Prince William Art Society (PWAS) is a group of local artists in Prince William County in Northern Virginia dedicated to an appreciation of the visual arts and fine crafts of local artists and this is their Blog, Artistry Spin. Find information about and by PWAS, our events, our Scholarship Program, our artists, our art shows and exhibits plus much more. Many of our artists display art at locations all around Prince William County, Manassas and beyond.
The
Prince William Art Society (PWAS) asks the members various questions
each month to see what they are up to and want to share with you. This
month's question asked about their in progress artwork with "What's on Your Easel?" Let's go see the
show...
PWAS Member Zee Berrios
The working title is "Commended Spirit". It's part of the "Sacro"
series. It is acrylic on canvas, 12" X 20" (smallest acrylic I've ever
done).
PWAS Member Tom Payne
Tom Payne is our Prince William Art Society Member-at-Large and he's also taken on the management of the workshops and classes for our art group too. He created this video of the Art in the Garden at the Benedictine Monastery this past May 3, 2025:
I just wanted to share a drawing that I’ve been working on. This photo
was taken at my son Ben’s graduation from VCU last year. He’s the class
of 2024, I’m the class of 1992! This hug represents how proud I was, AM
and ALWAYS will be of my one and only “Son-shine”. I’m finishing this
drawing this weekend as a Mother’s Day gift for myself..but he will get
this drawing eventually.
PWAS Member Otis Stanley
"Daddy Sent For Us" Acrylic 16"x 20"
PWAS Member Kathleen Gates
I've been working on this 20 x 20 canvas. I'm not sure if it is complete.
PWAS Member Patty Gulledge
Although I still have a lot of work to do on this painting, it's coming
along. We're renovating two bathrooms, and this piece is meant for the
entrance to the one that has a coastal feel (think colors of sea glass
and bleached wood). This is the first time I've painted something for a
specific room in my house, so I'm hoping it says "this way to the
beach!"
PWAS Member Donna Liguria
The working title is "Art Delivery to the Mill" and its a 14x14 canvas in acrylics. The story behind the painting is on my blog Donna's Cave Paintings. The painting in its finished state will be there too. Art Reception at Art at the Mill
I'm a big fan of the biannual Art at the Mill art show held in the Spring and Fall in Milwood, VA. Do a search on this blog Artistry Spin too for more stories and pics about Art at the Mill. I highly recommend that artists at least go see this show if they haven't answered a Call for Art to it yet.
I agree with Kat Gates, I always question if a painting is done yet....don't you? I may spend a couple of days tweaking, tweaking...turn it upside down and look at it that way for awhile and tweak some more.
And I love Patty's idea to paint an artwork for a specific room. Why in the world would we ever use generic artwork to decorate our own homes!!!???
PWAS Member Mark Murphy
This rendering of a fish was created using Yupo (plastic paper), a pour of acrylic paint, and details in watercolor. This fun, colorful, and more abstract style was a fun departure from my typical art.
PWAS Member Katharine Owens
40x60" No name yet.
Thank you to all the artists that participated in this "What's on your easel" - I look forward to seeing the finished works.
Author: Donna Liguria Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.
The Prince William Art Society art group members, AKA PWAS, with their first "What's on your easel" blog post for what they are currently working on in this Lord's year of 2025. Oooo - have a look at the very cool things in our artist friend's art studios! Prince William County got talent! Be sure to drop something in the comments and leave your name!
PWAS Member - Otis Stanley
On my easel, "Sweepin' Out My Blues", 11x14, acrylic. Getting rid of all of the negative energy and making room for the positive.
PWAS Member - Staci Blanchard
This is my latest project, still working on the shadow. It’s acrylic on a 16x20 stretched canvas. No title as of yet.
PWAS Member - Zee Berrios
This is the third painting in a new series called "Dancing". It is a small piece 20" X 24". Acrylic on canvas. The series is based on photos during tenure as a Videographer for a
Ballet Studio. LORD willing the series will have 24 paintings.
PWAS Member - Bettie Sperty
So…. What’s on my easel... or… what’s on my desk? I always have a pen or pencil in my hand when at my desk and there’s always a bit of scrap paper laying around. Well, scrap paper+ pen + time on hold (or procrastinating) = doodles! I will doodle on the same piece of paper until it’s filled up. Sometimes that is just a day or two, sometimes it’s a month or more. Sometimes I add one line. Other times I’ll fool with it for several minutes. When the paper is full I toss them in the trash. Today I was adding to my latest creation when I decided it would be good for “What’s on your easel”. Not a masterpiece but always fun to see how they develop. This is all of 4” square.
PWAS Member - Katharine Owens
This is almost finished but still on the easel.
PWAS Member - Mandy Powell
Here’s what’s on my easel! In lieu of a newborn arrival, I’ve been commissioned a baby animal scene.
PWAS Member - Mark Clifton
Work still in progress - 18x24
oil on stretched linen. Started over a year ago and recently resumed.
Pieced together from a copper kettle I have, photo of the neighbor's
mandevilla plant, and random wildflowers from this area.
photo no.1 - first day
photo no.2 - most recent
PWAS Member - Donna Liguria
I've been working on a Sunrise and Sunset series of small paintings 6x6 because of a request for one while I was at Harkers Island, NC this past December 2024. I featured the series in my DonnasCavePainting Blog. I still need to varnish and wire them. Which one is your favorite?
Thank
you to all the artists that shared their "in the works" art and we look
forward to seeing the end results! For all the artists that
participated on this post, we should do a "And the results are..." for
the finished artwork! I'm game if you are!
Author: Donna Liguria Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)!pinterest-site-verification=3ad32cc9cfeae507ba5a382d62fcee17
Most months, I like to ask the Prince William Art Society artists what they are working on, sometimes in various ways. What's on your easel isn't always the right thing for every artist as they work in various mediums. Nonetheless, let's see what the artists are doing at the moment and what might be on their radars.
PWAS Member Mark Murphy
Below are two quick paintings from my sketchbook. One is of the
Kinderdijk windmills outside of Rotterdam (definitely worth the visit)
and the other shows a man that I met on the Rotterdam water taxi with
his bike and dog. I'm trying to get in the habit
of quickly documenting recent events with a loose ink sketch and
watercolor washes. Many artists recommend adopting the practice of
quick, daily sketches so I'm giving it a try. It certainly takes the
pressure off of trying to always produce the next "masterpiece"
and they help me see what I need to do differently if I choose to
develop these into larger paintings.
Also below, is a black and white image of my reference photo modified
with Notanizer. Side by side, you can see that my quick, freehand
rendering strays from the original image and I might do another version
that is truer to the values of the photo. There
are many ways to produce a simplified "value study" like this but the
Notanizer app (only $1.99) lets you choose how many levels you want
between black and white and providers sliders to adjust the threshold or
sensitivity of each level. It is a convenient
way to quickly visualize the range of values. I learned about this in
the watercolor class taught by Gwen Bragg at the Workhouse. She is an
excellent instructor.
PWAS Artist Zee Berrios
What is on the easel...an acrylic on canvas 36" X 48". In the Original Natives" series to be exposed next year.
What's on the radar: a solo show at the FCCA (Fredericksburg Center
for the Creative Arts) next year. (presently showing 8 paintings at the
Open Arts space (in Stone Bridge)
PWAS Member Donna Liguria
Although I recently had this painting in the artist reveal video at our last PWAS meeting, it wasn't quite complete. I believe it is now as of TODAY, less the varnishing. So sitting upon my easel is "Lincoln Memorial in the Fall", which is the 3rd commission from a fellow that resides in Washington DC. I've previously painted Spring "Cherry Blossoms, an Annual DC Event" (the Washington Monument), and Winter "White House Having a White Christmas", so I have a whole DC seasons series going. The final Summer season painting is yet to be determined but it just seems like it should be fireworks, don't you think?
I ended up throwing more Fall at it.
And we have Arts Alive this Saturday, September 14, 2024 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas from 12 to 5. Come on out and support the arts!
PWAS Member Elena Jochum
The
painting I am currently working on is for my small business, Tidewater
Trove. It is a depiction of riverglass and pottery artifacts from the
Potomac River. Some of the artifacts date back to 1800s.
This
is a watercolor painting where I am focusing on light, reflections,
textures, man-made objects - and the fleeting of time. The composition
is also representing negative space. I am challenging myself with
abstracting realism.
PWAS Member Pierre George
I'm back in town and was able to get back on the canvas again. What's on my easel? A 30 x 48 painting, I have just completed this weekend. I am currently in the sketching phase of another very, very large painting called "Wash Day".
Inspiration: J.C. Leyendecker, Michelangelo and a host of other artist who has come and gone.
PWAS Member Otis Stanley
Here's what I'm working on; Morning Cast, acrylic, 24" x 36'
PWAS Member Mandy Powell
I’ve been working tremendously and have a solo show that just opened this weekend at Sunshine Ridge Winery! It will be there until November 17 with the reception on Sat Nov 16th! I’m so excited!! Please share.
Drop a comment below and let them know what you think.
Author: Donna Liguria Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!
A
few PWAS members answered the question on "What are you working on?"
That's a question that is periodically asked of the Prince William Art
Society members. Let's see what they're doing...
What's on Your Easel?
The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) members below wanted to show what they are currently (or recently) working on, just came off their easels and/or just out of the studio.
PWAS is an art group that began in 1971 in Prince William County, making it the longest living nonprofit art group in the county. The members are every level of artists and certainly a wide variety of art styles. If you want to learn more about PWAS, see our website at https://princewilliamartsociety.com and our online store at https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/category/all-products
PWAS Member - Donna Liguria
I recently visited my mom and she loves this flag painted on metal but the sun has faded the colors...so of course, she asked me to repaint it. Here's the metal flag waiting to be repainted.
I am working on of
the Neushwanstein Castle in Bavaria, which is supposed to be the
inspiration for the Disney Castle. I also attached the photo I took
there in 2022. The painting is acrylic. I still have to add a lot of
tree detail in the foreground and more sky work. This is the first
painting I've done since my shoulder replacement in April. It is 16 X
20.
And the finished painting below...
PWAS Member - Sandra McClelland Lewin
Here is a painting I
just finished "Virginia Natives". I'm including a photo of the painting
in progress. It is 40"w x 30"h and is painted in acrylics. It depicts
several animals that are indigenous to Virginia (Deer, Bear, Coyote,
Bald Eagle, Fox, Blue Heron, Owl, Squirrel, and Raccoon. It also
includes Redbud trees and Virginia Bluebells. It is currently on exhibit
at the ArtFactory gallery in Manassas, VA and will be there until
September 15th.
PWAS Member - Bettie Sperty
I started painting my friend’s backsplash this past weekend. He recently had his kitchen remodeled and didn’t want the usual tile.
Asked me to paint a mural depicting some of the local sights. This is in
Southern Maryland, lots of fields, Amish buggies, old houses and barns.
Now I’ll share some of the photos of the Butterfly that Sandra and I
created for our show at The Art Factory that is running from August 1st
through September 14th.
Since the show is called “Earthly Delights” and features “nature”
(blooms, bears, birds, bees, bugs and such), Sandra had this great idea
of having a large butterfly hung so that visitors to the exhibit could
stand in front of it for a photo opportunity. We got busy and created
this winged wonder!
If any of the PWAS members have their photo taken in front of our wings, I hope they post them for all to see! Fun!
PWAS Member - Otis Stanley
"Send For Me" by Otis L. Stanley is an acrylic painting, 16"x 20" in monochromic colors. This
work depicts one left behind during the Great Migration period of the
early1900s of African Americans from southern states to northern states
in search of better living conditions and away from Jim Crow laws.
This work will be one of the paintings featured in the upcoming exhibition by the Onyx Art group on Saturday, September 21st at the Westridge Swim and Dive Clubhouse at 12764 Quarterhorse Lane in Woodbridge, Va. 22192 from 1-6 P.M.
PWAS Member - Anna Gatling
Swan song -Ode to the orchid. Currently on my easel. Labor of love as it is an on and off love affair. A slow waltz.
PWAS
Members LOVE reading your comments, so let them know what you think by
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Author: Donna Liguria Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!
This post looks at the what the plein air artist might want to pack for a painting session in the great out-of-doors. Depending on what the medium the artist desires to work in, such as oils, acrylics, pastels or watercolors, these lists will show how the supply list might vary and we'll give some options to consider when you are heading out for a plein air painting session.
What's in Your Checklist?
By the look of the lists below it may not seem to be the KISS method (Keep it Simple Stupid) but that is honestly what you do need to do for plein air painting. An artist will figure out rather quickly what they think they might need as opposed to what they actually must have before AND most assuredly after they go out.
Your actual checklist of art supplies needed for plein air painting will also be based on other variables like:
Will your car be parked nearby?
Distance to walk and current conditions on the ground like rocky, hilly, wet, dry, arid, snowy, etc.
How heavy your fully loaded art supply carrier will be.
If flying to your destination, check those further restrictions
You'll only need to carry what you will actually use and what is necessary for the particular medium you will be working in.
David Dillon, a member of PWAS and the Plein Air Posse painting at the Bluebell Festival on April 7, 2024 in Nokesville, VA
At one of the Prince William Art Society meetings in 2023, (PWAS), we had guest speaker, Marni Maree telling the story of her adventures in traveling and plein air painting. She showed us examples set out down the table, from left to right of her various art supplies and equipment as she lived and traveled, packed and repacked her art supplies for her outings. The funniest part of the whole presentation was how the art supply list and equipment downsized - tremendously- down the table, AKA, got smaller and smaller. Less weight, more compact, and then NOT packed.
Now, let's explore the options of real need in what you must pack, some good choices, and how the plein air backpack may vary depending on the art medium the artist might use.
Traveling Light but Protected
Before the artist goes lugging his whole art studio across a field or up a mountain, at least a little bit of research and some prepurchasing might be needed to make life out in nature while capturing its beauty a little less stressful, sweaty, or leaving you feeling like you just wrestled an alligator the next day.
Hat - a good one with a wide brim
Clamp-on Umbrella that is flexible, attaches well to your chair or easel, and is tiltable. Hopefully a sturdy enough one and large enough to protect you from the sun, and your painting too. Here are some options:
Wondershade on Amazon
Dick's Sporting Goods - small umbrella for $9.99 (suggested by David Dillon)
Best Brella
ShadeBuddy
Sunscreen, Advil, Bug Spray
Pepper Spray - unfriendly animals or people
Whistle, Binoculars, Compass - just how far are you out there wandering?
Plein Air Painting Basic Supplies
Plein air painting does call for some purchases that you may not already have. Selections will need to be made based on budget, your medium(s), your style of painting, perhaps even where you think you will be painting.
A Backpack - can also be used as an easel weight, so the bungee cords may come in handy. Select a large enough BP to handle the bulk of your supplies. Consider one with a "cooler" section for beverages/ snacks, or a way to hang your drinking water bottle from the pack.
A Portable/Collapsible Easel/Tripod. A lightweight field easel, pochade
box or simply a sketch clipboard may be all you need, depending on if
your medium is oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, or other medium or if
you are doing a sketch or using color pencils, etc. Painting outside is often on uneven surfaces so versatility is important.
Easel Suggestions:
Pochade Box - a small paint box mounted on a tripod, often used by oil painters, used for painting on location. Pochade means "a rough or quickly executed sketch or study".
Field Easel - or plein air 3-legged easel, is a portable, lightweight, and easy to store easel of mid to small size, and is often collapsible, foldable, or has telescopic legs. They are meant and built for the open air studio with the intention of easy setup and take down. Check out any pros and cons when researching for your needs.
French Easel - full or half-box and the old rules apply. You get what you pay for. It is a type of field easel with a box for storing art supplies, a handle or straps for carrying.
Packing for Plein Air Painting (best easels and air travel tips)
Robert Dew, a member of PWAS and the Plein Air Posse painting at the Bluebell Festival on April 7, 2024 in Nokesville, VA
Folding Chair or Stool - up to the artist's needs here and whether they are more comfortable standing or sitting to paint, or do both. A compact collapsible, lightweight portable chair is very necessary in my opinion.
Chair Suggestions:
ArtComber Portable Rolling Chair - has built in storage, front wheels and folds into a chair.
Camp Stool - there are lots of options out there, along with bags to hold them, and sometimes accessories to consider.
Essential Art Supply Items
- No matter the medium, choose to bring only the colors, brushes,
palette, or any appropriate mixing solutions absolutely essential for
the project, or to get the artwork started. Some artists can complete a
painting quickly, others will finish in studio. Smaller sized tubes,
containers etc will lighten the load - obviously.
Think ahead and adjust the colors you take to what you will be painting that day. As David Dillon suggested, if you're painting at the ocean, your pallet may be more blues; if in the woods, your pallet may have more greens and browns. A cityscape or street view may be more colorful. Many PA artists have mini palette packs ready to grab and go depending on beach, woods, or wherever.
It is recommended to always use artist-grade paint and not student-grade, so always purchase the best that your budget will allow.
Supply Suggestions:
Mini Palette Cups - clip on cups of stainless steel
Mini Brush Washer - stainless steel
Brush Holder for the tripod
Collapsible water holders
Sketchbook - many artists sketch first to decide composition and colors. Consider your medium you are using and what you might need your sketchbook to handle. Watercolor paper, mixed media paper, etc.
Pencils, Graphite Pencil, Markers, Waterproof Pen with Black Ink, Watersoluble Pencils - any of your selections here would go in a zippered bag with waterproof lining like a toiletries bag. Also include Pencil Sharpener, Eraser.
Supports, Your Painting Surface - Your choice in painting surfaces is yours to make as well as the size of the surface. If you paint on a gessoed canvas or gessoed panels, its suggested to use a surface the sun doesn't shine through. Papers will need to be secured or your drawing of 'down by the river' may end up floating down the river.
Common sizes in plein air is 6x8 or up to 12x16. As the light changes on you, there will probably not be time to complete a larger surface, but you do you.
Your Cell Phone/Camera - Take
reference photos of your subject with the time of day your main concern
to capture the lighting the way you want to paint it. The light will change on you - in seconds! While
some artists can knock out a plein air painting quickly and can capture
the essence of the subject, others will finish up the painting later
with their reference photos.
Be Prepared
- in case of changes in the weather, heat, cold, rain, whatever. Also,
if its quite breezy, think how your artwork can be anchored down to
keep from being air borne.
Clothing - Dressing in layers is a great
idea for those "iffy" days so that dressing up or down will help you
stay cooler or warmer as needed and a raincoat, poncho, or a windbreaker may be a
consideration as well. Pants are recommended (look at cargo pants too because of all the pockets), as well as dressing in neutral colored clothing as white and bright colors can reflect onto your painting.
If you read the link in the above story about Marni Maree, you may also consider a vest with multi pockets.
Guest Speaker, Marni Maree at a Prince William Art Society meeting discussing art supply packing for plein air and traveling options
Shoes/Boots - be prepared for the right footwear whether hiking, mudding, or sitting in a location with a variety of creepy crawlies. And when mud boots are recommended like at the Bluebell Festival, wear the boots. Bluebells LOVE and grow in mud. Closed-toe shoes are suggested as well.
And for the Ladies: Remember hair ties or clips and lip balm! Also, see the options list at the end. Tissues might be good too.
Seasonal: Paint in all seasons - and do push yourself to include all weather conditions! To truly appreciate the differences in lighting, colors, contrasts and more, it helps to practice and gain that experience. The best time of day to paint outside because of the lighting is early morning or late afternoon. The light of a sunrise or a sunset are of course, much more dramatic.
SHADE is imperative in the heat. See a great potential scene for a painting but there's no shade, snap a picture and paint that one in the AC. Cooling towels are another option when in the heat. And drop your hat under the water for a soak too.
Water
for clean up, water for you. Collapsible containers may work there too. Nonetheless, especially in the heat, DRINK WATER OFTEN, whether thirsty or not.
Food - Is it still plein air painting in a McDonald's parking lot? You'll need to have some easy to consume food and/or snacks too. Think granola bars and fresh fruit, which are good options for your energy levels. Or you may need a cooler to handle your munchies. Just remember, CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF!!
Paper Towels, blue shop towels, or rags for cleanup, plus some plastic trash bags including a large bag in case of an emergency rain-shield.
Doren Dauer,a member of PWAS and the Plein Air Posse painting at the Bluebell Festival on April 7, 2024 in Nokesville, VA. Photo by Tom Payne, PWAS Member at Large
Acrylic Plein Air Painting Tool Kit
Plein air painting supplies for various mediums have many of the same tools and some big differences as well. As we all know, the beauty of acrylic paint is that it dries quickly. When plein air painting with acrylics on hot sunny days, consider being in the shade and out of the wind as best you can to prevent your paints from drying out on you. Other painters suggest a smaller canvas, painting quickly and leaving your brushes in the water when not in use.
Acrylic Paints
Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Light, Quinacridone Rose, Permanent Madder Lake, Ultramarine Blue, Turquoise, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna
Golden Open Acrylics offer a slower drying paints.
Sta-Wet Palette
Plastic Sorting Container
Palette Paper or Water Palette
Acrylic Paint Brushes
At least 5 sizes; rounds, flats and filberts in sized #2-10
Soft synthetic bristle brushes may work best
Surfaces like Canvas Panels, Wood Panels, or Sintra Panels (wiped down with isoprophyl alcohol)
Retarder
Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid to extend drying time
Atelier Interactives dry a bit slower
1-2 Palette Knives
Brush Carrier - roll or tube
Wet Paint/Canvas Carrier - if you apply paint on the thick side, drying time may extend some, nonetheless, a carrier can protect the painting while traveling.
Water Container(s), Brush Washing Container - I'm a 3 water container person myself: 1. with soapy water for cleaning, 2. with clean water for rinsing, and 3. with clean water for dipping brush and mixing. So Containers are needed for your style here too.
Small spray bottle of water - to mist your paints and/or surface
Fill 3:1 mixture of water and Open Thinner
Sponge(s)
Plastic zip lock bags
Mechanical Pencil, Eraser
Scraps of aluminum foil to cover main paint blobs on your palette
Jeff Holman,a
member of PWAS and the Plein Air Posse painting at the Bluebell
Festival on April 7, 2024 in Nokesville, VA. Photo by Tom Payne, PWAS
Member at Large
Oil Painting Plein Air Painting Tool Kit
The Alla Prima painting approach is a direct completion of the painting all in one sitting. This could very well be a different way to paint for many artists in their studios that work at a painting over days or even weeks, painting and building layers. And realizing that your work will NOT be dry when you are done for the plein air painting day means a special way to carry the piece home to protect it is essential.
There are now water-based oils so some of the essentials will change.
Oil Paints
Limited palette suggestions for oil painting is Cadmium Red Light, Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black (for Blue), and Titanium White
Jess Kodad, a
member of PWAS and the Plein Air Posse painting at the Bluebell
Festival on April 7, 2024 in Nokesville, VA. Photo by Tom Payne, PWAS
Member at Large
Watercolor Plein Air Painting Tool Kit
Many an artist consider watercolor painting outdoors as the easiest to work with, the supplies aren't as many, the drying time is quick, and other notable items in the PRO column.
Watercolor Paints
Watercolor Paint Brushes
Water Brush Pens
Watercolor Pencils, Pencil Sharpener
Brush Carrier
Wet Paint/Canvas Carrier/Protection for the surface
Water Container, Spray Bottle
Brush Washing Container
Lap Clip Board
Masking Tape, Mechanical Pencil Eraser
Sketch Paper, Watercolor Paper Pad and/or Notecards
If you are painting on stretched canvas, consider a piece of cardboard to put behind it to prevent the sun from shining through it.
Retractable brushes
Swiss Army Knife, a few tools like a wrench, screwdriver, good glue. Regular maintenance on your plein air equipment is needed to keep it all in good condition.
Mahl Stick or Retractable Back Scratcher - to keep your shirt sleeves and palms above the paint surface and not in the paint.
Empty bottle for pouring dirty paint water in for disposal at home.
Sponge Brush for dusting, blending and softening edges
Cotton Swabs, Toothbrush, Stim-U-Dents - various textures and marks.
Brass Window Washer Squee-Gee - mark making tool for edges.
Bluetooth Speaker (maybe birds tweeting aren't your thing?...)
Vice Grips or Nut Cracker for opening stubborn tubes.
Stand Up and Pee for Women - I'll let you look up this one. Or just do what they do in Times Square for New Year's Eve and wear diapers/Depends.
Small pack of Wet Ones or Soil Love
Small rug, old table cloth to stand on in wet grass, snow or ice or a yoga mat
Bungee Cords, at least 4 Binder Clips, Carabiner Clips, Magnets
Directions, entrance fee, gate codes, where to park/not park
AND bring your business cards. I saw it at the Bluebell Festival where someone walking by wanted to buy the painting right off the easel of one of the PWAS artists!
Be aware though that depending on WHERE you are painting if there are any "sales" type of restrictions and permission agreements, which is a possibility in some public spaces.
Additionally, there are indeed lists of supplies and tips out there if you are flying and what you can or cannot pack, so be aware of what is allowed.
Just remember, whatever you pack, you have to transport it there and back again.
Off the Beaten Path
Depending on where you are painting and who you are painting with - solo or with a group of painters, or perhaps along a trail with curious passersby,
you will probably be interrupted at some point. The distractions are potentially all in a days palette, so embrace the day - even if you are trying this different painting style of quickly applying your brush and capturing that exact light essence before its gone. Perhaps move off the path a ways to stay out of any major traffic flow when its safe to do so.
Its good for ALL of us to be out in the open air, its good for our health and feeds the soul - I think even more especially, the creative ones.
Do you have any supplies not listed here, suggestions, tips or advice?
Author: Donna Liguria Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Photography/Video Credits: Donna Liguria and Tom Payne
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
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