En Plein Air

This has been a great year for painting outdoors, in spite of the cold weather. It's been wonderful to get outside to paint...something I enjoyed immensely while travelling this year. I keep it simple, just like my travels this summer, though I have increased my colour palette locally because I can drive to a location (or walk nearby). Not that I have a large kit, but a medium sized one with 12 colours (the palette measures 2 3/4 x 4 3/4) but it is nice to have a larger variety of brights available. I got a Peg & Awl Sendak mini in order to corral all of my supplies...it's made of waxed canvas so it can handle almost anything. I've also been using a water dish and Princeton travel brush which holds more water. I've also been trying out different types of paper - hot press, mixed media, cold press (bottom, l to r) and have to say that the hot press is quickly becoming a favourite. It's smooth & absorbent. Mixed media is also smooth but a bit thin and cold press has far too much texture for my liking...I remember disliking it in my high school art classes and I don't feel differently about it now. I also really love the hand.book journal from Speedball, which is what I am leaning towards for travel. I love the 5.5x5.5 square (top row) and want to try out the smaller landscape as well. I like the absorbency of the paper and how bright the colours sit on it...which is surprising because initially I didn't care for the cream paper but have become a little obsessed. :)