Summer Plein Air Tuesdays

I was all set to write my first of six blog posts about my summer "Plein Air Tuesdays" in Ottawa, however, I am sad to report that our first date was cancelled.

Initially, it was the weather that dampened our enthusiasm.

Ottawa weather forecast June 16-29, 2015

But we planned to have our inaugural session at one of our rain locations - the beautiful Rockcliffe Pavillion in Ottawa! It's a beautiful open-air gazebo sitting high on a bluff overlooking the Ottawa River just east of he prime minister's residence. It was constructed in 1917 and is a "recognized" Federal Heritage Building because of its historical, architectural and environmental values.

Source: Wikimapia

As it turned out, the rain actually held off but the class was cancelled nonetheless for reasons beyond anyone's control.

Because I was fully packed and ready to go, I thought I would devote this blog post to writing about my plein air supplies.

My General Supplies

My french easel and backpack loaded and ready to go!

• a collapsible stool for full days of painting. 
• an umbrella for protection from the sun, or rain. 
• a backpack that has water in sealed containers (if not near water), hand wipes, insect repellant, sunblock, my Tilley hat, sketch supplies, spray bottles, paper towels, garbage bags, lots of bungee cords (to strap umbrellas, hold papertowels etc)  

My Palettes

My two palettes

Palette #1: Liquitex Heavy Body

• Hansa Yellow Medium PY73 WARM 
• Napthol Red Light PR9 WARM 
• Quinacridone Magenta PR122 COOL 
• Indanthrene Blue PB60 WARM 
• Phthalo Blue green shade PB15 COOL 
• Burnt Umber PBr7 WARM Phthalo 
• Green yellow shade PG36 COOL 

Palette #2: Winsor & Newton*

• Ultramarine Blue PB29
• Dioxazine Violet PV23 (*Golden)
• Cadmium Yellow PY35
• Cadmium Orange PO20
• Perm Alizarin Crimson PR177, PV23
• Cadmium Red Med PR108
• Ivory Black  PBk9

For the planned grey rainy day, I had chosen palette #1 so that I could experiment with these three grey formulas:

Three "Rainy Day" Grey Formulas 

Titanium white added to:

Burnt Umber PBr7 + Indanthrene Blue PB60 

Quinacridone Magenta PR122 + Phthalo Green yellow shade PG36 

Napthol Red Light PR9 +  Phthalo Green yellow shade PG36 

Sketchbox tools

Portable Painting Easel

I have two french easels and this is my smaller, newer version that was a gift from my family. It is not as worn as my older, larger french easel. I thought about purchasing the newer lightweight tripod easels,but I actually love old french easels and doubt I will ever change.

My french easel and collapsible stool
(attached by a bungee cord)

Backpack

My backpack is quite heavy to carry with every pocket bulging. But it makes walking and climbing and descending so much better with free hands. I witnessed a scary tumble at the Kilbear plein air outing last fall because someone was descending a rocky path and had no free hands!

My bulging backpack!

Between now and next Tuesday, I hope to venture out with my ready-to-go supplies.

Weather permitting?