5 Ways to Avoid Rookie Mistakes When Creating On Location
I recently set myself the challenge of drawing or painting images from my holiday, rather than using photos. This turned out to be much harder than I imagined. Being new to plein air painting generally, I’m sure I made ALL the rookie mistakes. So, here are 5 ways to avoid the mistakes I made.
1. Choose your colours wisely! (Click here for my blog post on choosing a holiday colour palette)
Admittedly this wasn’t a mistake I made on this trip, but when you’re as addicted to colour as I am, creating the right travel palette for your needs can be quite daunting. It took me half a day to decide on my colours! Interestingly, now I’m back from my holiday, I haven't gone back to my old colour palette as I thought I would. If you’d like to see the exact colours I chose click here.
2. Choose your sketchbook and add 2 bulldog clips. (To stick the pages to the cover, front and back)
I was lucky enough to have received a 300gsm sketchbook hand-made by Annemie van Osch of ameloration_art for Christmas.
It was small (for me) and light, and so beautiful that I felt it needed a truly special project, such as my holiday painting challenge, rather than just treating it as I would my usual sketchbook. It was square, which meant that when it was open my creating space would be rectangular.
3. Make sure your carry bag fits all your equipment AND your sketchbook. (Put anything inky into a zip lock bag)
I’d been wise enough to use a zip lock bag for anything inky, like my fountain pen AND I had another solid plastic container that allowed me to store my brushes without damaging their tips. Also, because it was plastic, I could pack away wet brushes quickly without damaging my bag.
But I really hadn’t thought through how to transport my materials beyond my suitcase and so I’d foolishly brought a shoulder bag with me that didn’t actually fit my sketchbook… As a result, I’d be on location, want to paint, and not be able to because I didn’t have my equipment with me.
I know, right! Feel free to roll your eyes.
So, my first holiday mission was to find a bag big enough that didn’t break my budget. Problem solved!
4. Sketch now, paint later! Master the 30 second standing sketch, OR, snap a photo now and sketch later!
So now I had all my equipment packed and ready to go in my new stylish art shoulder slouch. I got to my day’s destination, whipped out my supplies, and then…“Mum! Can you….?”, or “Time to go!”, or worse still, nowhere to sit.
Sigh… being on the go makes it difficult to stop let alone spread out, and I have a lot of spread to out! So, I became the master of the 30 second sketch. With my bag still on my shoulder, I’d take out just my sketchbook and a pencil and then sketch – fast!
What could I see? Where did all the shapes fall on the horizon? Which colours/textures did I need to remember? My pencil scribbling in as much as I could as quickly as I could. The bulldog clips holding the pages became my new best friends, especially in the sudden afternoon sea breezes. (And I confess I cheated a bit. I did take a photo so that I could add the details later.)
No table? No problem! Just lean on a tree or a wall to get some stability.
At last I felt like I was starting to achieve my goal, but I still really wanted to add colour. A couple of times I added coloured pencil because it was easier but watercolour is my thing and I just had to add paint.
#Quicktip
“Take a towel to put under your workspace”
So, it was later in the day, usually by the pool after a swim, when I had time to fill in the details, spread out and splash on some pigment. The swim up bar was amazing for this! I put a towel underneath my work and, as it was usually just me there, I’d spread my supplies out unrestricted while I cooled in the pool.
5. Let it go… you’re on location! Remember to enjoy it!
“The result is a sketchbook full of good intentions, half-sketched, half-painted memories and a few pages of rough imperfection.
… and I love it!”
Despite all the issues, it was the best decision I made to paint on location and this sketchbook is now a treasured tactile intimate memory that I will return to and work on again and again, that no mere photo could possibly have created.
I thoroughly recommend creating on location! Happy joy-chasing!
Monique x