Outdoor Painting

Outdoor painting or en plein aire, in my opinion, is the best way to hone an artist's skill regardless of the painting medium he or she prefered, whether it's oil, acrylic, watercolour or mixed media.

There are hundreds and one decisions to be made during the planning stage of an outdoor painting session..ok, may be less than that...but, in the shortest of time available, I need to design the composition, decide what's the subject matters, where is the focal point of the painting, how to simplify things, decide on which colours to use, etc. All of these are important elements of a good painting. The mere thought of doing all these within 10 minutes could drive most people crazy! Why on earth do I want to do such stressful stuff when I'm already living in a hectic city life, you ask?

In fact, it's the total opposite. I'm at my most stress-free self when I paint. You know what? It's actually my de-stress tonic! The best remedy for headache, migrane, stress, tiredness all rolled into one! My mind will automatically shut down and filter-out all my worries and troubles for the time-being whenever I paint.... and it's free, errr not exactly free (you'll find out why later) but definitely cheaper than paying your doctor's bill. :D

I chose watercolour for its smooth-flowing transparent look and its mobility. This is very important to me as I don't own a car. I store everything into my backpack and use the ever-efficient public transport of Singapore. Here are what I need to bring:

1. Watercolour paper taped onto foamboard as backing.
2. Portable, foldable easel to hold up the board and paper. It's actually a modified camera tripod. :-)
3. Holbein aluminium palette. A plastic palette is good enough but I like the sturdy feel of the aluminium palette.
4. Cotton towel to wipe away excess fluid. Tissue papers are good alternatives and I usually have a packet or two in my pocket.
5. Mini water spray bottle to wet dried paints, paper and to do special effects.
6. Foldable chair for my heavy bum.
7. Pencil case, pencils, pens, eraser, etc.
8. Bamboo mat (don't mistaken this for Japanese sushi-making bamboo roll, although they look quite the same!!) to keep my asortments of brushes in place. Believe it or not, a good high quality Kolinsky brush (that's the name of the hair used to make the brush) can cost up to hundreds of dollars!! I'm not telling you which one is the most expensive but I can tell you it's not the largest. ;-)
9. A zipped bag to store all the watercolour paint tubes. I use numerous brands which include Winsor & Newton, Rembrandt, Old Holland and M.Graham. These are professional artists paints which are superior in quality compared to student-grade paints. However, I do recommend student paints to beginners as they are easier on the wallet. You can always upgrade to professional paints when you decide to take your arts to the next level.
10. Cheap plastic container for the water.
11. Water bottle. I usually carry two. One for drinking, the other for painting...who knows how many times I mix them up.
12. Masking tape to tape the paper onto the board.

So, there you have it. The basic stuff that I bring along for my outdoor painting session.

It's Good Friday tomorrow and I've called up a few artist friends from Singapore Watercolour Society for an outdoor painting session! Let's hope it doesn't rain and I'll be back with a new painting. :-)