Plein-Air Painting Materials 2 : A Torch for Nocturnes

A Torch for Nocturnes

By the time you’ve painted a sunset, it’s dark. You’ve got to pack up your materials, and get back to car. It’s pitch black & probably muddy. Maybe you’re a bit tired & spaced out after a hard painting session. It’s dark and you’ve got to find all your stray painting materials. So you need a torch to find your brushes & paints etc, carelessly strewn on the ground whilst in creative fever. Honestly this is an expensive & negligent habit, and it only gets worse in the dark. Brushes cost & to leave them behind in the night is ‘false expense’ to say the least.

TIP : Have a ritual for packing up your materials, which always includes one extra close look behind at the ground to see if you’ve left any thing behind.

Selection of Nocturnes 2002


‘Three Lamps’
Watercolour
2002
© the artist
SOLD

‘Le Pont de Bergerac’
Watercolour
2002
© The Artist
SOLD

‘La Maiso Peyarade, Bergerac’
Ink
2002
©The Artist
SOLD

I looked at buying a torch that can be strapped to ones head. Handy for nocturnes. Even if it might look a bit ridiculous.

WAYNE THIEBAUD with a torch…

I’ve been doing some research into WAYNE THIEBAUD recently (posting to come soon) & I came across this. Is he wearning a torch strapped to his head? In his studio? What does this mean? It’s daylight. Is it a joke?

Wayne Thiebaud in his studio at Rosebud Farm, Hood, California, c.1968
photo by Betty Jean Thiebaud, Thiebaud family collection
from “Delicious: The Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud” 2007 by Susan Goldman Rubin.