A number of artists have been asking me about my paint setup, so here are some pics and descriptions. Tarryl Gabel (fellow artist and co-conspirator!) and I have been working on the design for it based on systems we’ve used over the past several years. We wanted a lighter and more compact solution to our plein air painting needs. We’re each working with a prototype and will be making final adjustments soon.
The shelf and tray units are being designed in AutoCad and 3D printer software by engineer Robby Grossman, as a labor of love for his lucky mom. (That’s me!) Robby will probably release the printer code for the tray and shelf units for free once the final changes have been made. Anybody who’s interested can then have the codes, and order them made through any print shop that does 3D printing. It shouldn’t be too much longer, and it should be quite inexpensive for you to get it. I’ll do another post when it’s available.
Images below are all clickable if you’d like a larger view. Here are a couple of photos of the components in use:
To use this setup, you’ll need some kind of a standard tripod easel. There are lots of them out there. It works on the ones that use a standard tripod with attachment for a panel/canvas, or those that have clips to hold a panel/canvas. My tripod easel looks like this:
Tarryl has been using it with a standard camera tripod, with an attachment at the top to hold her panels, and that’s worked fine too.
The tray unit weighs only five ounces. That’s a huge improvement over the “light” 28 oz tray I’ve been using for many years!
The tray is fairly small, and has a lip along the left side, so that you can clip on a brush holder, garbage bag, turp container, rag, etc.
The small tray slides right onto the tripod legs. It only needs to be large enough to support a palette; anything more is just extra weight to haul! I’ve also used this tray for painting in acrylic, gouache and watercolor. I just clip whatever palette I’m using to the tray. It could also be secured with velcro.
The paint shelf unit weighs only 6 oz., and sits on top of the tray. It’s secured to the tripod by two small squares of velcro that I’ve put on the back of the shelf (image below) and the legs of the tripod. There are holes in the top of the shelf unit to add extra support by hanging it from the panel support with wire, but I have found the velcro to be so secure that I haven’t had to use the wire at all.
To hold my brushes, I used to flatten one of the cardboard cylinders that comes inside a toilet paper roll, tape it up at the bottom, and clip it onto the lip of the tray. That worked great, cost nothing, and weighed nothing! Then Tarry’s husband made me this cool, super light brush holder out of an energy drink can!
I clip on the paper palette from both sides. (Tarryl secures a lightweight wood palette with velcro instead.) The shelf unit is supported by the tray and the velcro.
Above is a side view of it, all set to go.
This is a front view of it all set up. I use a double palette cup for my turp and medium, and usually do not bring a brush washer out on location. When I’m done painting, the turp is pretty much gone! I just wipe out whatever’s left with a paper towel and I’m ready to leave!
The tray and shelf units are designed to fit together. I cover the shelf unit with foil, and place the foil side against the tray, nestled against the raised lip. That goes into a zip lock bag, and is completely secure inside my backpack, with a total weight of 11oz! When I get home, I put the bag into the freezer.
This setup has solved a lot of problems for me because I often have to hike a good distance over rough terrain to get to where I want to paint. There is so much we have to bring with us — lunch, drinking water, bug spray, panels and panel carrier…. I need to keep my painting gear as light as possible. Having the shelf unit for my paints enables me to work with a smaller, lighter mixing palette, since the space isn’t taken up by my paints. I don’t need to lug all those tubes. I don’t have to take the time to open, squeeze out, and close up my paints, or mix my basic darks and tints (which also takes up a lot of mixing area on a palette, and a lot of time as well).
Perhaps this will give some of you ideas for more solutions to our continual search for better plein air travel options! I’ll post when the code is released.
I think I’ve pretty much covered it, but if you have any questions, feel free to post them.