I thought it would be fun to show you some of my plein-air painting materials. One kind of materials = One post at a time. If you’ve got adaptations or variations with your own materials, please feel free to let us know via the comments where your post about plein-air materials is.
Plein-Air Materials 1 – Winter Boots
With snow on the ground in the northern climes, us in the southern european climes are without snow (thankfully, I hate the stuff for personal reasons). However the ground is wet & waterlogged. Great heavy clay sticking to the boots like someone increased gravity by tenfold. Stuck to the ground. I paint standing up for the most part.
Note the fur lining 🙂 It’s important to have warm feet at all times. Comfortable whilst you paint ‘en plein-air’.
A warm pair of winter boots has a tradition amongst plein-air painters. I wish Vincent had fur lined boots.
Old Boots.
37.5 X 45 cm – oil on canvas
July-September 1886
“This painting of a pair of down-at-heel shoes prompts speculation on a variety of psychological questions. They have been seen as symbolizing Van Gogh’s difficult passage through life.
A fellow student in Paris reported that Vincent bought these workman’s boots at a flea market, intending to use them in a still life. Finding them still a little too smart, however, he wore them on a long and rainy walk. Only then were they fit to be painted.
Van Gogh made a number of still lives with old shoes. To him, as to several of his contemporaries, they may have been symbolic of the hard yet picturesque life of the laborer.”