQ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=watercolor+palette&qid=1589046240&sr=8-2
I also just use a white metal tray, any flat, non-absorbent surface is fine
Paint
Any brand you have already or prefer to use is fine, just make sure you have the gouache paint that comes in tubes. We will not be using the dried watercolor cakes.
This is my palette:
-Permanent White
-Cadmium Lemon or Azo Yellow
-Raw Sienna
-Cadmium Red Light
-Cadmium Orange
-Alizarin Crimson
-Permanent Green Light
-Ultramarine
-Ivory Black
*If you want a simple palette, stick with these primary colors plus black and white
*Compact foldable chair:
https://www.amazon.com/lychee-Outdoor-Three-Legged-Foldable-Travelling/dp/B07PK1X5FK/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=3+legged+foldable+camping+chair&qid=1589044010&s=arts-crafts&sr=8-2
*Brimmed Hat
*Sunscreen
Backpack to carry everything/weigh down your setup
*Umbrella- this can be for both sun and rain
*Spring clamps, assorted sizes: these are good for a number of random applications, I typically bring a few big ones and 3-4 tiny ones.
*recommended but optional
