Читать книгу Painting Expressive Watercolours - Mike Chaplin - Страница 15

I have several small travelling bags hanging on a hook inside the studio door. The smallest is a pocket-sized bag which has a pencil, a fountain pen, a ballpoint pen and a little pad of white paper. It is purely about making very quick linear notes to use as an aide-mémoire later on. Another bag has a box of paints with a folding brush, a pot of water and a small camera, giving me the facility to make more complex notes about colour and tone while still being very light to carry. These two bags are for drawing on the hoof, looking at lots of subjects in anticipation that one or two might be worth returning to.

It is a mistake to set out every time with the expectation of doing a very formal painting as this imposes pressure upon you. Much of my working time is spent taking sparse notes to get a feel for the place and I might make several visits before I arrive with a kit that is the full works, with easel, stool and umbrella. By this time I will have formed a strong idea about composition, colour range and tonal range and I will be ready to go.

With this amount of equipment a car is more or less essential, but weight is still something to be considered. Lightweight foamboard covered with plastic on both sides is ideal for travelling. I take two sheets with the paper sandwiched in between to keep it flat, then use the two sheets together to make a rigid drawing board. I have a strip of Velcro on the back and a corresponding piece of Velcro on my lightweight easel, and this gives a solid structure. In the absence of an easel, the foamboard can simply be rested on the knee.

A bin liner is excellent emergency cover for both painting and materials if it rains. Equally mundane but useful are plastic trays such as party dip containers and airline plates, which make good palettes. In art shops you can buy a lightweight stool with a bag attached that is carried as a rucksack on your back – but you can find them much cheaper in a market, so shop around.

This is my typical painting bag. It is waterproof and contains a paintbox with 14 half pans, a water-carrier and minimal palettes. Also included are tissues, loose sheets of paper, a camera for recording detail and a selection of drawing tools.