Ultralight Plein Air Landscape Painting Part II

This is an update to a post from a few years ago. I’ve been interested in developing a lightweight set-up for plein air painting and I feel I’ve finally achieved my goal. At the moment my backpack with gear for a day of plein air painting has a base-weight of around 8lbs, or under 4kg. For painting in rain, at night, or if I’m expecting variable weather I can add equipment as needed.

You can see the set-up in the images below:

Ultralight plein air painting set up.

My ultralight plein air painting kit.

Ultralight plein air landscape painting set-up with everything open.

My kit with everything opened.

Ultralight backpack for plein air landscape painting.

Everything in the backpack. Small dog for scale.

Here is the key for the numbers, with hyperlinks (some are referral):

  1. Foam-core panels with mounted linen.
  2. Drawing materials: Sketchbook, pencil, blade for sharpening, kneaded eraser.
  3. Small dog.
  4. Water bowl for the dog.
  5. Medium, thinner, and palette knife.
  6. Brushes (Zecchi series 102 sables and Cornelissen series 44 bristles).
  7. Extra blues, titanium white and Roman ochre.
  8. Multitool and allen key.
  9. Tent pegs.
  10. Custom carbon fiber pochade box.
  11. Sirui t-025x tripod. (The Sirui 5C is the same but newer and cheaper. I have both).
  12. Custom carbon fiber mast and panel clips.
  13. Rain pants, rain jacket, and umbrella with home-made attachment (situational).
  14. Down jacket, fleece, and windbreaker (situational).
  15. Phone, headphones, backup battery and stylus.
  16. Water and sunblock.
  17. Custom carbon fiber panel holder (takes two sizes).
  18. KS Ultralight backpack.

Most of my gear is normal painting equipment but I’ll go over some of the things.

1. New Traditions Gatorfoam panels with Claessens linen work very well. The glue never comes undone, even if the panels are left in a car window in August (I’ve tried it).

2. Kunst & Papier sketchbooks have the best paper of any I’ve found, and the paper binding makes them lighter than hardcover sketchbooks.

5. I use a Canada balsam/sun-thickened linseed oil mix for my medium, and lavender essence for my thinner. These aluminum bottles aren’t great as they start to leak after a year or so. I’m still on the lookout for a better system.

6. My set-up would be much lighter if I could learn to use fewer brushes. There are some very good painters out there who use one or two brushes for an entire oil painting. I don’t know how they do it.

7. Cadmium paints last a week on my palette, so I only bring tubes of the three blues I use (cobalt, ultramarine, cerulean), ochre, and titanium white. I go through a lot of those colors.

8. I probably use the Leatherman Skeletool once a year, and most times don’t carry it. Same with the allen key, once I get the proper tightness on the legs of the tripod I don’t really need it.

9. Most of the time the weight of the backpack and a water bottle is enough to keep the easel steady while I paint. In high winds the tent pegs work great. If I can’t get them into the soil I tie them to rocks or even lampposts or signposts in cities.

10. My next blog post will be on making a custom carbon fiber pochade box, mast set-up, and panel carrier (#12 and #17).

11. The Sirui t-025x tripod is the lightest tripod I could find that had decent stability and got up high enough for painting equipment.

13. For a rain jacket I really like the new Gore-Tex Shakedry jackets as they still breath even when you’re drenched in heavy rain. My previous jackets would ‘wet out’, meaning the face fabric would get soaked with water and keep the membrane from breathing, and the jacket would feel stuffy and suffocating in warm rain. This one breathes so well that I’ve even worn it in the summer as a bug jacket. The downside to the Arc’teryx version that I have is that the zipper leaks in really heavy rain. Other brands make them with better zippers. My umbrella is a Senz storm umbrella with a custom attachment that I made for the mast of my easel. It keeps the rain off of the painting and the palette, but unfortunately dumps it onto me while I work.

14. For carried clothes, the fleece/down/windbreaker jacket combo works great. Obviously I only take what I think I’ll need, but for shoulder seasons and places where the temperature can change dramatically (cough * the California coast * cough) the three layers give me a lot of versatility. Also, the dog gets cold quicker than I do, so she usually sleeps wrapped in one of the layers. In the past I carried a down vest rather than a jacket and I think vests are great for painters as allows for more mobility with our painting arms. And on the subject of shoulder mobility, climbing clothes are usually stitched differently so the sleeves can be raised easily. I find they work better than city or street clothes with the sleeves stitched in the ‘arms down’ position where you fight the fabric to raise your arm. It’s not a huge deal, but something to consider. All my shirts, jackets, and hats are black, dark grey, blue or dark blue so as to not reflect a confusing color back onto my painting when working contre-jour.

15. My current phone is a first generation 5″ Google Pixel. I wanted the larger storage (128GB) for shooting video while I travel, a high quality camera, and I prefer a headphone jack to the bluetooth-only design of newer phones. A powerbank is very useful for charging my phone when I forget to charge it at home, and the stylus works as a backup pencil if I need to sketch. In reality I almost never use it.

18. The KS Ultralight backpack works very well, but it’s not 100% waterproof. My worry with backpacks is that my medium will leak out, not that water will get in, so I’ve added an inner liner to the outer pocket where my pochade box goes.

This is still a work in progress, but I have arrived at a point where I don’t feel I can improve on anything in particular for the moment. Everything works great, and weighs as little as possible. My next goal is to get a similar set-up for carrying and working on very large plein air landscapes and I’ve almost got that working as well, so stay tuned.

Californian Plein Air Paintings (2017)

Plein air landscape painting of wild turkeys in Carmel Valley.

Wild Turkeys, Carmel Valley. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting in California is always a joy and I’ve said before that I believe I became a landscape painter because of the beauty of California’s Central Coast. Here are images of my recent paintings of the area. As always, I spent a lot of time scouting by car as I needed to find picturesque motifs to enlarge into larger pieces in the studio this winter.

Plein air painting of a farm near Soledad, CA.

Farm near Soledad. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of chaparral at Garapata State Beach, Big Sur, CA.

Chaparral at Garapata State Beach. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of Point Lobos State Reserve in Carmel, CA.

Point Lobos. 11 x 14 in., oil on linen.

In an attempt to lighten my travel kit, I tried just using a cellphone to photograph my work this trip. It didn’t really work out and I apologize for the quality of the images. I’ll go back to lugging around a DSLR.

Plein air oil painting of belladonna lilies.

Belladonna Lilies. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of a painter painting in Big Sur.

Tina Painting in Big Sur. 44 x 11 in., oil on linen.

I taught a couple of workshops for Carmel Visual Arts and we painted in two of the Monterey Regional Parks District‘s parks. They’ve done a great job of setting aside some of the more beautiful parts of the Monterey area for public use and preservation.

Plein air oil painting of Garland Park in Carmel Valley.

Garland Park #1. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of Garland Park.

Garland Park #2. 11 x 14 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of Garland Park.

Garland Park #3. 11 x 14 in., oil on linen.

Plein air landscape painting of Palo Corona Regional Park, Carmel, CA.

The Barn at Palo Corona #1. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air landscape painting of Palo Corona Regional Park, Carmel, CA.

The Barn at Palo Corona #2. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air landscape painting of Palo Corona Regional Park, Carmel, CA.

The Barn at Palo Corona #3. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

The last three are from around my parent’s house in Carmel Valley. I’m always really interested in the views of neighborhoods as I love art which is focused on local scenes, which people might not notices as they pass by in their daily lives.

Plein air painting of horses next to Garzas Road in Carmel Valley, CA.

Horses on Garzas Road. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of a one lane bridge.

The One Lane Bridge. 12 x 8 in., oil on linen.

Plein air painting of Garzas Road, Carmel Valley, CA.

Garzas. 11 x 14 in., oil on linen.

Before heading to the East Coast we painted around Lake Tahoe and near Sacramento and I’ll try to post those images in a future update. It’s always hard keeping up with the online stuff in the summers as there is so much painting to be done.

Glazing Demo Video


I’ve been aloof with the blog posts. My apologies. I have a few longer posts in the works, and a few videos I’m working on. Here is the first one, the demo I normally do on my plein air painting courses showing how to glaze a dry landscape painting.

I’ll post the next ones as soon as I have enough free time to finish them.

Paintings from Deer Isle, Maine

Plein air landscape painting of morning in Stonington, Maine.

Morning in Stonington. 11 x 14 in.,oil on linen (on gatorboard).

These are some of my recent plein air paintings from a trip to Deer Isle, Maine. I was teaching for the Waltham Studios, and they have a blog post on the course.

Plein air painting of a Fourth of July Parade on Deer Isle, ME

4th of July Parade, Deer Isle. 8 x 12 in.,oil on panel.

I always have a great time in Maine. The landscapes are beautiful, the towns are picturesque, the people are friendly, and the food is great. It’s also much cooler in the summers, so working outside is much more pleasant.

Plein air painting of fog lifting on Deer Isle, ME.

Lifting Fog. 11 x 14 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Field painting of houses in Stonington, ME.

Hillside, Stonington. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Plein air landscape painting of a fisherman's house on a grey day in Stonington.

Grey Day, Stonington. 11 x 14 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Landscape painting of Greenhead Road on Deer Isle, ME

Greenhead Road. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Painting of plein air landscape painters near Sand Beach, Deer Isle, ME

Plein Air Painters, Sand Beach. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Plein air painting of an overgrown driveway.

Driveway, Reach. 8 x 12 in., oil on panel.

Plein air painting of the view from Church Street in Stonington, ME

View from Church Street, Stonington. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Plein air painting of lobster boats in Burnt Cove, Deer Isle, ME.

Lobster Boats, Burnt Cove. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Plein air landscape painting of fog on Deer Isle, ME

Fog. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Landscape painting of sunset in Stonington, ME

Sunset, Stonington. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

I spent a few days painting Ames Pond just outside Stonington. The colors and shapes were different from what I’m used to, and the views reminded me of some of my favorite Russian and Nordic painters.

Landscape painting of Ames Pond, Deer Isle, ME

Ames Pond #1. 14 x 11 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Oil painting of Ames Pond, Stonington, Deer Isle, ME.

Ames Pond #2. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Field painting of Ames Pond, Deer Isle, ME

Ames Pond #3. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

Plein air landscape painting of Ames Pond, Stonington, ME.

Ames Pond #4. 8 x 12 in., oil on linen (on gatorboard).

I also did a couple of large plein air landscapes looking out towards the Eggemoggin Reach using my new carbon fiber easel and palette system. The idea was to create lightweight system that could fit into a small suitcase, yet would still be able to handle a big canvas in wind. You can see it in the image below:

Image of a carbon fiber easel and palette system for large plein air landscape paintings.

Carbon fiber system for large plein air work.

So far so good, but there are some kinks that need to be worked out. In high winds I use a system of tent pegs for added stability.

Large plein air painting of the view towards Eggemoggin Reach from Grays Cove on Deer Isle.

Grays Cove looking toward Eggemoggin Reach #1. 36 x 48 in., oil on linen.

Large plein air painting of the view towards Eggemoggin Reach from Grays Cove on Deer Isle.

Grays Cove looking toward Eggemoggin Reach #2. 36 x 48 in., oil on linen.

Larger Plein Air Paintings – Spring 2017

Plein air landscape painting of dawn over Florence, Italy.

Dawn over Florence #1. Oil on linen, 70 x 90 cm.

Here are some of the recent larger plein air paintings from our hill above Florence. I did a couple timelapse videos of the progress this time.

Plein air landscape painting of dawn over Florence, Italy.

Dawn over Florence #2. Oil on linen, 90 x 120 cm.

Plein air painting of olive trees in Tuscany in late May.

Olive Trees in May. 90 x 120 cm, oil on linen.


I’m working on a stable and portable system for working on larger paintings on site. I’ve just finished the first iteration and I’ll be taking it back to the US to try it out next week. These were mostly done with my older Italian steel field easel set-up, which also works really well.

The next two images are of the same painting. The first (below) was painting in the afternoon, but then I decided to glaze everything orange to capture the evening light effect.

Oil painting of an old olive tree in Tuscany.

Old Olive Tree, early version with afternoon light. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

Large plein air landscape painting of an olive tree in Tuscany.

Old Olive Tree, final version with evening light. 70 x 90 cm, oil on linen.

Plein air landscape painting of fruit trees in bloom.

Fruit Trees in Bloom. 60 x 80 cm, oil on linen.

Plein air landscape painting of the garden at Villa Schneiderf.

Garden at Villa Schneiderf. 90 x 100 cm, oil on linen.