
It wasn't always the case that artists worked outside in the landscape. Some of the most celebrated landscape paintings were painted indoors. Turner sketched outside as an aide memoire to help him recreate his large paintings in the studio. Constable sketched clouds on Hampstead Heath. The invention of the collapsable tube allowed artists to paint on the spot in the landscape (plein air painting). The squeezable tube was one of the things that led to the Impressionist movement - along with the invention of photography. I paint both in the studio and sometimes outside - 'en plein air' as the French have it, using a sketchbook or occasionally on a full sheet of 22 x30 inch watercolour paper, pre-stretched on a lightweight board.
Here's a short video explaining how I do it:
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