living amongst the trees

$60 - 5x7"original watercolour with 8x10"painting

I spent the day at the wonderful High Park here in Toronto, plein-air painting with a friend. We had a great day amongst all the green (!). Can you spot the little duck swimming by. There were lots of them keeping up company. : )

Making progress and trying to keep the greens interesting and true. The house is there... it's just 'amongst the trees', hence my title. : ) 

My little paintbox has served me well over the years. Placed on my lap as I work, it includes my palette, brushes, pencils, water container, a compact mirror (to look at the painting in reverse) and a rag clipped to the right side. It's just great!

statuesque

I painted this on location with my newly devised, work in progress, painting kit.

Foam core board, Winsor Newton palette, brush, 6B pencil (hiding behind the brush), a 8x10"mat with 5x7"opening, watercolour paper, rag and 3 bull dog clips!

I saw a fellow urban sketcher use a bulldog clip to keep their palette on their board. Genius!

This collapsable water holder has a handle which I clipped onto my foam core board. It gets heavy if I'm standing so...

there is this much lighter option, which means changing the water more often. I think I'll stick with this next time.

Also, a rag clipped onto my board. However, it just means holding a longer and heavier board. Great if I'm sitting but I think I'm going to cut a shorter board and keep the rag and paper towels on hand. Like I said, it's a kit in progress.

Hope this inspires some to paint outdoors!

And now, I'm off to my group art show!!