Travel Supply list

Less is more when heading outdoors! Those extra pastels and tools can really weigh you down in the field and make the process much more combersome. Take only the essentials, unless you plan on working next to your car. Invest in a rugged backpack or carry-on suitcase with durable wheels to pack all your plein air supplies in nice and tidy. Make sure you can carry what you bring!

Pastel Materials (click the links for examples)

* Soft Pastels - Bring a variety of colors. A 60 piece set is appropriate.  Terry Ludwig, Great American, Schminke, Blue Earth, Unison, Sennelier, Girault, etc.

* Hard Pastels - A small selection of 12-24. Cretacolor, Faber-Castell, NuPastel (for portraits bring ochres, browns, warm flesh tones and white)   


* Pastel paper - Keep it small when painting on location. Bring an assortment, white or toned. Sizes: 6x8”, 8x10”, 9x12”, 12x18"

  • For wet or dry application: UART, Pastel Premier, Art Spectrum Velour and Colourfix, Pastelmat, Sabretooth, Canson Touch

  • For dry application only: Canson Mi Teintes, La Carte Pastel Card

* Sanded pastel paper scraps for color studies. Bring few, smallish sizes around 4x6”

* Backing board - slightly larger then paper size (foam board, gatorboard, drawing board)

* Optional Clear Bags - for 9x12” sanded paper, other sizes available

* Glassine Protective Sheets- assorted sizes available


* Pastel Travel Box - Recommended for palette arrangement and travel. Heilman Box, Dakota Traveler

* Travel Easel - For those with a pastel box, the Mabef Travel Easel works well, and is designed to hold your pastel box. For those with a Heilman box (my preferred choice), they come with 3/8” threads predrilled for mounting your box directly to a sturdy camera tripod. Using this along with the small and light Heilman Easel accessory (sold seperately)—which installs into the pre-drilled holes of any Heilman pastel box—is a great compact setup.

* Compact Travel Tripod: MeFoto Roadtrip Aluminum: very light, compact and portable


* Small Sketchpad for thumbnail sketching

* Soft pencil (2B-6B) or Ebony and kneaded erasers


* Flat brush for pastel washes

* Acid Free Artists Tape 1” - (white or black)

* Paper Towels, wet wipes - for cleaning hands

* Optional Gloves in a Bottle - Skin Cream for protection

* Optional blending Tools - Use depending on your preference. Tortillons, stumps, brushes, rubber blending tools

* Optional Artists Pocket Color Wheel 

* Optional Artists Gray Scale & Value Finder 

* Single edge razor blade  - for sharpening hard pastels to a point

* Hat - for protecting your head from the sun

* Easel Umbrella - if you are not able to find shade or indirect sunlight, you will need to bring along an easel umbrella to diffuse the direct sunlight hitting your artwork. Working in bright direct sunlight will result in oversaturated colors and dark value.


* A Camera- for taking photographic reference. Digital SLR or Mirrorless Cameras with interchangeable lenses are best.


 In this video, I'll show you how to pack your carry-on luggage with all the pastel painting supplies needed for an efficient, portable painting setup.