DIY pochade box

My recent project is a homemade pochade box for plein air painting. It is light and compact. The palette is built in into the box like the open box M. I started from plans of Jim Serrett at pochade box paintings. His plans were easy to follow. Thanks Jim for sharing this. I hope we will meet someday and paint together! Cheers.

I made mine from scraps of 1/4 plywood and 1x4 oak planks I have lying around. I had to cut it into 1/2 x 3/4 inch square dowels. I have one that is 3/4 x 3/4 for the backside of the box where the hinge and tripod support will be attached. I used a piano hinge cut to length, lid support (I could not find the table leg brackets), 1/4 T nut which is standard for the tripod attachments, a bolt and a wingnut and some washers, plexi glass and a bungie cord with hooks.

I took me several nights to put it together with some error or miscalculations. (very typical of me) I worked hard on this box and I now know why the profesionally made ones are so expensive! ($300 and up) In the near future, I might do some modification of the attachment system for panels. I like the bungie system but if the panel is painted, it would be a bit of a mess removing it.

Black Mamba

This is a Nike spot that Hybride worked on.



Black Mamba 2, Black Mambe Returns...lol

Springtime

This is a pastel I started last year and finally finished it. It will be on show for "Pastel Toujours" the 15th Annual Members' Choice Exhibition held at the St-Vincent-de-Paul Gallery, in Laval, from March 16th to 27th, 2010. Hope you can come a visit.

Geest comparison - original vs copy

This is a side by side comparison and you can see that there is things quite off. DOH! Ok, not to be discouraged. The purpose of copying is to learn and in learning mistakes are made. The reference I have was a printed copy of the painting and here are some of things to fix. 

• overall color of the skin is much too yellow.
• lips are too red and saturated. (the hard copy ref was that color I swear! lol)
• Some shadow areas need to be punched up.
• frills or ruffles value need to be toned down and detail added.
• Hignlight on the nose needs to be toned down.
• transition tone between the left eyebrow and forehead.
• Hair details needs some tweaks.
• cast shadow under the nose.
• ears needs more modeling.