How to paint a pochade.
Firstly you will need a pochade box which can be bought from our shop (click here). Over time the box will adapt and become personal, worn, battered and familiar through use. The contents will accumulate, but when you are first starting out it should contain the basics. The secret is to keep it simple and carry as little as possible. These being: -
Artists quality paints - Titanium White - Cobalt Blue - Ultramarine Blue - Alizarin Crimson Permanent - Red Light - Cadmium Yellow Medium - Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Brushes- One size 2 stable brush, one size 10 synthetic flat brush.
Pencil- Pencil of your choice, i.e. 2B.
Palette Knife- Size 12 flat straight edge knife used to scrape paint off.
Tissues- Always useful to clean brushes.
Knife- Small cutting knife to sharpen pencil and scrape paint.
Dipper- Small tin pot filled with turps to clean brushes and thin paints.
Boards- These can be either card or canvas, primed or unprimed depending on preference.
On Location
-You have 1 hour to paint a pochade. The light is constantly changing so paint quickly and approximately. If too much time is spent it can look labored and spoilt.
-Start by just looking for the first 5 minutes and locate a good composition. Look at how the colours work; a good painter looks at his subject more than he does his painting.
-Then create a quick sketch either with pencil or paint. Spend approximately 2 minutes drawing the basic outline of the composition so you have a solid guideline to begin the pochade.
-It is normally a good idea to block in the sky as a base colour. Clouds move quickly and can be placed in when you are ready later in the painting! Now begin applying the darker shades. Keep colours in the distance cooler and colours in the foreground brighter.
-Now fill the half tones and then build up to the highlights. It is a good idea to keep the dark layers in thin paint and use thicker paint for the highlights as this creates a greater sense of depth.
-When you are almost finished painting it is sometimes a good idea to apply a little spot colour to take the eye into the distance. Claude Monet used this technique successfully in many of his paintings.
The final step is to secure the wet pochade in your box and venture home for an overdue cup of tea.
When the pochade is dry study the creation and reflect on what you have learnt from the experience. It does not matter how the finished painting looks; the success of a pochade depends on how much you enjoyed the process, whether you learnt from it. It represents a moment of life and captured time.
