Haidee-Jo Summers artist – English plein air and studio painter
My work is a celebration of sea, wind, sky, light and life revealed in rich and vibrant oil paint using my personal visual language of fresh and direct brushmarks.
Only by taking yourself and your equipment outside can you truly capture the ever changing light and colour of a natural scene. This day offers you the perfect opportunity to paint alongside one of the country’s leading plein air painters and share in the experience she has gained over her many years working outside.
As well as learning vital skills in composition, tonal values and colour use, you will gain invaluable experience in the practicalities of painting in the open air.
The amount of time spent working outside will be dependent on the weather and there will be some studio time. Lunch will be served in our dining room.
Includes home made lunch, refreshments and cream tea
About the Artist
What you will need to bring
Haidee-Jo’s comprehensive guide of what to bring:
These are guidelines, by no means should you have to buy things specially, just bring an equivalent item.
Most importantly, bring warm and waterproof clothing, and sturdy and comfortable footwear. Even on a warm day you can soon feel chilly when sitting or standing still for long periods, so layers of clothing that you can add or remove easily are a must. Bring a sunhat or cap too, and sunscreen which may be needed (we can hope!).
Everybody could make use of a very small lightweight sketchbook and black or grey marker pen or soft pencil for quick ‘planning’ sketches.
A viewfinder is a useful addition to your kit.
Also, you may want to bring your camera for back up photos to take home.
*A lightweight easel, or half size French box easel and palette. Or all-in-one system such as an Open Box M or a pochade box, together with a sturdy tripod to mount it on.
Bear in mind you will need to be able to carry it or bring something along the lines of a wheeled shopping trolley to fit it all in.
*A stool if you prefer to sit.
*Your usual range of tube colours, with a larger tube of white.
I use lemon yellow, cadmium yellow or cadmium yellow deep, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, cerulean blue, ultramarine, sometimes Kings blue. Other colours I like to add are unbleached titanium dioxide, naples yellow, yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna or transparent oxide red and blue black.
*I sometimes use a tube of Winsor & Newton griffin alkyd in raw umber for the early stages, as it’s fast drying. Acrylic paint works well too, but if you use acrylic you’ll also need to carry some water for cleaning your brush.
*Turps or Sansodor or Zest It diluent, in a securely sealed container.
(I don’t generally add any mediums, and I use Sansodor for both painting and cleaning brushes)
*A large supply of kitchen roll and/or rags.
*A carrier bag for rubbish.
*A packet of hand wipes.
*Your brushes. I particularly like to use Ivory Rosemary brushes. I have a full set of recommended brushes for plein air painting available to buy directly from Rosemary brushes. The full set of ten long handled brushes is £48.50.
http://www.rosemaryandco.com/gift-sets/brush-sets/haidee-jo-summers-plein-air-set
*Your surfaces – I like to work on panels covered in primed linen canvas (available from www.jacksonsart.co.uk), but any primed boards or canvasses are fine such as Daler Rowney boards or primed MDF panels. Size wise, whatever you are comfortable with bearing in mind how quickly we need to work outdoors before we lose the subject!
I suggest you pre-tint the boards beforehand so that they are not stark white, but more of a mid-tone. A tiny amount of burnt sienna and ultramarine mixed in with plenty of turps and rubbed all over will give you a pleasant light grey which will have a warm or cool bias depending on your mix.
*An overshirt or apron and/or cuff protectors if you don’t want to get paint on your clothes/jacket.
*A palette knife.
*See my blog post for how to attach matchsticks to your panels for easy transportation, and bring masking tape if you use this method. See it at www.haideejo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/about-wet-paintings.html