A Real Cigarbox Pochade

Was looking around the bedroom the other day (no bed – just a lot of stored stuff – need the room) and found a good sturdy tripod that I used to use for photo work (my new camera is smaller than a pack of cigarettes) and an empty cigar box – so – I designed a smaller paint box to use for plein air.

Here’s the look of it:


The lid will be used as the easel so I added this strong bracket to one side for support – also the bottom has been modified to fit the top of the tripod.

 
 
 
 
 

I had to cut and sand down the brushes so they’d fit. The mixing palette is a piece of Plexiglas.
 
 

Emptying the box – the wooden “C” shaped pieces insert through holes in the sides to create side boards (I borrowed that detail from one my dad used on his paint-box).
 
 
 
 
 
 

The box on the tripod with the side boards clipped on – all of it attached to the tripod.

The box fully set up and ready – the rolled up bamboo placemat becomes one of the side boards – the mixing palette the other.  The paints are stored in a small plastic divided box that fake fingernails come in - the top closes firmly and when not in use I store the box in the refrigerator.

 
 
 
 
and . . . so there it is.

Painting Out There - Shadow Patterns @ Honokohau

oils on stretched canvas - 12x14

One of my absolute favorite pieces - i had my box and canvas set up under a tree at the harbor entrance ready to paint this wacky (i don't think i've ever used that word before, but it fits) tree and noticed the shadows on the canvas and decided - "what the hell?!" and painted them as fast as i could. My favorite because of how the piece came about and because of the wonderful texture of the paint.

What is it, anyway?

To me painting isn’t a conscious effort – it’s all done in a rush, intuitively – I don’t decide on things – “I think I’ll use this color here and move this over here and hold the brush this way” – it’s all down in one god-awful stream that sometimes ends well.  The painting is a result of everything you know, have thought, have done, have experienced – don’t worry if you feel you haven’t caught on to something from a class – you have caught on to everything – it’s in you someplace – the secret is forgetting the process of painting so that you can paint and i think secret for me and for everyone, is just to paint a lot and to be unconcerned about failures – because they really aren’t – they’re just bad paintings.