What's in your pochade box

 A few weeks ago I showed you what was in my kit for painting outside – all stashed away in a little canvas bag. I thought we’d delve a bit deeper and take a look inside my Julian Thumb Box. The box takes a specific size of primed canvas board, which are unfortunately not widely available in the UK and are consequently a little pricey. So I adapted my box to take smaller 6 x 8 boards which are easier to come by. I stuck 2 strips of fuzzy tape inside the lid and then fix 4 hooky spots on the back of each canvas so it attaches to the strips  – simples!

My brushes are from Rosemary & Co – and they are fabulous. I buy the short handled synthetic Ivory ones so they fit nicely inside the box. I tried hog hair brushes from another manufacturer,but despite the satisfying swishy noise (as heard on Youtube demos!) I found them too greedy on the paint – resulting in a little too much canvas swishing & scrubbing!

I use a limited pallet of Winsor & Newton artists oil colours in Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Pale,  Alizarin Crimson and French Ultramarine. I may introduce more colours as I progress, but for now this limits my decisions, forces me to learn how to mix colours and keeps the pallet harmonious (plus I can only fit five 37ml  tubes on the box!).

I tried using a painting medium – but got in a horrible mess, so I prefer to keep the oils buttery, straight from the tube, with just a little bit of thinner for the initial sketch. The thinner I use is Gamsol, a low odour turpentine, in a dipper which clips to my pallet. The dipper is a bit too tall to fit in the box, so it goes in the bag. The only other item in my pochade box, of course, is my thumb!