How to Pack for Plein Air Painting Travel that includes Flying

TSA at O’Hare found and tossed a small pocketknife engraved with my name, that I’d sadly “lost” nearly a year prior.  A discerning agent uncovered it from deep in the folds of my carry-on where it apparently had been traveling with me for at least five trips. The agent offered to let me leave security, send it to myself and come back through the line; I chose to make my flight instead. Since 2014, I’ve traveled to Cuba, Spain, Mexico, and several places within the USA with both oil and watercolor plein air gear and have had no other incident. Below, I’m passing along learnings from workshop leaders, other artists, and experience. You'll find a few links to sites that might be helpful too, and at the very end, links to other related articles.   

Avoid Confiscation: Some plein air equipment can be construed as weapons. Brushes, palette knives, tripod, umbrella, or a mall stick may strike the diabolical fancy of a security person, and, be removed from luggage. I’m not willing to risk the confiscation for two reasons: cost and whether replacement is possible. The art store in Havana in January 2018 offered for sale, no hyperbole here, one tube of black acrylic paint, some markers and a few books. In Spain, in a seaside town, I could only find Cotman watercolors, and only in a whole travel set, not individual tubes or pans. In Guanajuato, Mexico in 2017, there were two places to buy art supplies, though a meager selection at both. The owner of the one near the Diego Rivera museum is an artist, and at least understood my interests.  Bottom-line... pack as if your painting depended on it. 

Packing for an air-travel plein air adventure isn’t really so different than packing for a day’s paint out. What self-preserving plein air painter doesn’t already think about weight, size and safety? Packing for a painting trip boils down to space, weight, getting supplies through security and making sure you have the right clothes for the time you’re not painting. So first thing, know that checking a bag is the easiest route to take. I know, what frequent traveler wants to check and lug bags? As Nike says, just do it!

I pack for 5 – 21 days in a hard sided, 24” Samsonite bag I found at TJ Max, and a backpack with wheels I found online. I carry a small “clutch” so I have a purse on the ground and I have with me a tiny foldable cloth bag, in the event I shop during the trip. While traveling, my backpack contains TSA approved items including my 8"x10" Open Box M easel, clutch/wallet, iPad, and anything essential I would need if my bags didn’t arrive with me. Sometimes, an extra pair of shoes or overflow clothes end up in my backpack too. Once I get to the hotel, the contents of the backpack will be switched out for my art equipment and supplies. The selection criteria for the backpack included - large enough to hold all that, outside pockets on both sides, a water bottle and other stash, straps on both sides around the pockets, and, multiple pockets with separate sections. 

How much to pack? Just because you’re checking a bag, don’t fall into allowing yourself to pack as much as the airlines allows, (typically 40 or 50 pounds.) It’s just too cumbersome to handle. Remember too, if you are staying in an Air B&B, a small hotel or, if you arrive in say, Madrid, in the middle of a marathon and the marathon doesn’t allow a cab to cross a major intersection, or you arrive in New York, the day after the Trump election and a cab can’t get across Fifth Avenue because of angry marchers, you’re destined to do your own schlepping… for blocks, over cobblestones or up flights of stairs. Pack as luggable as possible. By the way, I have packed in larger bags, but it was the hour walk in Madrid, where I felt like I had completed an ultra marathon  that cured me of that.

How to pack? My 20” carry-on bag, which I use for as many as three days and holding mainly paint and casual clothes, opens to one compartment. My hard sided bag that I use for longer trips opens up with top and bottom compartments. I pack all clothes and my cosmetic kit on one side, shoes and art equipment on the other. I LOVE packing my clothes in travel cubes. I’ve tried a couple different brands and found the Eagle Creek compression sacks that have a double zipper are the best for me. The first zipper encloses the items; the second compresses them to take much less space. I have enough now to have discreet bags for undies, t-shirts and tops, pants, socks, sweaters, and miscellaneous one-ofs, like bathing suit, scarves. It’s so much easier to get dressed (especially, if you don’t want to wake a roommate) and keep things minimized and organized.

Packing to avoid confiscation: With the objective to minimize TSA’s likelihood of removing my supplies, I place my equipment in the main, “bottom” side of my two-sided bag. Once entirely packed, I place a printed note to inspectors on top of that side, held in by the bag’s elastic strap. I believe the original note was developed for Plein Air Magazine’s convention attendees. Here are words for it. I recommend that you make it fit a half page of paper, make it look official, and make several copies of it to place with your paints and (non) solvents.

Attention Airline Inspectors

The contents in this bag are professional artist materials. It contains vegetable based oil paints and wet paintings. Take care while inspecting to protect from getting paint on clothing. All of these materials have a flashpoint above 550*. They are not hazardous and not flammable. There are no solvents in this bag. Please do not discard paints, as they are expensive. 

If you need to reach me to confirm, please contact me:

Name:                                                 email:                                                  Phone/Text:

The note contains the word, “flashpoint”. That’s the temperature at which they ignite more easily and are therefore, hazardous. Low flashpoints mean that the liquids are most flammable. You want to make sure any item you are packing is below that flashpoint. Paint manufactures like Winsor Newton and Gamblin understand this and have individual safety sheets for their products listing the nature of any hazard. Go to the manufactures site download and print the health and safety sheets and place them in your bag. It’s as simple as googling “Gamblin Safety” and you’ll find a link immediately. If you usually use an essential oil instead of a solvent, Google that flashpoint. Many are below 300^0[1], and flammable, so plan to buy them when you arrive at your destination.

Paints: Place your paints together in one or more clear plastic bags. I use zippered bags that came with pillowcases, or, you can buy a zippered cosmetic bag, or use a large zip-lock. (I sometimes use those that come with dried fruit, because they are durable and narrow.) With a Sharpie I write, “Artist Colors”, (not oil paints) in big letters directly on what I call the front of the bag, making sure paint tubes can be seen plainly. Behind the paint, I place the folded safety sheets and turn them so the wording is on the outside. I envision someone picking up the bag and inspecting it, seeing nothing untoward and, repacking it nicely. By the way, I pack my paints in one direction and place them where they are most likely to be pointed downward to keep them from separating.

(non) Solvents: Recently, when eight of us flew to Havana to paint, all 4, 6 and 32 ounce bottles of Gamsol, were still in our bags when we arrived. Though we packed various sizes, it turns out, we all packed the safety sheets with the liquids. Again, I used the same heavy clear plastic bag for the liquids, I wrote Artist Materials on the bag and enclosed the safety sheets.  Remember to empty your brush washer before you go and stuff it with a rags or other supplies for transit. The TSA is very clear, no turpentine or paint thinners. 

Oil Panels: For eight days in Cuba, I decided I would likely paint six of the days, two a day. (I didn’t, but that was my reasoning.) I took six each of two sizes of panels (8x10” and 9x12”.). I took one 2-sided wood panel carrier for each size and packed wax paper for others. Next trip I’ll also take 11x14” panels and carrier as well.

Each painting session I painted one size and switched to the other for the next. Those paintings started early in the trip were dry to the touch by the time we left. So, I placed wax paper around them, taped a nickel to the wax paper, in the four corners between 2 facing each other and used large rubber bands I found at an office store, to hold them together.  I took this idea from a demo last summer by pastelist, Nancie King Mertz.

Panel carriers that hold more panels are commercially available. I tried a cardboard style early on, but it collapsed. StephanieWiedner, a member of Plein Air Painter Chicago has hacked other clever panel carriers by notching wine corks and placing them at each corner and securing them with rubber bands. Dana Johnson an artist in Wisconsin bought 2 flat-faced frames at the Dollar Store, glued them together facing each other. Voila’ a panel carrier for two paintings. She too used rubber bands to hold in the wet panels. By the way, I use my easel to hold panels during transit.

Watercolor painting: I use a piece of 14”x20” foam core, lightly scored and folded in half as my board for painting and as a file for holding pieces of paper. (I cut my board down a bit to fit in my backpack so corners won’t be smashed, but have learned that it’s limits the size of watercolor paper.) To prep the board I spray varnish the out side where I tape the paper, and once that’s dry, I place masking tape along the fold to reinforce it.  I use a 1” binder clip to keep the board and papers together. Depending on conditions, I use the clip to hold the watercolor paper, tape the corners or tape the entire paper down to make that pretty margin, but is eschewed by nearly every watercolor teacher I respect.

Easel and Palettes: The foam core board is light and works well with my Open Box M easel. I have now notch it for landscape and portraits to fit.  I often make two at a time because they do get beat up, but for the most part, they can last for months. However, because I use my easel for both oils and watercolor, I use a piece of plexiglass as a palette for my oils, removing it to insert my watercolor “travel” palettes which fit flat in the base. I simply interchange them.

Miscellaneous Plein Air supplies. Take rags and toss them. Buy papertowels and wet wipes when you arrive, if available, they weren’t in Cuba. If you are carrying paper towels, take the center roll out and flatten the roll of towels for packing. A soap carrier with a bar of Ivory makes it easy to clean brushes. The Dollar Store also offers tools like pliers, screwdriver and a wrench. It’s not easy to find them even in the US if you are out painting in the wilderness and your easel blows over, once, no twice, no three times and you have to de-jam a wingnut. In Cuba, our guide said that these were especially useful gifts to leave behind. In response to a packing list for a workshop in Spain with Timothy J. Clark recommended a Lafuma padded stool. It’s great for demos anytime. It fits in the suitcase, and, straps on to my backpack like a frame. In three years, I have used it to sit on for demos, not to paint, though I do use it as a table for my supplies. When it’s a table, I flip it so the underside of the seat is up, so later, for discussions or critique, I won’t sit down on a paint spatter.

Traveling and painting plein air is the lifestyle I’ve chosen for my “preferment”… my life since working full time. I’ve gotten a sense of organization, efficiency and ease that works for me, so I can take off with minimal planning. I love learning new ideas. I hope you will share yours.

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Other Related Blog Posts by Mary Longe
How to Carry Wet Paintings
The Trail to the Cedarburg Plein Air Festival
Unpacking the Evolution of Learning - Plein Air Trip to Spain
Self Confidence and the Uphill Climb of Learning a New Craft
The Challenge of Painting a Tree
Sketching Arizona
Arctitectural Artifacts, Chicago and Painting Like Hemingway
A Few Things I Learned from my Trip to Santa Fe, July 2015
[1] https://plushfolly.com/Information/Flash-Points