Historic New England recently held a plein air event at Cogswell's Grant, a beautiful 18th-century farm in Essex, Massachusetts. I like plein air painting, but have done very little of it in my life, as it seems to require specialized equipment and a level of dedication that I don't possess.
However, my friend Kerrie, who in spite of having three young kids, has that kind of dedication in spades, invited me to go paint with her at this event.
Nothing works quite like a personal invitation, but what to bring? Searching around my art supplies, it found an old 8.5" x 5.75" wooden cigar box with a sliding lid. I already had a sealable plastic palette of gouache paint, and a 5" x 7" pad of watercolor paper (which just fit neatly inside the box ). I added some metal clips, a mechanical pencil, and a couple of water reservoir brushes, I grabbed a folding camp chair and headed off, ready to paint outdoors for the first time in years.
It was a beautiful day, the artists who were already there were spread out around the property, there were no bugs, little wind, and the company was good. Most of the artists there were using French easels and some even had luggage totes full of their paints, canvas panels, etc.
After seeing the elaborate set ups, I felt a little self conscious about my little impromptu paint box, "MacGyvered" out of what I had on hand.
The final artwork
We painted for about 2 hours. The cigar box set up actually worked quite well, and it is small and portabel enough that I can take it almost anywhere. I'm hoping to do more plein air painting over the summer. All in all, it was a very relaxing and satisfying experience.
