'Flying with Oil paints & Art Equipment

FLYING WITH OIL PAINTS & art equipment. Thought you might want to see what I'm taking to Venice - I am very lucky to be going for the whole month of September! 🎨 

It's the longest and biggest painting trip so far.... 
Last year we came back from Venice in October after a 6 day trip, I was just getting into it painting wise and then we left. I said on the boat back to the airport I want to come back and paint here for a month!  
So I found a house in the Dorsoduro area (near the Academia Bridge.)
For the first 2 weeks I have got other plein air painters coming to share and help with the cost of renting the house, it will be good to paint with them.  
On the 3rd week my Mum and sister - who lives in Africa and her partner are coming their first visit to Venice so very exciting to share it with them. 
The final week other artists again and back to intensive painting... 

It's been quite a build up I have never prepared so throughly for a painting trip! I really want it to work, so I have paid close attention to details! I closed my 2 cases yesterday and my weight allowance is 23Kg per case, I am over the limit! I need to put some into my husbands case! 
So its just last minute things today it still feels quite unreal, we leave tomorrow morning. 
I hope you will follow and support me on this exciting journey...

Also if anyone has any suggestions on areas to paint! Or tips for Venice gratefully received 👩‍🎨Please make a comment.

My Equipment List - all put in plane hold luggage:
See above photo

• Oil paint put in:  'Lock & Lock' airtight container with my label (see pic) - don't say oil paint!
• Sennelier Green for oil thinner & gel medium - plant based, safe for plane travel
• Palette knife
• Seawhite A5 Sketch book & Tombow pens
• Viewfinder 
• Masking Tape
• Headless matchsticks - for stacking wet oil paintings together
• Pva glue for matchsticks
• Business Cards
• Glass pots & jars to clean brushes
• Paint Tube Squeezer
• Apron missing from pic!

PIC 2 

• Raymar wet painting carriers sizes 8x10", 10x12" 11x14" 
• Open Box M easel palette
• Manfrotto Be Free Tripod 
• Palette Garage - holds paint, no need to carry tubes when out plein air 
• Bamboo Brush Roll - all from Rosemary and Co
• Solvent brush dipper & cleaner 

PIC 3 

Painting boards 2,3mm MDF
Wrapped in tissue, to keep them together in my case with sizes:
8x10" 10x10" 6x12" 9x12" 10x12" 8x14" 11x14" 20x50cm
This lots coming with me then the same again coming with my mum half way through September 😊You can't have enough boards!! 

PIC 4

Safety travel sheet for oil paint, 'Flash point' above 60 degrees this is the number that how easily something catches fire.  So anything above 60 is safe to fly with but some airlines differ, you should check. I will by solvent to clean brushes in Venice in a hardware shop. Oil paint is allowed on board - in the hold, not in hand luggage.

PIC 5

My painting of Venice from last year's trip.

To end something I found useful is a blog post by Katherine Tyrrell 'Making a Mark'- called Top tips for travelling artists' worth a look if you are travelling with art equipment.

Equipment #2 Oil Paint Brushes

Brushes

I love Rosemary & Co brushes, why? High quality, easy to clean, keep their shape for ages, lovely to use! (no, I'm not sponsored by them sadly!)

I used to use their Ivory range a synthetic bristle, a cross between the feel of nylon and hog bristle, they are an excellent brush for all round mark making.

I now use The Ultimate Bristle a traditional brush which has interlocking Chinese bristles - this makes them springy, wonderful to use and easy to clean, they are firmer than the Ivory range which gives a more painterly and brushy quality to your work.

Rigger Ivory useful for lines and details, the Round Ivory is the similar. 

Pro Arte Sterling Series 201

Synthetic, soft but manages oil paint well, good for detail and blocking in areas. Nice to use. 

I use long handles as I stand to paint and you need that extra length.

Bamboo Brush roll I brought mine (see pic) from Rosemary & Co. It has 8 pockets and you can put more than one brush in each, plus short or long handles. It allows the brushes to breath and doesn't squash the bristles.

Ceramic Brush Rest (See bottom right pic) Stops brushes rolling about and saves your tables and surfaces.

Brush cleaner Everyone seams to clean brushes in a different way. I use low odour solvent first and some sort of soap. Either: Murphy Oil Soap (USA) washing up liquid or Pears hand soap. 

Pots in Photo These are my extra brushes! Hard to throw away when they get used or types I've liked in the past but now changed my painting process or subject and they don't fit me now. For example Short Flat Ivory brushes I find them too soft for the result I want, 

I haven't written the next equipment post yet, I will be covering pochade, tripods, carrying bags, Palette Garage & how to transport equipment and wet paintings......See my previous post for Oil Paint, thank you Clare

Equipment #1 Oil Paint

A fellow artist asked me to do a post about the equipment I use. I thought this was a good idea as I'm interested in what others use and can often learn and get ideas.

So I hope to do four posts on my equipment especially around plein air painting (outside painting). This can be translated into studio work as well.
It was tricky putting this post together as my equipment changes as I change and develop but here it as at this point! 

Oil Paint
Comprises of the 3 primaries, a warm & cool of each, an earth and whites.

Red
Scarlet Lake (orange red)  Mixes well with Cad Yellows & muting greens
Permanent Rose (pink red) Lovely purples with Ultramarine, intense needs controlling

Blue
Ultramarine (has violet in, a dark tone) good all rounder for mixing Michael Harding rich colour, use a lot for mixing with Burnt Sienna
Cerulean (greenie, like turquoise, light tone) Great skies & water nice mixed with Naples Yellow

Yellow
Naples Yellow Deep (warm & light tone) skies work well with this colour
Cadmium Yellow Lemon (cool greenie) strong, acidic light in tone, mixes well with Ultramarine for a clean green
Cadmium yellow (rich & warm) Use a lot of sunrise sunsets great mixer and 
Yellow Ochre (opaque) good for earthy greens and darker in tone than Naples Yellow

Earth
Burnt Sienna (mid brown) wonderful greys mixed with Ultramarine, love the M.Harding colour of this

White 
Titanium (strong opaque),  Zinc (soft strength semi translucent),  Warm (medium strength good mixer)

The colours really differ between brands and I'm now leaning towards Michael Harding paint although it's on the top end of cost its quality is amazing as you only need a little to tint a colour mix for example their Cadmium Yellow Lemon is so powerful usually lemon yellow is a bit wishie washy not this, you just need a smidge to change the colour of your mix.
You can see which colours I use the most by the size of the tubes. 

The occasional use tubes (see pic) I will add extra to my palette depending where I go to paint eg a seascape I will add my two extra blues: Cobalt & Kings Blue Deep.
The Manganese Blue is a translucent version of the Cerulean, nice colour and useful for early stages in a painting when you want it thinner and translucent.
Raw Umber this used to be a favourite earth it's great for mixing with other paint to mute colours down also a greeny earth colour good for tree mixes.

Whites are important as we use so much of them in oil painting. I find Jackson Artist Titanium white good, and excellent value. Warm White is useful when you want a warm tint instead of the Titanium cool. Zinc is new for me, it's good for tinting a mix without loosing the colour to milkiness.

The ridged paint tubes - I have a tool to get all the paint out the tube! I will put on another equipment post.

I have written the next equipment post on brushes do sign up to receive my posts so you don't miss the next one. If this post has been helpful please leave a comment, and if you have any questions I welcome feedback. Thank you, Clare