"My Field Easel is Cooler than Your Field Easel"

by Sarah Judson May 17, 2013

We received an engaging story by email recently from Lynne Baur, who is an artist, instructor and creativity coach who lives in Wisconsin. She straps her Guerrilla Box on the passenger seat of her motorcycle, using extra D-Rings to make it secure. As she travels the rural roads, she can pull over whenever she sees an intriguing scene, since it's easier to park a motorcycle than a car. Then she can quickly open the box and start painting.

"Plein air season is FINALLY here in Wisconsin. Just a little over a week ago, we had 8 inches of snow, and there was frost last night, but the roads are clear at last, so I had a chance to get out and do a little plein air painting this morning with my new super-cool field easel. As usual for the first excursion of the season, the painting itself is icky, so you don’t get to see a close-up! But, it’s okay. The point of sketching in the field, for me, is to force myself to be fully present and take in the scene with an artist’s eye and heart. When I look at my crappy little field sketches later, the whole experience comes flooding back—how the light fell, the colors, the feel of the warm sun and cool wind on my face, how I was feeling that day—and that is what goes into a good studio painting, not getting the placement of every little shrub just right."