As a teenager I had a Saturday job at a surf shop. To be fair, it was more that a family friend humoured me- I didn’t do much work! I loved hanging out on the beach and helping out hiring out the surf boards and wetsuits. My sister was an avid surfer (actually making it on to the British surf team at one point), but I’ve always preferred drinking tea and cuddling the cat (a young fogey as my 90 year old friend lovingly calls me). But I did understand what I was talking about, I knew something about surfing and the geography of the beach. Occasionally you would get someone turn up with ‘all the gear and no idea’ as we would say. Keen as mustard, but before giving it a proper go has splashed all the cash on the image rather than learning the skill.

So….that’s how I’ve felt owning a very fancy Plein Air painting box. It was gifted to me by my Dad a few years ago, when he (like me) decided the comfort of his sitting room was more appealing than standing outdoors for long hours. He had never really used the box, other than the simple pleasure of kitting it out, filling out the little satisfying trays and dreaming about all the wonderful art that he might create.

The box has sat dormant in my house. A layer of cobwebs lining the grooves, the metal trays inside shop bought new and gleaming. A pristine layer of kitchen roll lining one, and a dried up roll of masking tape in another. I’ve been worrying that my skill level isn’t good enough to use it and instead spent at least four years dreaming about ‘one day’ when I might be ready.

So this morning, I was brave, I cleaned the box up, removing some shrivelled spiders in the process. Knowing I had an afternoon to kill while my son is at a Forest school, and also knowing I could paint in privacy – away from the judgement – I decided to christen the box and give it a go.

I can now proudly say, I have the gear… and some idea. Still a way to go, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute 🙂 I am going to finish the painting at home, I will post it up here when I do along with some of the things that I learnt in the process, in case anyone else is gearing up to give it a go.