I would like to take this moment to thank Don and Kim Jurney and the Newburyport Art Association again for this generous opportunity and their support. https://jurneyfellowship.weebly.com/

I am painting abroad for a couple of months here in Italy as apart of the Don and Kim Jurney Travel Fellowship. I thought I might take some time to post about some of the materials I have taken with me and how they are holding up. There probably aren’t many of you that are out there interested in this, but for those of you who are, cheers.

Pictured above is everything I took to Italy.  (From left to right) Watercolor brushes in X-Lab Mezzo Cage Pod, Oil brushes, tripod, homemade easel mast, light diffuser, paint boxes, painting lights, watercolor paper, oil paints, water brush, b… — Pictured above is everything I took to Italy. (From left to right) Watercolor brushes in X-Lab Mezzo Cage Pod, Oil brushes, tripod, homemade easel mast, light diffuser, paint boxes, painting lights, watercolor paper, oil paints, water brush, backpack. Not pictured is the rip stop nylon brush holder I made that weighs nothing.

I suppose it starts with the bag.

I bought a Northface Surge over a year ago and it has been a great bag. It has plenty of compartments that hold everything I need (including a large fully openable laptop compartment that fits over 12*16 inch paper and panels). It also comes in the color black which is favorable as many of the bags out there are obscenely bright, and I don’t care for standing out in a crowd.

Cons of the bag would be it’s weight. It comes in at over 3lbs. To be fair, I did try it on along with many other bags at REI and it was the comfiest and had the best layout which fit my needs. I know robust usually means longer life and better build quality, but when you walk around all day looking for spots to paint every ounce really matters. For a similar price tag I could have gotten something that weighs just over a 1 lb. I plan to remedy this soon.

I should state, that lightweight gear surely is not the answer to anything except a little less back sweat in a hot climate. I think if anything having lighter more compact gear on the ready always makes me want to get out there and work.

The easel.

This is probably the most important thing when regarding a pleinair setup. That is of course pre-supposing that you indeed use an easel when you paint, some people don’t. I bought a Davis & Sanford TR553-P228 Traverse Super Compact Tripod. It has been indispensable in my setup. It folds down to just over 12 inches and opens up to 53 inches. The weight is 2.6 pounds.

The easel mast, I made at home was inspired by Marc Delssio’s carbon fiber set up. I made it from a piece of 1*2 inch oak. It holds up to 16 inches which is about as big as I want to go when traveling around and doing smaller sketches. I did however make a larger one for travel around my home turf. The mast has a connection on it for my oil paint box as well which has become essential.

The paint boxes.

The three paint boxes next to each other.  Two watercolor on the top small oil box on the bottom along with my painting lights to the right. — The three paint boxes next to each other. Two watercolor on the top small oil box on the bottom along with my painting lights to the right.

I paint in both watercolor and oil on a very regular basis, which is a bother because I never know which the subject or the mood will call for resulting in packing it all up. After using many different oil boxes I made a very small box which works perfectly for me. It folds open and has two mixing surfaces as well a space for paints and my medium cups. As previously stated it hooks up to the easel mast allowing me to not have to hunch to mix.

Homemade oil paint box open with fresh paint and medium cups.

The other two boxes are watercolor boxes. One is made by “The Little Brass Box Company” in England. It really is a little jewel. It is called the “travel palette” and is no bigger than 2*3 inches and holds 13 different half pan sized paints and folds out to four mixing areas. I probably could use this box for all of my watercolor needs but I enjoy the extra mixing space my other box provides. This one mainly gets used for sketching and cafes.

The second box, is my trusty House of Hoffman “Small German Nickle Palette.” It is an absolute beauty I’ve enjoyed for over four years now. It folds out into a four different mixing areas and has the same thirteen color layout except for the fact that each well holds a whole tube of paint. When I leave on a trip the only paints that run low or out of is ultramarine and burnt umber. Both boxes were pricey but worth every penny as they suit my needs down to the bone.

Small German silver palette by House of Hoffman in use.

Brushes.

I use a large selection of brushes. Maybe too many but I do not care and take pride in the collection. For oils I don’t clean my brushes while painting so its necessary to have quite a few to switch around. I use a combination of bristle and sable both filberts and rounds. A majority of them are from Rosemary & Co but I try everything that is quality. For watercolor I primarily use rounds. I have a generous selection of squirrel hair quills, sable rounds, and synthetic rounds. I also have some junkier rounds and a pin-striping brush for trees and random marks. These are all primarily Rosemary & Co but I try everything.

Paints.

For watercolor I always have cadmium red, permanent rose, cobalt violet, burnt sienna, burnt umber, cadmium orange, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium yellow light, Viridian, cerulean, cobalt blue, ultramarine dark blue. I could get rid of most of these and be just fine, but in watercolor there is the luxury of being able re-wet your paints indefinitely.

In oil I use cadmium red, permanent rose, cadmium orange, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium yellow light, Viridian, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue deep. I rarely use earth pigments because of their dry time as there have been many issues regarding cracking. Though using them as an under painting for first layers, or in a single session painting are great.

White. While I prefer using lead white while in the studio or around where I live, I use Gamblin titanium white, and M. Graham titanium white. I use these because they are American made, and because they are single pigment titanium white. It is surprising how few companies there are that do not put zinc in with it.

I should also mention that I basically will buy American made art products whenever at all possible as they are of extremely high quality and usually lower prices. So the paints are almost always M. Graham, Gamblin, Daniel Smith or Utrecht.

*Update I bought a set of Jack Richeson Shiva paints and am truly impressed. They were almost by a landslide the most inexpensive artist quality paints I could find and they perform just as well as anything else I have used. I am a big proponent of not having a brand loyalty but rather picking certain hues you favor from different suppliers. All that said, I recommend these paints.

Paper.

I use Arches 140lb cold pressed and sometimes hot pressed. I am greatly annoyed with texture of both canvas and paper as I feel that on a smaller scale the weave if not minimal is quite distracting if the work is at all detailed. This coupled with high gloss varnish and horrible gallery lighting makes a lot of work impossible to actually see. My favorite watercolor paper is 300lb hotpressed paper. It has just the right amount of texture.

Panels.

I almost exclusively use handmade panels with MDF board that are primed with acrylic gesso or traditional Italian gesso. I really do enjoy the smoothness of it even it is a bit harder to paint on in single sessions. For this trip I bought panels at local art stores.

Light Diffuser.

I just copied James Gurney’s diffuser and it attaches to my easel. One of the best things I have ever made. I used it in a storm the other day and it actually kept the painting and palette workable.

Lights.

I paint at night all the time and found that the Mighty Bright HammerHead lights are the most even light. I have had two for 3 years and they still work great. Martin Dimitrov and I have been working together on a project and he developed a most genius large scale portable lighting system that one of us will surely write about soon.

Shelf.

I made a shelf for my watercolor palette and brushes as there really isn’t anything acceptable out there on the market. It works obscenely well and is very strong.

I have been painting everyday for a month here in Italy and unlike many other people who go abroad I am not trying anything new as far materials. My settup has held up extremely well and is comprised of extremely high quality materials. It will only become more refined as time continues on and I throw more of my money at it. It’s hard not to do when your greatest passion is your job and hobby.

I suppose I will make a materials tab on this website so that one can simply click it and see an ever evolving spread.

If anyone has any specific questions about building something, materials etc... feel free to email me.