HELPFUL TIPS FOR OUTDOOR WORKING....and useful ideas to help you keep on the straight and narrow

HELPFUL TIPS FOR OUTDOOR WORKING  2015

get comfortable, don’t carry more stuff than you need, but make sure you have the essentials.

Wear a hat if the sun is bright as sunglasses will alter colour and tone. Be aware that the sun shining on your white paper can give you a headache because it can be so bright, so consider your position.

Have a drink of water with you, I use one bottle and drink from it as well as using it for my water colours, (in another container!)

Don’t rush to get started, time spent just looking and imagining potential images is not wasted. 

Look for strong shapes, so that you can build strong composition in to your image, regardless of whether they are trees, telegraph poles, cows, clumps of rushes or parked cars!

Look for the obvious and then LOOK TO THE SIDE OR BEHIND YOU for a less obvious or cliched image.

Seek out shapes and colours which you find interesting.

Thumb nail sketches, just an inch or two square, will help you assess the potential of any image and will therefore save you TIME, thereby helping you get the best out of the ‘plein air’ experience.

Don’t walk for miles!

If you take an easel try putting it up in the garden first!

Think about where the light is coming from, to help you to be consistent with shade and shadows.

If you feel shy and there are people about position yourself in a corner or in front of nettles so that no one can stand behind you!

Have faith in your choices of subject matter.

Remember that something in the foreground will make the distance appear more distant. The Norwich School of watercolorists often used a clump of dock leaves for this.

Look away from your work every now and again to rest your eyes and to help you review your work  objectively. 

Take a digital camera, it can help you assess a view, and if you want to finish something off at home then you can do so.

Quick sketches are just as important and telling about the vision you have as a longer term piece of work, and remember that a series of pieces, drawings or sketches or paintings, can be a useful way of describing your experiences. I find that there is often too much to ‘say’ in just one painting.

remember your hot water bottle and thermal underwear, rain coat, sun cream, insect repellent perhaps an umbrella, spare jumper!

Enjoy your day,     and remember look round when you clear up to check for dropped items……