My Plen Air Set Up

I organize my tubes of paint
 by color in old gesso buckets
 for easy access when loading my pack
  and to prevent leakage in my van 

I have been avidly camping for most of my life, and feel comfortable outdoors. I enjoy hiking, fishing, kayaking and generally prefer living outdoors in the warmer months.  I “camp” in my van and generally stick to campsites.

My camping practice does not deviate too much from these aforementioned outdoor activities, but plen air oil painting while camping takes my outdoor logistics to a new level.

The joy of using oil paints outside is their slow drying time. 

For me, there is nothing like using oil paints.  I like to compare the tactile sensation of painting with oils like pushing beautifully colored, soft butter across a surface.   Pretty exquisite.  To be able to do this for hours with my feet planted in a Central or Eastern Oregon sagebrush is very satisfying.

But there are drawbacks and limitations. 

Unlike watercolor or other water-based paint, oil paints require harsh chemicals for clean up and offload toxic fumes when drying.  Since I am camping out of my van I needed to figure out:

•  Storage of numerous drying paintings and limit my exposure to the fumes in my van, during my month long road trip.
•    How to hike and paint, so that I am not attached to the van.
•   The clean up and disposal of paints and brushes

My solution, as I am ever thrifty, is to use what I have.  The rooftop auto storage box that I have had for years is the storage solution that I utilize for my paintings. In the past, I have successfully used this roof box to lay a single layer of panels/canvas with a few chucks here and there to prevent shifting-worked great.  But since this trip is longer, I created two layers to accommodate more paintings and large format canvases.

Using a chop saw, 2 x 4’s, 1 x 4’s, screws and a drill I created an internal rack for the roof box. If you have any experience building simple wood objects this should be a cinch. The hardest part was working with different dimensions of canvases. If you standardize the size and type of your painting surfaces it will make things much easier.

Ten panels and my blue palette fit! (yes, I paint over older paintings)

Niffy little "swing arms" that make taking out panels easy.

So far, this system has been working great.   I have been driving on some serious washboard roads and my paintings have been staying in place.

Cleaning up after oil painting is a pain in the butt, I will not lie.  It is the last thing that I want to do after I have been painting in the harsh sun for hours.  Because of this I have opted for a pretty simple pack-it-out system.

I carry a small jar of turpentine with me to use while I am painting.  This is a standard jar that you buy at an art store that has the metal coil on the inside. When I am done painting I will wipe off as much paint from my brush as possible on a cloth rag.  (I use torn up old t-shirts).  I then slosh those brushes in my “field” turpentine and try to get as much paint off a possible.  When I return back to camp I then do the same thing with my brushes in another jar of much cleaner turpentine.  Since I am painting with these brushes at least every couple of days this seems to do the trick.  When I return home I will give these brushes a DEEP cleaning. This is one reason that I do not bring my best brushes on a plen aire trip.

As far as those nasty paint rags, they are the last things that I pack-up when on site.  I wear latex gloves when painting in my studio or outside, as the pigments that I am using are toxic (hello Cadmium). The last thing that I do is pull off these gloves while I simultaneously pick-up my rags and turn the glove inside-out around the soiled rag.  When I return to camp, I lay out my rags on a picnic table in the sun and let them dry out.  I throw away the rags in a public trashcan without fear of them igniting. 

I never ever pour turpentine onto the ground or water, as this would be rude to Mother Nature.

Here is a picture of my pack and its contents.   Fully stocked, it weighs close to 28 pounds. I carry my canvas/panel in my hand. I have hiked over two miles with this set-up.  I could hike more but it is usually the Central Oregon heat and wind that prevent me from going further.  Painting in the Elements-that is another blog subject.

Loose brushes,

kb