Wednesday, January 29, 2014

New painting toys! A pochade box! I am ready to take my painting outside or ... anywhere!

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I am so excited about one of my new toys in my studio.
A custom made (by my hubby) and custom designed (by me)
pochade box!
(Pochade is a French word for small painting)
Basically it's a box that is an easel, palette holder and canvas or panel holder all in one!
This is set up to be mounted on my camera tripod and is portable.

The photos are all inside as it's cold outside right now.
In fact, we are expecting snow in Charleston in the next couple of days!

 The pochade box is shown here with a 12 x 12 panel.
Notice the panel on the left that holds my brushes and has plenty of room to set stuff on.
The palette is in the middle.
Below those 2 sliding items is plenty of room to store paint and extra stuff.
It's attached to my camera tripod and has a handle plus a long strap to hold on your shoulder.



The back side of the box has slots to hold another panel that would be attached to it.
The panels are made out of corrugated plastic so it doesn't add any weight to the box.
I can tape panels to them or actually screw in canvas so I can hold the paintings without 
touching the edges. 


And besides the panel slot for the paint in progress,
there is room inside for another panel.


In the case of a larger canvas, I just attached my canvas to the panel that fits into the slots.
I can still paint on it though I would need to take this one out to close the box up.


Summing it up!
This box is designed to pack my paints, brushes, panels and even canvas!
It is designed to fit an 11 x 14 panels or canvas and even store them.
There is storage for 3 panels! Two on the inside and one on the outside!
The panels are designed to hold a paint panel or canvas and still paint to the edge and store them
without damaging the edges as the box is slightly bigger than 11 x 14.

There is space in the bottom for paints and brushes plus clips for holding a trash bag and paper towel when the pochade box is in use.
The outside has slots to hold a panel or canvas, wet or dry....

All I need now is warm enough weather to go outside!
I used to plein air paint with my friends in St Louis all the time but have 
not since I moved to Charleston. And the weather is better here! Go figure!
This little box is also great if I want to just take my gear to another studio or the gallery to paint.
And its a great set up for workshops!
This is going to be so much easier than  my French easel! 
What a pain that is to carry around and set up!
Pretty darn cool!!!!!

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