It's certainly lighter. A cleverly designed, two piece folding box with a carry handle and strap, it has enough space to stash all the paint and brushes you need in the base, plus two 10" x 12" boards and a palette in the lid. That's a day's work right there for your average landscape painter.
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| The one on the right requires a fork lift truck. |
Pro tip: if you cut your own boards to size, make sure they fit into the slots in the lid without being forced. Failure to ensure this will result in a tug of war when you try to remove them, which is only funny to onlookers. Run the end of a candle up and down the edges of the boards to make sure they slide in and out easily.
The palette is part of the lid, and folds neatly into it when the box is closed. This effectively seals it from the outside air and seems to slow down the drying time of the paint quite effectively.
Pro tip #2: Seal the palette with a couple of coats of linseed oil rubbed on with a rag and allowed to dry before you use it for the first time.
Is a pochade box a workable alternative to an easel? Well... no. Half an hour into using it for the first time, I rested it on top of a nearby fence and swung my left arm about to get the feeling back into it, and admitted that what this baby really needs is some legs to stand it on. So that's the next part of my plan: get a tripod bush fitting and attach it to the underside of the pochade box so I can put it on my camera tripod. Which I'll have to bring with me, along with the pochade box... which is tantamount to hauling along the full sized portable easel.
I haven't really thought this through, have I?
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| There's room for a small bottle of medicinal whisky. |
So what is it good for? Well, it really is a lightweight alternative for those days when the full kit is just too much trouble. If you can find somewhere to sit, a pochade box is perfect. If you can't, you're stuck with a sore arm or hauling a tripod around. If you can work from your car, the pochade box is exactly what you need.
Working in that 10" x 12" limit is perfect for outdoor painting, when you're not going to be working on any painting for more than ninety minutes because the light changes. Studies for larger works you'll do in the studio can be finished in that time, or at least brought to a stage where you can finish them at home.
I've been using it for three studies for a planned larger painting to be done in studio, and it's worked fine. The subject is a grass bank and a small wood which I noticed a couple of years ago looking particularly fine in the autumn. On a related note, if you attempt an autumn landscape yourself, look sharp about it, as those pretty leaves don't hang around for long. One day everywhere is all golden and lovely, the next day some lummox coughs and every single leaf plummets to the ground. I started drawing a stand of trees in full leaf and overnight they went and turned into bare branches, which is awkward. I've got drawings and photographs of the pre-naked trees, so it's not a lost cause.
