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| Click to enlarge photos |
If you Google "pochade" or "pochade boxes," you will find a reaching for definition. To me, the French word refers to a quick sketch or finished painting that is achieved in the box you can carry around inside the house and out. I have several boxes and many paintings that I have made. You can spend hundreds of dollars or take a bit of time to craft a box and the paintings yourself! I painted Lucy and Arthur in the living room, on the stuffed chair, pochade box on the cocktail table. There is some invention.
Think about the wooden cigar boxes that might be converted or the first wooden box you got filled with oils or acrylics. In my versions, all different, I like to have three slots in the top to hold wet canvas boards. I have to have a
flip top or
opening on the top so that I can insert the canvas board. One needs a brace of some sort for the side to hold the top open at the proper angle for painting. To make channels for the canvas, I have found plastic pieces in architecture sections of a craft store and glued them next to each other. Joe cut channels on my first one on his big table saw that he won't let me use. He doesn't remember this because it was 30 years ago when I first read about a pochade box in an English art book and none were available (or before I was heavily into Googling). Google "pochade boxes" today to get ideas or see what is available.
I thought of these boxes because our dear dog Farley had to cross the rainbow bridge day before yesterday, and I wondered if I had ever painted him. Yes, many times, but using an easel, not a pochade box. As the snow falls, you might enjoy the diversion of crafting a pochade box! Bon Pochade!
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| thinking of Farley |
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| open top version |
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| flip top version |
Think about the wooden cigar boxes that might be converted or the first wooden box you got filled with oils or acrylics. In my versions, all different, I like to have three slots in the top to hold wet canvas boards. I have to have a flip top or opening on the top so that I can insert the canvas board. One needs a brace of some sort for the side to hold the top open at the proper angle for painting. To make channels for the canvas, I have found plastic pieces in architecture sections of a craft store and glued them next to each other. Joe cut channels on my first one on his big table saw that he won't let me use. He doesn't remember this because it was 30 years ago when I first read about a pochade box in an English art book and none were available (or before I was heavily into Googling). Google "pochade boxes" today to get ideas or see what is available.
