How We Make the Scout Plein Air Box and Original Paintings by Walter Kent
The Scout Plein Air Box was inspired by our endeavor to make art every day. Each one is handmade in our Philadelphia workshop. It compactly secures all of your essential art supplies for painting outdoors. Fill your box with your favorite colors, paintbrushes, and sketchbook. Find your spot and quickly transform the box into a mini studio. Set it on a flat surface or mount it on a tripod, snap the liquid jars, brush holder, and easel in place, clip on your canvas and you are ready to paint. Watch our video showing how we make the Scout Plein Air Box!
Original Plein Air Oil Paintings by Walter Kent
“It has been nearly three years since I returned from a painting workshop in Italy, taught by Jeremy Mann and Nadezda, hosted by Art Escape Italy. This was my first experience plein air painting and once I returned home I immediately made my own pochade box, the Scout. During the last three years I have gone out on many painting adventures, both alone and with my family, with the Scout over my shoulder.
When I wander out into the world to paint, there is a game of tug of war twisting knots in my stomach, with my hopes and fears digging their heals in on either side. After the first few strokes of paint, the excitement of possibility takes over. These attempts at capturing the fleeting moments of the world around me line the windowsills of our studio.
I’ve selected some of my favorite Plein Air oil paintings, breadcrumbs of my path as an artist, and we are excited to share them with the everyone. Each painting has been varnished for protection and is signed and marked with its location and date and is fitted with a ready-to-hang frame made of reclaimed blackened walnut.” –Walter
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Delaware Water Gap No. 3, Pennsylvania 2021
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Kaaterskill Falls, New York 2022
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Ready-to-Hang frames are made of reclaimed blackened walnut.
Suggested Blog Posts
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And here we are, another major transition! We are selling our Philadelphia building and moving Peg and Awl to our barn.
We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia
...and it's bittersweet!We are very fortunate – as a family and small business owners – to be able to follow our curiosities to wherever they may lead. Here we find ourselves in another major transition! We – Walter and I, Søren and Silas too, have decided to sell the Peg and Awl building in Port Richmond Philadelphia, and move our business into our Barn here in Chester County, Penna. It felt like a quick decision, but it was the culmination of much quiet consideration. I have always been spontaneous – or so it seems – so much is accomplished in our sleep.
Yesterday was warm and wondrous. As I walked from Port Richmond to Old City for a last minute hair appointment at Barnet Fair, and to treasure hunt at Vagabond Boutique, I felt the weight of nostalgia for what we would soon be leaving, and a lightness too, as I imagined floating, for the first time in a while, into a new unknown.
Lights off – we were about to leave on Saturday but paused for a quick mirror family photograph! Our barn as seen from the woods! Some Things to Look Forward to in the Coming Year!
- New Website! We’ve been working on it for a long time – we don’t have a launch date yet, but soon!
- New Jewellery! If you’ve been following along on Instagram – you may have seen some glimpses of these projects over the past few years.
- New Of A Kind Adventures! (accompanied by more Flea Market adventures, read here!)
- Exciting Pivots!
We will have a smaller space for to make and to store treasures, which is why we are reducing our catalog to our favourites and yours!
The Foundlings (Peg and Awl) Building: Before and After
Read about the Shop Renovation Project, here!
We’ve put a lot of work into our workshop since we bought the dark and closed-up building in 2016 – from opening cinder-blocked windows and tearing down walls, to transforming the gravel and pavement into gardens. We built and set up a storefront (that we never officially opened) just before the pandemic. We poured concrete floors and filled the wide open space with an abundance of tools and machines and worked with our wonderous crew to design, make, and ship all of the treasures that we share around the world.
We look forward to the next adventure for Peg and Awl and, too, for the building! The dream is always for some magic makers to take the reins and re-imagine a better, brighter, greener, and cleaner corner of Philadelphia.
A lot happens through word of mouth — if you know someone who may be interested, please share!
After
Storefront, trees, plants, and windows!
Before
A lightless old space full of stuff.
After
Employee gardens and honey bees~Before
Concrete slab (though locals told us it was a wading pool in the summers and an ice hockey rink in the winters!)
After
A part of the woodshop!
During
Pouring the concrete floor.
During
Knocking down the in-between wall.
Before 
Renovations and the inhabiting of the nearly abandoned building in Port Richmond, Philadelphia.
The Barn: Our New ShopRead On: Our Barn Restoration Project
We will continue to make treasures in Philadelphia over the next few months. In May, we will be opening our new workspace to the public for a Studio Tour in May! There we will share our art, showroom, and the goings on of the new iteration of Peg and Awl.
This space will be a gallery and showroom.
Walter’s cozy loft studio will remain Walter’s cozy loft studio.
Our Barn Restoration ProjectRead On: Our Barn Restoration Project
“...By the time we had finished removing the rotted bits, the trusses, the rafters, and the floors, it was hard to say if we were reclaiming an old barn, or building a new one in its image. The barn shape – the space within the frame – became one of the few parts I could solidly say remained from the historic place. But over the next few weeks, as I observed the delicate skeleton of the old barn standing strong but precarious in the wind and rain – with day now inside and night inside too – I grew suspicious of this boundaryless thing I wanted to keep. What were we preserving, and more, why?”
The Old Barn from the road. 
Original wall that divides the two parts of the barn. Pearl and Søren, my loves. A new view! We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia, and It’s Bittersweet!
We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia...and it's bittersweet! We are very fortu...
Read The Post -
-
In the beginning of September, I (Walter) felt the call of adventure, packed my Scout Plein Air Box and art supplies, a few changes of clothes and set out – this time a little further from home. An early morning Uber drive, two plane rides across the country, and a 4-hour van trip later, I found myself in the high country of Yosemite National Park, with a 50 lb pack on my back accompanied by three fellow adventurers and our guide.
Adventures with the Scout Plein Air Box
In the beginning of September, I (Walter) felt the call of adventure, packed my Scout Plein Air Box and art supplies, a few changes of clothes and set out – this time a little further from home. An early morning Uber drive, two plane rides across the country, and a 4-hour van trip later, I found myself in the high country of Yosemite National Park, with a 50 lb pack on my back accompanied by three fellow adventurers and our guide. We were on a 5-day hike into the wilderness to escape the crowds of people and the endless demands of our busy lives, to camp under millions of stars that illuminated the night sky, to swim in the refreshingly freezing lakes fed by melting snow, to climb Vogelsang Peak, and for me to plein air paint.
Finding a nice spot to paint
Vogelsang is the one on the left
Painting by Fletcher Lake
The sunriseA journal entry during the trip
I saw a bear yesterday! We were sitting drinking coffee and in the distant clearing a bear was moseying up the hill towards the lake. I burst out, “There’s a bear, there’s a bear!” We all jumped up and followed him. For a moment we lost him in the brush and when we got to the lake, he had somehow crossed from the left side of us to the right and he was super close! Preoccupied with breakfast, his head was down in the water. Occasionally he popped up with a mouthful of small fish. Chomping away, he looked around slowly then got back to snacking. When the water hole no longer proved satisfactory to his appetite, he turned away from us and went further into the reeds. We could see the tops of the tall grass shaking and hear the water splashing. He seemed to be having a grand time!
After breakfast we packed our day bags. With a few snacks, a rain jacket, and my paint box, I was ready. We set out through the meadow over a creek and began to climb a winding trail up to Vogelsang Lake. After a quick swim, we continued the trek to Vogelsang Summit. The going was steady but gradually slowed as the path steepened. When we reached the pass, we transitioned into rock scrambling. Loose gravel made for unsteady steps, and I stuck to boulder hopping, avoiding the gravely path as much as possible. On the final ascent we trail blazed through thick low piney brush. We bushwhacked our way up, intermittently discovering a patch of bare rock only to lose it again under the gnarly needled thicket.
The last few feet we had to hoist ourselves up onto rock ledges using the cracks as holds. As we scrambled up the final rock the world opened around us. Below lay a vast array of granite peaks dotted with ice melt lakes. The pine trees stitched each mountain together and the range went on as far as our eyes could see, disappearing into the hazy horizon. We could see Half Dome jutting up from the rest, completely bald, a formidable hunk of granite! We sat up on that razor edge ridge for a while and I attempted to capture the land below with my paints, brushes and canvas. During the descent we stopped at Vogelsang Lake for a late lunch and an invigorating swim before heading back to camp. What a day! How amazing life can be!
Rock scrambling
Painting atop Vogelsang
Leaving Vogelsang Summit
The Bear!
Vogelsang Lake in the distance
First painting of the trip
Right outside my tent
Goodnight!Coming Soon: Postcards and Prints of the Yosemite National Park Plein Air Paintings!
Toulomne Meadows 
Vogelsang Summit 
Fletcher Lake 
The view from my tent The Scout Plein Air Box: A Backstory
The Scout Plein Air Box was inspired by our endeavor to make art every day. Each one is handmade in our West Chester, Pennsylvania workshop. It compactly secures all of your essential art supplies for painting outdoors. Fill your box with your favorite colors, paintbrushes, and sketchbook. Find your spot and quickly transform the box into a mini studio. Set it on a flat surface or mount it on a tripod, snap the liquid jars, brush holder, and easel in place, clip on your canvas and you are ready to paint. Read our earlier blog post for more of the Scout's story, or dig into its features and uses with our video walkthrough!
Painting Yosemite National Park
Adventures with the Scout Plein Air Box In the beginning of Se...
Read The Post -
Our Adventure to Baker Leather!Every adventure we embark upon opens our world and our yearning for more. With that, the things we make broaden too, and how we use them – all is ongoing and interconnected. Everything blooms from everything.
In 2017, we began our search for sustainable leather, starting in the UK. We drove along narrow and winding roads of the countryside, enveloped in greenery. We were greeted and enchanted by the Tannery Cat, who showed us around the 500-year-old tannery nestled along a river. All was luminous in the glowing light – like the light after a storm. The cat paused mid-tour, to devour a headless rabbit that he had hidden under a car for later – now, the later.
He finished supper and we continued our wandering through whitewashed buildings full of old machinery, piles of tanned bellies, well-worn wooden what’s-its, and a large pool of oak bark soup with hides draped in rows for a long soak. Everything is worn and weathered, like the paths along the edges of farmlands; the stiles polished smooth and shiny from centuries of passers-by.
Whilst there, we were able to procure some organic animal hides from local Devonshire farms. These special requests, we were told, bore the marks of the animal’s lives lived outdoors — evidence of small battles, bug-swatting, and fence run-ins — things most people don’t prefer to see in their new leather. But this is all part of the story.
The leather took a long time travelling to Pennsylvania, and when it made it, we held onto it, savouring it for seven years. We have finally transformed it into something new — our Crow’s Feet Journals — made to house new adventures and layers of life’s patina!
... ...
... ... 
... ... 
... ... On This Same UK Adventure...
I have a recurring dream in which I am sucked into a body of water with my journal; I flop around in the water – my journal just out of reach. Yesterday, when Søren and Silas’s eyes lit up at the prospect of venturing down the algae-covered steps to the Thames, one would have expected warning signals to ignite my brain, struck with horror from my dream. The warnings came, but not on my behalf. I warned the boys to take the skinny, dry path – to avoid the slippy algae and save themselves from the off color and smell of an unexpected dip in the Thames. They carried on as originally planned, and I proceeded to greedily take photographs and videos of their adventure down the slippy, algae side. Losing my feet from underneath me, I went down fast and uncontrollably!
All I could think of were my dreams, and the journal in my backpack as I flew down. I dug my nails into the green muck, trying to stop my momentum. I could hear Silas screaming, horrified, in the background. Turns out, I pressed record as I fell, my phone capturing the Blair Witch-Like audio that had us all in stitches afterwards. As it goes, spread out like a starfish, I didn’t make it into the Thames that day; I stopped my descent and rose up, green with algae – nails broken and knuckled bloodied, laughing my hearty laugh for the unexpected.
... ...
Our Adventure to Organic Baker Leather
Our Adventure to Baker Leather! Every adventure we embark upon opens our wor...
Read The Post -
-
-
Suggested Blog Posts
And here we are, another major transition! We are selling our Philadelphia building and moving Peg and Awl to our barn.
We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia
...and it's bittersweet!
We are very fortunate – as a family and small business owners – to be able to follow our curiosities to wherever they may lead. Here we find ourselves in another major transition! We – Walter and I, Søren and Silas too, have decided to sell the Peg and Awl building in Port Richmond Philadelphia, and move our business into our Barn here in Chester County, Penna. It felt like a quick decision, but it was the culmination of much quiet consideration. I have always been spontaneous – or so it seems – so much is accomplished in our sleep.
Yesterday was warm and wondrous. As I walked from Port Richmond to Old City for a last minute hair appointment at Barnet Fair, and to treasure hunt at Vagabond Boutique, I felt the weight of nostalgia for what we would soon be leaving, and a lightness too, as I imagined floating, for the first time in a while, into a new unknown.
|
|
|
Some Things to Look Forward to in the Coming Year!
- New Website! We’ve been working on it for a long time – we don’t have a launch date yet, but soon!
- New Jewellery! If you’ve been following along on Instagram – you may have seen some glimpses of these projects over the past few years.
- New Of A Kind Adventures! (accompanied by more Flea Market adventures, read here!)
- Exciting Pivots!
The Foundlings (Peg and Awl) Building: Before and After
Read about the Shop Renovation Project, here!
We’ve put a lot of work into our workshop since we bought the dark and closed-up building in 2016 – from opening cinder-blocked windows and tearing down walls, to transforming the gravel and pavement into gardens. We built and set up a storefront (that we never officially opened) just before the pandemic. We poured concrete floors and filled the wide open space with an abundance of tools and machines and worked with our wonderous crew to design, make, and ship all of the treasures that we share around the world.
We look forward to the next adventure for Peg and Awl and, too, for the building! The dream is always for some magic makers to take the reins and re-imagine a better, brighter, greener, and cleaner corner of Philadelphia.
A lot happens through word of mouth — if you know someone who may be interested, please share!
|
|
Storefront, trees, plants, and windows! |
A lightless old space full of stuff. |
|
|
Employee gardens and honey bees~ |
Concrete slab (though locals told us it was a wading pool in the summers and an ice hockey rink in the winters!) |
|
|
A part of the woodshop! |
Pouring the concrete floor. |
|
|
Knocking down the in-between wall. |
Renovations and the inhabiting of the nearly abandoned building in Port Richmond, Philadelphia.
The Barn: Our New Shop
Read On: Our Barn Restoration Project
We will continue to make treasures in Philadelphia over the next few months. In May, we will be opening our new workspace to the public for a Studio Tour in May! There we will share our art, showroom, and the goings on of the new iteration of Peg and Awl.
This space will be a gallery and showroom.
Walter’s cozy loft studio will remain Walter’s cozy loft studio.
Our Barn Restoration Project
Read On: Our Barn Restoration Project
“...By the time we had finished removing the rotted bits, the trusses, the rafters, and the floors, it was hard to say if we were reclaiming an old barn, or building a new one in its image. The barn shape – the space within the frame – became one of the few parts I could solidly say remained from the historic place. But over the next few weeks, as I observed the delicate skeleton of the old barn standing strong but precarious in the wind and rain – with day now inside and night inside too – I grew suspicious of this boundaryless thing I wanted to keep. What were we preserving, and more, why?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia, and It’s Bittersweet!
We’re Moving Out of Philadelphia...and it's bittersweet! We are very fortu...
Read The Post
In the beginning of September, I (Walter) felt the call of adventure, packed my Scout Plein Air Box and art supplies, a few changes of clothes and set out – this time a little further from home. An early morning Uber drive, two plane rides across the country, and a 4-hour van trip later, I found myself in the high country of Yosemite National Park, with a 50 lb pack on my back accompanied by three fellow adventurers and our guide.
|
Adventures with the Scout Plein Air Box
In the beginning of September, I (Walter) felt the call of adventure, packed my Scout Plein Air Box and art supplies, a few changes of clothes and set out – this time a little further from home. An early morning Uber drive, two plane rides across the country, and a 4-hour van trip later, I found myself in the high country of Yosemite National Park, with a 50 lb pack on my back accompanied by three fellow adventurers and our guide. We were on a 5-day hike into the wilderness to escape the crowds of people and the endless demands of our busy lives, to camp under millions of stars that illuminated the night sky, to swim in the refreshingly freezing lakes fed by melting snow, to climb Vogelsang Peak, and for me to plein air paint.
|
|
|
Finding a nice spot to paint |
Vogelsang is the one on the left |
|
Painting by Fletcher Lake
|
The sunrise
|
A journal entry during the trip
I saw a bear yesterday! We were sitting drinking coffee and in the distant clearing a bear was moseying up the hill towards the lake. I burst out, “There’s a bear, there’s a bear!” We all jumped up and followed him. For a moment we lost him in the brush and when we got to the lake, he had somehow crossed from the left side of us to the right and he was super close! Preoccupied with breakfast, his head was down in the water. Occasionally he popped up with a mouthful of small fish. Chomping away, he looked around slowly then got back to snacking. When the water hole no longer proved satisfactory to his appetite, he turned away from us and went further into the reeds. We could see the tops of the tall grass shaking and hear the water splashing. He seemed to be having a grand time!
After breakfast we packed our day bags. With a few snacks, a rain jacket, and my paint box, I was ready. We set out through the meadow over a creek and began to climb a winding trail up to Vogelsang Lake. After a quick swim, we continued the trek to Vogelsang Summit. The going was steady but gradually slowed as the path steepened. When we reached the pass, we transitioned into rock scrambling. Loose gravel made for unsteady steps, and I stuck to boulder hopping, avoiding the gravely path as much as possible. On the final ascent we trail blazed through thick low piney brush. We bushwhacked our way up, intermittently discovering a patch of bare rock only to lose it again under the gnarly needled thicket.
The last few feet we had to hoist ourselves up onto rock ledges using the cracks as holds. As we scrambled up the final rock the world opened around us. Below lay a vast array of granite peaks dotted with ice melt lakes. The pine trees stitched each mountain together and the range went on as far as our eyes could see, disappearing into the hazy horizon. We could see Half Dome jutting up from the rest, completely bald, a formidable hunk of granite! We sat up on that razor edge ridge for a while and I attempted to capture the land below with my paints, brushes and canvas. During the descent we stopped at Vogelsang Lake for a late lunch and an invigorating swim before heading back to camp. What a day! How amazing life can be!
|
|
|
Rock scrambling |
Painting atop Vogelsang |
|
Leaving Vogelsang Summit |
The Bear! |
|
Vogelsang Lake in the distance |
First painting of the trip |
|
Right outside my tent |
Goodnight! |
Coming Soon: Postcards and Prints of the Yosemite National Park Plein Air Paintings!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Scout Plein Air Box: A Backstory
The Scout Plein Air Box was inspired by our endeavor to make art every day. Each one is handmade in our West Chester, Pennsylvania workshop. It compactly secures all of your essential art supplies for painting outdoors. Fill your box with your favorite colors, paintbrushes, and sketchbook. Find your spot and quickly transform the box into a mini studio. Set it on a flat surface or mount it on a tripod, snap the liquid jars, brush holder, and easel in place, clip on your canvas and you are ready to paint. Read our earlier blog post for more of the Scout's story, or dig into its features and uses with our video walkthrough!
Painting Yosemite National Park
Adventures with the Scout Plein Air Box In the beginning of Se...
Read The Post
Every adventure we embark upon opens our world and our yearning for more. With that, the things we make broaden too, and how we use them – all is ongoing and interconnected. Everything blooms from everything.
In 2017, we began our search for sustainable leather, starting in the UK. We drove along narrow and winding roads of the countryside, enveloped in greenery. We were greeted and enchanted by the Tannery Cat, who showed us around the 500-year-old tannery nestled along a river. All was luminous in the glowing light – like the light after a storm. The cat paused mid-tour, to devour a headless rabbit that he had hidden under a car for later – now, the later.
He finished supper and we continued our wandering through whitewashed buildings full of old machinery, piles of tanned bellies, well-worn wooden what’s-its, and a large pool of oak bark soup with hides draped in rows for a long soak. Everything is worn and weathered, like the paths along the edges of farmlands; the stiles polished smooth and shiny from centuries of passers-by.
Whilst there, we were able to procure some organic animal hides from local Devonshire farms. These special requests, we were told, bore the marks of the animal’s lives lived outdoors — evidence of small battles, bug-swatting, and fence run-ins — things most people don’t prefer to see in their new leather. But this is all part of the story.
The leather took a long time travelling to Pennsylvania, and when it made it, we held onto it, savouring it for seven years. We have finally transformed it into something new — our Crow’s Feet Journals — made to house new adventures and layers of life’s patina!
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On This Same UK Adventure...
I have a recurring dream in which I am sucked into a body of water with my journal; I flop around in the water – my journal just out of reach. Yesterday, when Søren and Silas’s eyes lit up at the prospect of venturing down the algae-covered steps to the Thames, one would have expected warning signals to ignite my brain, struck with horror from my dream. The warnings came, but not on my behalf. I warned the boys to take the skinny, dry path – to avoid the slippy algae and save themselves from the off color and smell of an unexpected dip in the Thames. They carried on as originally planned, and I proceeded to greedily take photographs and videos of their adventure down the slippy, algae side. Losing my feet from underneath me, I went down fast and uncontrollably!
All I could think of were my dreams, and the journal in my backpack as I flew down. I dug my nails into the green muck, trying to stop my momentum. I could hear Silas screaming, horrified, in the background. Turns out, I pressed record as I fell, my phone capturing the Blair Witch-Like audio that had us all in stitches afterwards. As it goes, spread out like a starfish, I didn’t make it into the Thames that day; I stopped my descent and rose up, green with algae – nails broken and knuckled bloodied, laughing my hearty laugh for the unexpected.
|
|
|
| ... |
...
|
Our Adventure to Organic Baker Leather
Our Adventure to Baker Leather! Every adventure we embark upon opens our wor...
Read The Post
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