I took a trip down memory lane today. It was a bit of a detour but I enjoyed every minute and came out more organized! I was supposed to work on getting my pastel papers back in order. I have piles of paper all over the studio. But somehow I got distracted and decided to find a better way to organize all of my plein air paintings.
I am a prolific plein air painter....when I get to paint outside that is. I think of my paintings done on location as studies and I am usually more interested in capturing a certain mood or moment than doing a longer more polished painting. So I paint small and quick studies. I find that these studies are great references back in the studio. So I save all of them.
I save them but I have lost track of many. They have gotten mixed in with my other landscape paintings. I needed to have a better system for organizing my plein air studies. The answer came to me today and I am thrilled!
My system is very simple....paper envelopes and a big box!
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| 'The Grand View' 5x7 pastel $50 |
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| Starting the organization process |
- I began this project by going through my paintings and pulling out the plein air work. Most of them were still together by painting location so it was easy. I organize my finished small paintings by subject and they are then placed in a labeled box in between sheets of glassine paper. While looking for plain air work it was also a good time to make sure all paintings were in their proper box.
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| My paper envelopes made from a bog sheet of newsprint |
- Next I stacked the paintings organized by location and date of the plein air trip. I used glassine paper in between each painting. I only paint 8x10's or less when doing plein air so they all stacked neatly.
- I made a large envelope by folding and stapling a big piece of newsprint paper. I slipped each painting pile in an envelope and labeled it with the location and date of the paintings.
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| Storage box for the plein air packets. |
- Finally I placed each plein air packet in a large sturdy box. Now whenever I want to refer to my studies of a particular location, it will be easy to find what I need! I have my Iceland plein air paintings on display in the studio but soon they will join the box!
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| 'Summer in the Tetons' 8x10 pastel $125 |
The paintings in today's post were done on location in Grand Teton national Park a few summer's ago. They were hidden away and I was happy to uncover them today!
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