Jack Richeson Sienna All-in-One Pochade Box: Five-Year Long-Term Review

Why I chose the Jack Richeson Sienna All-in-One Pochade Box

Before buying the Sienna, I had used a traditional French box easel. I also considered pochade boxes by Guerrilla Painter, Alla Prima and MEEDEN. The Jack Richeson Sienna All-in-One won mainly because it appeared to offer a strong combination of price, storage capacity, positive reviews and visual quality.

Appearance is not the most important feature of painting equipment, but it does matter when an object becomes part of your working routine. The wooden construction, brass-coloured fittings and compact suitcase-like form made the Sienna feel more like a durable artist’s tool than a piece of temporary outdoor equipment.

I began painting outdoors out of curiosity. It quickly became one of the most important parts of my painting practice . Working from life is demanding, but it is also highly educational and, at times, almost meditative.

A good pochade box does not make the painting easier, but it removes enough organisational friction to let you concentrate on colour, light and the changing landscape.

Five years of real-world plein air use

I cannot give an exact number, because I also use the box indoors for smaller works, but approximately 100 paintings have been made on it. At quieter times I used it several times per month. During more active periods it could be used two or three times per week.

It has travelled through Poland and several parts of Italy, including Tuscany, Lombardy and Sardinia. It has been carried on the shoulder, packed into a backpack, transported by bicycle and placed in a car. It has worked beside beaches, fields, wetlands, roads, rocky coastlines and winter rivers.

Many of the landscapes created with it became part of my collections of Tuscan landscape paintings , Sardinian oil paintings and Mediterranean landscape and seascape paintings .

That matters because a review based on opening a new box in a studio cannot reveal much about long-term reliability. The relevant question is not whether the wood looks attractive on the first day. It is whether the hardware stays tight, the joints remain rigid and the box still functions after years of paint, transport, dust, humidity and accidental impacts.

Durability and build quality: the strongest part of the box

Durability is where the Sienna All-in-One has impressed me most. The box has fallen approximately six or seven times. Two of those incidents were onto concrete: once from roughly knee height and once from around waist height.

The higher fall happened while I was carrying several things on my way to the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. The shoulder strap slipped, and I expected to see pieces of wood and hardware scattered across the pavement. Instead, the box remained intact. The damage was limited to a minor scratch.

Nothing bent. The wood did not split. The hinges, screws and connecting elements remain firm after years of use, and I have not had to repeatedly tighten loose hardware.

The protective finish has also held up very well. Most of the visible wear is simply accumulated paint inside the box, which is exactly what should happen to working equipment.

Setup time, stability and portability

Setting up the complete kit usually takes me around five to ten minutes. Mounting the box securely to the tripod, extending the supports, positioning the brush tray and organising paper towels or other loose materials takes longer than opening a minimal panel holder.

I would not call this a major problem. A larger all-in-one pochade box will always require more preparation than a stripped-down ultralight setup.

The advantage is that, once open, the Sienna becomes a compact working station containing paint, brushes, solvent, palette knives, drawing tools and wet-panel storage.

It is stable on a tripod and can also be used on a table, chair or other firm surface. I normally paint for one or two hours at a time, and the box gives me enough working space without feeling like a full French easel.

It is not a super-light setup. Painters who want to hike long distances with the smallest possible load may find it excessive. I prefer carrying more paint, more brushes and a broader range of tools, so the weight suits the way I work.

Palette size and mixing space

The pull-out wooden palette offers enough room for the way I mix oil paint. I regularly use Michael Harding, Rembrandt, Maimeri Classico and Master Class colours, and I prefer having several pigments available rather than reducing the kit to a few tiny tubes.

Cleaning the palette is straightforward when done regularly. My own problem appeared only after several years of allowing dried paint to accumulate.

At one point the layer had become several millimetres thick. Removing it chemically was possible, but the paint came away layer by layer. This was not necessary for normal use; I simply wanted to restore the appearance of the bare plywood.

Accumulated paint can also make the sliding palette stick against the internal walls. After a longer break, I sometimes have to use more force than I would like to pull it out.

Storage and the integrated wet-panel compartment

The internal storage is one of the main reasons the All-in-One model has remained useful. I normally keep oil paints, brushes, a viewfinder, a solvent container, a pencil and several palette knives inside.

Paper towels, tape, a utility knife, clamps and loose pieces of linen usually travel in a separate backpack.

The built-in wet-panel compartment is particularly valuable. It allows fresh paintings to be transported without requiring a separate carrier. I mainly paint on 4 mm HDF panels prepared with linen, although I have also used thicker MDF supports.

Because the compartment was designed around common American panel dimensions, I added several simple wooden spacers. These let me secure smaller European formats and prevent them from moving inside.

How it handles snow, rain, heat and Sardinian wind

The box has been used in winter snow, high summer temperatures, brief rain and strong coastal wind. Heat in Sardinia caused no problems, and the metal components have not developed visible corrosion or unpleasant squeaking.

I also used it during a short period of rain. The session lasted only around twenty minutes, after which I dried the wood carefully at home. The box showed no lasting reaction to that exposure.

Wind is a different matter. During the Sardinian mistral, a 40 × 50 cm panel created too much surface area and made the complete setup feel unsafe. I quickly returned to the smaller formats I normally use outdoors, and the problem disappeared.

Jack Richeson Sienna pochade box problems after five years

No long-term review is useful without discussing what becomes annoying. The Sienna’s weaknesses are not failures of the main wooden structure. They are smaller design decisions that repeatedly interrupt the working rhythm.

What I would change in a Sienna All-in-One 2.0

My first change would be a stable brush compartment that slides directly out of the body of the box.

It should function as a proper drawer rather than a flexible attachment, with enough length for long-handled brushes and secure positions for palette knives.

The second improvement would be a reversible palette. Letting the painter choose whether it extends to the left or right would make the box more comfortable for both right-handed and left-handed workflows.

I would also add two or three centimetres to the useful internal brush length and secure the storage dividers so that they cannot shift or allow small objects to jam underneath.

Who is the Jack Richeson Sienna All-in-One Pochade Box for?

It makes sense for painters who:

• want one box to hold most of a working oil-painting kit;
• value storage and durability more than the lowest possible weight;
• paint small and medium panels outdoors;
• want integrated wet-panel transport;
• travel mainly by car or walk moderate distances;
• also want to use the pochade box indoors.

It may not be ideal for painters who:

• need an ultralight hiking setup;
• only use very long-handled brushes;
• want to begin painting within one or two minutes of arriving;
• regularly use large panels in strong wind;
• prefer a minimal palette with almost no stored equipment.

I would recommend it to both beginners and experienced painters, provided they understand what kind of system it is. It is a compact portable workshop, not the smallest possible panel holder.

Examples of paintings made directly outdoors can be found in my plein air painting collection and wider oil painting portfolio .