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Saturday, May 04, 2019

Video Tip: Choosing a Plein Air Pastel Set Up




'Old Town Hollyhocks'                  5x7           Plein air pastel                  ©Karen Margulis
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So maybe you are going to the IAPS convention in June. Or maybe you have a special trip planned. Maybe you want to get started in plein air or want to upgrade your equipment ....I have just released a new video to help you with this important decision about equipment. 

In the video I share my three plein air set ups. I use a different set up depending on the reason or goal for the plein air outing. You can click on the link under the photo below to see the video.


Click here to watch the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/o3CqzbwcZuo

Food for Thought:  Good plein air equipment is expensive. But it is worth it. In my early days of plein air I experimented with many kinds of set ups all in the hopes of saving money. In the end I probably spent more on the many experiments than if I had just splurged for the good stuff right at the start! I would have saved money and frustration! 

Here I am painting in Old Town. It is an easy walk from the Hotel Albuquerque!


I like to decorate my Heilman box with decals from my travels


Here are a couple of my older blog articles on plein air equipment

http://kemstudios.blogspot.com/2014/03/must-have-pastel-accessories.html
http://kemstudios.blogspot.com/2017/08/packing-for-plein-air-with-pastels.html

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Info!!

Nettie K. said...

Thanks....great info!!

Amanda said...

I am so keen to get one of these small sketchboxes but there doesn’t seem to be a distributor in Australia. I looked into shipping and it would be half the cost of the sketch box itself! Looks like I will just have to try to find something else, but the ones I have seen are all larger and appear to be much less sturdy. ☹️ I know from drawing that working from life is a completely different ball game. A photograph already converts the image from 3D to 2D for you, whereas working plein air you have to do that work yourself.

MYSTELIOS said...

Very beautiful flower painting !!!

LakeMIartist said...

Please address how to keep pastels organized while in the travel box. My pastels are not all the same size and they fall together in a pile at the bottom of my carrier box, which is a cigar box. Is there anything I can do to keep them in place?

Karen said...

Thanks for watching! LakeMIartist be sure your box passes the shake test. When it is packed and closed shake it gently . If you can hear pastels rattle then you need to add a layer of foam or I just use paper towels. Make sure your layer is thick enough so the pastels cannot move around. Then be sure you can close the box securely.