Travelling light – my ultra-portable painting kit

Here’s one simple idea for an ultra-lightweight plein air sketching kit.

I recently took just these few items with me as I travelled around the Mediterranean and sketched and painted all over the place. For me it was important to carry only the smallest and lightest of kits, so I honed everything down and left behind the kitchen sink!

I was trying not to take an easel or pochade box with me, so I came up with what I think is the simplest and lightest device that anyone can make at home and that makes sketching a real joy. I can set up the kit in less than a minute and it all packs away into a small bag.

Take a look at the video below to find out what it is, and how to make one yourself!

My must-have materials

1. Mechanical pencil (always stays sharp!)

2. Black waterproof fineliner pen

3. Travel Brush – Escoda Versatil #12 round. This holds lots of paint yet has a fine tip for details. It folds away for easy transporting.

4. Titanium white gouache paint in a tube. I use this for making opaque colours and covering over darks (and mistakes!)

5. Water bottle

6. A couple of clips

7. Tissues

8. Hahnemühle A5 watercolour sketchbook

9. Portable Painter Palette filled with my favourite colours ( https://www.portablepainter.com/ )

10. Wooden board made from 3mm (1/8th inch) plywood. Mine is cut to 13.5 x 20cm size (5 1/4″ x 8″)

Extras (non-essentials)

1. Travel Brush – Escoda Optimo #4 round brush. This is a pure sable brush and is used for back-up (although to be fair I hardly ever use it, as I can do everything I want with the Escoda Versatil #12.

2. Washi tape (or masking tape). I sometimes use this to tape off a border for the sketch, so that when it is peeled off it leaves a nice crisp edge to the painting.

3. Orange watercolour pencil. I use this sometimes to draw out the sketch. The lines dissolve a little in the paint giving a pleasing effect.

4. Pencil sharpener to sharpen the watercolour pencil. You could use a sharp knife for this, but the airplane companies don’t like it if you are flying!

Please click on the thumbs up below if you have found this useful. Happy painting!

ps. See my review of the Portable Painter mini palette and the colours I recommend for it: https://andywalkerart.com/2023/01/27/6-crucial-landscape-colours/

#enpleinair #sketching #learningtopaint #watercolortips #watercolourpainting #paintingtips

Permission to play!

Here’s a controversial quote from the French impressionist painter Edgar Degas: “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things“.

Why is the controversial? because I’m not sure he is right! Any good painter must know what he or she is doing. Good paintings rarely just happen by accident. There are “rules” or guidelines that help us create good compositions. we need to know about colour choices, tonal values and focal points, brushwork, leading the eye, edges… the list goes on. These are the technicalities of making a good piece of art. And just as a musician needs to constantly practice the scales, so we need to learn and practice these techniques.

However, I do know what he was trying to say, and that is we have permission to play. Sometimes in the act of trying something new, or just letting go and seeing what happens, then a whole new direction opens up for us. When we no longer know what we are doing, then we can create better art. Or perhaps the art creates itself as we watch!

When was the last time you just played at art instead of attempting to paint a picture? I know that for me I don’t do this enough. Every time I settle down to paint I want to produce a finished masterpiece! Sometimes I feel I don’t have time to play. I want to spend the limited hours I have in creating a painting worthy of hanging on the wall.

But this is where we may be missing a trick that could catapult us into a new creative direction. We may be missing out on a whole new style of painting, a whole new way of creating. Perhaps in playing we will discover our real style, we will discover our unique voice.

Here are some ideas for creative play

1. Don’t always paint on your best paper/ canvas etc.. Grab yourself a sketchbook or some cheap notepads and have fun filling them up!

2. Don’t show your experiments to anyone else. This will free you up to explore without the anxiety of wondering what others might think…

3. There is no failure as you play. Every experiment is a success.

4. Look for the good in every practice session. See what you can learn from each playtime. Is there anything that you could use in a future painting?

5. Try using a different medium.

6. Mix media together in new ways

7. Forget any art “rules” you know and play with perspective, colour and shapes.

8. Try adding abstract elements to your painting

9. Mix landscape and still life in one painting

10. Give yourself a time limit – if you need to set a timer for a half hour and finish when the beeper sounds, even if you haven’t “finished”.

I hope that has given you (and myself) permission to play. I’m excited to see what new direction my art will take!

#Creativity #learningtopaint #paintingtips #sketching

Running out of time

How to finish a plein air painting when you’ve run out of time and have to head home.

Here’s a short video that may just help you to stop overworking a painting. It seems to me that it’s quite often that I don’t have time to finish a plein air painting. I’m usually out and about with my wife, and even though she is very patient with me, there are times when I sense that I am rushing a painting so that I don’t keep her hanging around too much. Or at other times I just have a half hour or so of free time. Or the weather changes, or the mosquitoes start to bite or the flies are just plain annoying! The clouds thicken and the rain starts. A van parks in front of you and blocks the view. So many things can stop us finishing a picture outdoors. So, what can we do when we are only half-way through and we have to stop? How can we make sure we have enough information down on the canvas before we pack-up and head home? And how can we complete the painting back at the house without overworking it and detailing it to death? How do we keep, it all fresh?

I hope this video may help you…

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/098f89_62f4417f69954c4497e7d5c1dbf62bf7/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Running out of time

Thanks for watching. Please don’t forget to give this a thumbs up if you found it helpful!

#enpleinair #learningtopaint #oilpainting #paintingtips