Thanks to our resident kindergartners’ request for a picnic, I painted outdoors yesterday in his favorite play park, enjoying and exploring some colors in my palette that I wanted to befriend.

The last time I painted like this was in the summer of 2000. Ever since, I have always painted inside a studio, indoors and on a desk surrounded by my paraphernalia.

Anyways, stepping out for a picnic and possibly at least two to three hours in the sun made me grab a tiny set of art supplies that brought me much joy yesterday afternoon.

I arranged into a bag the following things:

– a tiny spiral bound sketchbook

– my 5” x7” watercolor tear pad, it has been the best for sketches!

-a pencil case with two watercolor brushes, fully loaded.

– two black pens, for sketches

– my tiny 6 slab assorted mix of watercolor paints by PoemsAboutYou (PAU), Winsor and Newton(WN) and Case for Making (CFM). The goal was to have two sets of primary colors to play with and you can see how handy the palette is!

– last minute grabs: a clipboard and extra paper I threw in just before we left. It kept the bag sturdy and gave me additional material to work with! (I don’t have a picture because it was very last minute, but you get it, right? 😀)

Takeaway from plein air painting

– Its freeing to work with a limited set of supplies and color.

– In my studio, I am usually cleaning my brush several times in water before dipping it into another color. But being out there in the park allowed me to not worry about this and go from one color to the other, something that allowed me to be more free, making those colors seamlessly blend on the palette and paper! I enjoyed it very much!

– I was so relaxed with my painting. The normal parent behavior went out the window. I became an observer, keenly looking for action and fun things to paint rather than obsessively hovering about my sons behavior in the park! This has not happened in the past five years of my parenting life, so that was new.

– I returned home happy, and with a fresh insight to switching up colors in the travel palette

– I seek local destinations for painting outdoors now! Exciting!

I hope this story encourages you to go with the flow. I have found this process very relaxing and liberating, I hope you can enjoy the outdoors this summer too!

Happy summer!

Cheers

Radha