Pochade Boxes

 I hope you all had a good Christmas and Boxing day. We had as white a Christmas as you can get in the North of New Zealand, there was a cyclone hanging about so we had rain and mist, but it was still a merry Christmas and we are still too full of leftovers! 

   I have recently discovered pochade boxes which are boxes used for plein air painting (painting outdoors). I have fallen in love with these beautiful boxes. I've always loved boxes and these ones are very useful tools. I have spent allot of time researching them over the last few days and have discovered that they are rather expensive items! There are not allot of second hand ones for sale as they are things that can last a lifetime so the only second hand ones I can find are vintage ones. 

  My favorite one is pictured above made by Alla Prima Pochade. These are handmade, built and designed by Ben Hagget a plein air painter himself, so allot of time and thought goes into each box. I like the bitterroot design best and am wishing I could afford it, maybe one day I will have saved up enough! 

   I showed Dad the boxes and he might be able to make me one some day. I would love to get outside to paint soon. Here are some photos I found on Google of pochade boxes in use.