Traveling Light –
Flying High
by Armand Cabrera
Depending
upon how I am traveling, I use different equipment for
packing as light as possible. The recent popularity of
outdoor painting has made the purchasing of equipment
more affordable. Whatever your preferred medium---watercolor,
pastels or oils---there are great solutions for your outdoor
painting needs.
Painting excursions are a great way to renew the spark
of creativity. When I fly to a painting location and plan
to stay for less than ten days, I streamline my painting
setup quite a bit. I pack all my equipment and clothes
in two, carry-on bags. This helps to avoid loss and/or
damage to my painting gear at the airports.
It is illegal to carry or check solvents onto a commercial
airline.
I switch to water-based oils or watercolors for flights.
I use a collapsible brushwasher.
It is a lightweight and compact solution for cleaning
brushes.
For
airline travel, I limit the size of my paintings to
12” x 16” or smaller. I cut a number of
pieces of oil-primed linen to size.
I only need to bring one, blank panel.
This saves on weight and space.
You will use clips or tape to attach the linen to the
panel when you paint.
I place the blank panel in the Pochade box.
My collapsible brushwasher slides under the panel in
the box
I roll the cut linen and place it in a clear, mailing
tube (or other tube).
The clear tube facilitates inspections at the airport.
In addition to the linen, I place my brushes, clips
and paints into the tube.
