Plein Air Painting-Lite

Super-Lightweight Plein Air Setup for Traveling

I just went on my annual girl trip vacation. The only painter. I really wanted to be able to paint, but not take a lot of bulky equipment. I narrowed down my tube colors, my Rosemary & Co. brushes, one medium cup, a roll of tape, no problem.  And I always paint on linen sheets, so they take up no room.

How to transport my wet paintings? I'm sure this is nothing new to a lot of you, but it was new to me, and I'm quite pleased with the results. 

I usually paint 9x12 on the road, so I cut foamcore into 11x14 rectangles with my handy Exacto. I got some square balsawood-ish rods at a craft store for almost nothing, and cut them into about 6 inch pieces (with my handy Exacto). I Elmer's-glued one each onto the edges of my foamcore rectangle, creating the space needed for the wet paint. Then I taped my 9x12 gessoed linen sheets onto the board. Voila. Stackable, portable, wet paint carriers. Good to go. BTW, you could also stick a painting panel on the board just as easily, using double sided tape.) And, as long as your foamcore boards are the same size, you can attach any smaller size painting surface to the board. 

See the little sticks glued on the boards? Click to enlarge.

I then just stuck the whole bunch of them into a zip plastic carrier bag, and they didn't move around. And so what if they do move a little? The wood strips protect the paintings from getting smeared. Of course you could secure the boards any way you wanted to, Velcro strips, big rubber bands, string, but this worked just fine, the bag kept them in place. For larger stacks, get a bigger bag or make several smaller stacks.

I guess I could have used cleaner boards for my demonstration photos, but honestly, I don't have any clean boards....

A smaller stack for a day out.

Still not light enough, I say. I decided to ditch the Pochade box with its bulk and weight. And I always worry about the glass breaking. An artist friend, Dawn Whitelaw had told me a while back about using Contac paper (clear, sticky, yes, like you use on shelves) instead of glass in her pochade box. It is an easy cleanup and if you don’t feel like cleaning it completely, just peel it off. 

I decided to take it one step further. I took another 11x14 piece of foamcore, covered it in clear Contac paper, smoothing it out flat easily, flipped over the board and trimmed the excess with my Exacto. Oh, eureka! The most lightweight paint palette ever! I just tossed that on top of my other boards as the “Top”. All the same size. All lightweight. A dream come true. I might add that the Contac paper cleans up just like glass. It's amazing stuff. 

All cleaned up! The red paint is on the actual foamcore and underneath the Contac paper. Yes, I'm messy....

So I've got everything in this bag that I need. One medium cup, artist tape, brushes, paints, medium (in a leakproof prescription medicine bottle, small) and my boards. Heck, it all fit in my tote bag. And I still had room for my Ipad, Nook, purse, and other essentials.

Now, you might notice there's no easel. I will come up with something. But for this trip I was so happy to be a feather-weight painter that I didn't mind putting the 11x14 board in my lap or on a table for painting. Thinking ahead, knowing I might use a table, I brought more Contac paper to put on the table for messes and laying down the brushes. Guess what? It didn't weigh a thing!

I kind of like how painting on the ground gave me some distance from the painting.

Check out my Facebook page Claudia Williams Studio and my Pinterest boards for more ideas.
And of course, RosemaryandCo.com to read about the wonderful handmade artist brushes. You can purchase them there or HERE on my website claudiawilliams.com