Gouache plein air painting setup
The world we live in is amazingly beautiful. The colors and tones observed in nature cannot be captured by any digital device, so if you really want to see an ultimate beauty in your paintings you need to learn how things look in reality. To do so, you have to paint from life from time to time. Flowers in a vase on a windowsill, your own reflection in a mirror, your room… anything around you can become a decent subject to paint. When the weather is fine you can go to a park and make a couple of small sketches. By painting from life you explore the true colors and value relationships of nature so when you decide to paint from a photo your “plein air” painting experience should allow you to spot the areas in the photo that aren't corresponding to reality and you will be able to correct them.
In this article, I will share with you my plein air setup for gouache. You can find most of the products in my setup online and some of them you can even make yourself.
The pochade box is the most important part of my plein air setup. It is made by a US company called Guerrilla Painter. Actually, I use two of these boxes: 9x12” and 8x10”. I usually prefer the bigger one as it can hold everything I need for painting and it’s better balanced because of the deeper and heavier bottom part, but the small one is very light and compact, and it can be easily fit into any backpack.
These pochade boxes are great and relatively cheap when compared with other plein air easels on the market, but in the end they are just boxes with lids. If you enjoy making stuff, you can build a very similar box by yourself. There are lots of videos on YouTube that show you how to build your own pochade box. You can even get an empty cigar box on Ebay and use it as your plein air easel. The lack of professional equipment shouldn't hold you back from going to paint outdoors. Before I came up with the solution for plein air painting with gouache, I had done many gouache paintings while sitting on grass or sand with my legs crossed and my sketchbook lying on the ground.
I always have one container for water and another for paper towels in my setup. Each time I clean my brush, I dip it into a pile of paper towels to get rid of the excess water from the brush. Then, I begin mixing a new color. When the paper towels in that second container get soaking wet, you have to change them, otherwise you will be taking too much water on the brush to your mixing tray and it will become difficult to control the consistency of your gouache, which has to be creamy and not watery like watercolors.
This is a closer look at the setup with the 9x12” box.
In this photo, I am using the 9x12” pochade box with a tripod. You can't tell by looking at the photo, but I am sitting on a folding stool here.
By the way, I do not recommend placing your paper in direct sunlight while painting outdoors because the extremely bright surface of the paper won't let you judge the colors accurately. You will have to compensate for the brightness of the sunlight without even realizing it and will end up by mixing darker colors than you actually need. The day this photo was taken was quite windy, so I couldn't set up my umbrella and there also was no shade on the pier, so I didn't have a choice and had to set up my easel in sunlight.
In this photo, I am using the same box without the tripod. I am sitting under a cream beach umbrella which creates perfect conditions for painting outdoors because it defuses the sunlight and makes it easier to judge the colors. Be aware that colored umbrellas cast colorful shadows, which might affect your color perception. White or cream umbrellas are perfect for painting on a sunny day.
I use two different Slik tripods with these boxes:
I made this brush case using two plastic cups, one of which had to be cut to fit into the other. This case protects my brushes while traveling.
As for that metal thing that holds my brush cup attached to the box, I bought it years ago with one of my easels here. It was designed to hold a glass of wine, but because I don't drink wine while painting, I hadn't used it until recently when I needed to find a solution to keep my brushes close to my painting hand while painting.
This is how I transport my brushes.
The white support which holds my watercolor pad in the photo is what my husband has made for me by gluing two pieces of plastic together. You can make something like this by yourself. I attach it to the box using velcro. It is very stable and I like that it lifts my watercolor pad a bit from the mixing area.
You could use an Ikea storage unit called Sunnersta for storing your brushes. This cup attaches easily to Guerilla boxes and is perfect for storing short handle brushes
I usually attach this cup to the left side of my pochade box and use it to store my spray bottle, the whites and the mirror. Credit for the idea of using this cup with our pochade boxes goes to my “Color Mastery” student Peggy. Thank you, Peggy!
Download my free 30-page PDF, “Everything you Need To Know About Gouache”
In this 30-page PDF you will learn:
How to decide which colors you need when you start with gouache and how you can expand your palette to make it even more effective.
What kind of storage palettes to use with gouache to prevent your beautiful colors from fast drying.
Why you need to use two whites with gouache.
How to choose the right paper and what kinds of brushes work best with gouache.
About the setup that I like using for plein air painting with gouache.
You will also be provided with many useful tips that will make your painting experience smoother.
