JANE’S EQUIPMENT FOR PLEIN-AIR PAINTING

Supports I prepare my boards beforehand. I use Jackson’s Belle Arti 271/2x193/4in (70x50cm) canvas panels which I cut into pieces: four 93/4x8in (25x20cm) and two 113/4x93/4in (30x25cm). I then paint them with a thin wash of burnt sienna or Indian red, and Naples yellow.

I use a small pochade box mounted on a tripod, using a useful mounting plate from Ken Bromley Art, and all my equipment except for the tripod fits into a shopping trolley.

Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oils Titanium white; zinc white; Naples yellow, light and deep; cadmium yellow; a small amount of lemon yellow; cadmium red, permanent rose (tiny amount); Indian red; raw umber; raw sienna, burnt sienna; olive green; sap green; cobalt; cerulean; ultramarine blue; burnt umber; and ivory black.

I place all my paint onto the palette beforehand – I never use it all but it keeps for some time in my closed pochade.

Mediums I mix my own medium using two-parts distilled turpentine with one-part linseed oil.

I use a homemade carrier for my wet paintings, which will take both sizes of boards. It holds four boards.

Brushes My brushes are mostly Pro Arte Sterling 201 in a range of sizes, mainly round, filbert and flat. I sometimes use bigger hogs hair brushes for larger paintings.

To aid with composition I also carry a range of viewfinders of various sizes, made from small offcuts of mountboard. Most of my small oils are painted en plein air in one sitting, and only small details are added later in the studio. I go out weekly with a small group, some of whom are my ex-students from an adult education class I taught in Holmfirth. I find being in a small group both reassuring and enjoyable. It’s always so interesting to see such different treatments of the same subject, and useful to share tips about equipment and ways of working. As a group we take turns to select a venue. Setting out to paint outdoors certainly has its challenges, and my advice would be not to look too long for inspiration. Often the subject is right in front of you just awaiting closer scrutiny. Only when we spend more time examining our surroundings do we see things that were not apparent at an initial glance, and this close observation continues during the painting process.