Combining your artistic passions with an outdoor picnic can be both fun and refreshing, and is not as hard as you might think. Once you know where you want to go and what your art project will be, the rest should be simple. If you are still having difficulty finding the right place to have your artists picnic you may wish to check our article, "How to Find the Best Picnic Areas," which may be found under the "Articles" tab on this website.
Are you looking for expanded ways to enjoy your picnic
outings? You may wish to consider an artists picnic as a way of enjoying our
out of doors. There are a wide variety of possibilities, whether your picnic is
with your children and grandchildren, a twosome with your significant other or
as a solo escape from the stresses and humdrum of the “daily grind.” A number
of years ago I spent many hours out in nature preparing for a class I was
scheduled to teach. There was something about being away from the clamor of
civilization that aided me in reaching a place of clarity, where the lesson
plan and subject matter came easily.
Of course, each artists picnic has its own considerations
and requirements, but that shouldn’t be the reason not to go, as the rewards
can far surpass whatever efforts were expended for the outing. Let us go over
some of the things other than food and refreshments that you would want to
think of prior to leaving home:
- Will there
be children in your Artists Picnic? If there are, you may wish to include
some physical, non-artistic activities to supplant your well-laid plans
for the future Van Gogh’s.
- It is
wise to take into consideration the conditions of the environment during
the preparatory stages so that you can minimize the surprises you will
face once you have arrived. The extremes of weather make it difficult to
be in a creative mood except on how to get to where it is more
comfortable. A good umbrella or pop-up gazebo is a must for a hot picnic
area with no shade. The gazeboes of today set up a lot quicker than those
of even a few years ago.
- When thinking
of what picnic supplies to bring consider the picnic location and how well
it supports your venture. Are there picnic tables, and do they support your
project? If there is uncertainty you may wish to bring along a portable
picnic table. Most of them seat four, weigh about 20 pounds, fold up to
the size of a suitcase and are relatively inexpensive. They also have an
opening for an umbrella and may make a better work surface than a wooden
picnic table that is full of splinters. If you are stuck with the wooden
table you may wish to bring fold-up stadium seats to handle the splinters
issue, as well as provide back support.
- How
you transport your art materials will depend a lot on your medium of
expression and the needs of your project. You may already have your own
carrier for your art supplies, but if you need extra carrying capacity you
may wish to adapt an ice chest on wheels or backpack tote, which are great
for the extra papers, beads and artist’s needs.
- Bring
along your clean-up supplies and dispose of properly. A few extra garbage
bags will handle most clean-ups.
And there you have it. The idea is to avoid any stress, have
fun and remember the KISS principle, which is an acronym for, “Keep It Simple,
Sweetheart.”
