Plein air panels for travel
8 05 2008This whole week I’ve been walking around telling myself that I was leaving for France in two weeks. What I realized today is that I’m actually leaving in a week. Ack! :-0 Yes, I have been known to fall down the worm-hole of time unless I am stringent about staying on a schedule. Many distractions at home have gotten me off of that lately, and here I am wondering where the time went! So since I’ve nothing much to say about the all the new work I’ve not done lately, I thought I’d still at least post something useful about traveling with art materials.
I’ve written about this before, but it always seems to take me off guard when I actually have to get down to deciding what I’ll take and what I’ll leave behind. I’ll be traveling to a very rural part of France , (okay, so it’s not the jungle! But art supply stores are generally hard to come by in the countryside), so I really want to try not to be in a position of “need’ when it comes to my supplies and my gear.
At the same time, I can’t pack “everything but the kitchen sink”, because for this trip I will be traveling solo to and from my destination. My husband, who named himself “Le Pack Mule” during our travels abroad, is sitting this one out (I can’t imagine why? 
) This means I have to be able to carry everything without relying on batting eyelashes for assistance. I haven’t fleshed out my complete supply list, but my obvious “must haves” are also the things that can cause the most weight– the easel and the painting substrates. Since it’s been pointed out to me that I’ve spent so much time lately talking about easels, I’ll mix it up by addressing the substrates:
Lightweight but still archival
I’ll be painting on location for anywhere from 7 to 10 days. I really have no idea of an exact itinerary, but I always try and plan for the max. It is certainly possible to buy canvases overseas, (Hello? France? Home of the Impressionists!) but the problem is that since we’ve never gotten on board with the metric system here in the U.S., I’d have to deal with custom framing each non-standard canvas once I got back home.
Canvas mounted on lightweight panel is a better option for travel than bulkier stretched canvas. In the past I’ve used birchboard. It’s lightweight and compact compared to many other hardboard options (masonite, plywood, etc.), but if I consider that I may be painting two to four canvases each day, that’s a whole lot of birch and the weight and volueme adds up fast.
Gatorfoam (gatorboard) is a great option, in that it is offered in archival form and is also one of the lightest supports available. It is basically a very, very strong foamcore board, offered in a variety of thicknesses.
Picture framers often use Gatorboard, and this is what a lot of plein air painters use as a support for primed linen or canvas. Cheap Joe’s and other art supply stores sell various size sheets, and there are also companies that specialize in making panels of this material. But even if you make your own panels with this material, it can be pretty expensive when you start to consider any amount of quantity, and then there is the bulk of carting it all overseas.
One of the newer materials on the market is Coroplast. Coroplast is essentially corrugated plastic, and like Gatorfoam, it is extremely lightweight. However, while not as inexpensive as plywood, Coroplast is more economical than the Gator.
Interestingly Coroplast seems also to be getting the archival nod, and a conservator for the National Gallery of Art has noted that it is virtually inert in terms of interference with the substrate. I’ve also found references to the use of Coroplast on art and museum conservator sites for packing and storing fine art. The biggest beef with Coroplast for a plein air panel seems to be the fluted corrugation between the sheets of plastic. The fear from conservators is that over time the canvas, if mounted directly onto Coroplast without an intermediate barrier, would adopt this same fluting texture.
…Enter Multimedia Artboard
Multimedia Artboard is another somewhat new material, designed to be an archival substrate for a variety of media from watercolor to acrylic to oil. I’ve seen several references to the use of this product by traveling plein air painters. This board is made of paper and epoxy resin and unlike canvas, it is rigid but extremely thin and lightweight:
It has a smooth side and a textured side, both of which can be painted on. For oil painting, the common practice seems to be to gesso the board for a less absorbant surface ( though the company claims compatibility with oils without gessoing) and then clamp, mount, or to tape it to a larger piece of coroplast or gatorboard for painting on site. Since this surface is pretty thin, it would need to be backed or mounted to some kind of board with an archival, reversable adhesive before framing.
I’ve ordered some of this Multimedia Artboard and have a funny story about it that I’ll save for another time. I had hoped to experiment a lot with this material prior to my departure, but given my current life pattern this may not happen! So here’s the plan: I’m taking a number of pieces of gessoed MMAB as well as pre-primed linen in various sizes; all of which I will tape or clamp temporaily to a larger firm support of Coroplast on location. (I’m going for the Coroplast because it won’t dent if clamped- Gatorfoam might.) Any painting could then be backed or mounted in a more permanent way if I want to frame it up at home.
Supplies:
- Multimedia Artboard ( I chose 16×20 sheets, which could be cut down to a variety of sizes- 8×10, 11×14, 6×8, 9×12, 12×16, etc.) Sources: Multimedia ArtBoard’s site, Jerry’s Artarama, Dick Blick (to name a few)
- Gesso (for above- any art supply store)
- Primed linen canvas, (many sources for this) cut to size (allow about 2 inches on all sides if you want to stretch the canvas when you return home, or 1/4 to 1/2 inch all around for shrinkage if you intend to glue these to a panel.)
- One 14×18 or 16×20 inch Coroplast board to use as a firm support for paintings on location. Sources: Check local sign companies- they may be willing to sell blank sheets. Otherwise there are online suppliers for this.
- Painter’s tape and/or clamps (for temporarily adhering substrate to support)
Don’t feel like doing it youself back home? You can get prepared lightweight panels from commercial sources. Here are just a few:
Raymar (not as light as other options, but less costly and still much lighter than plywood. BTW- makes great, lightweight wet panel carriers out of –you guessed it! Coroplast!)
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Hi Jennifer, Good topic and you about covered all of the bases.
I would go for the gator foam over the plastic for that same corrugation issue.
The gator foam is real light and it is not THAT expensive.
The canvas pieces that you can stretch when you get home is a good idea too.
Have a great time painting in France. I’ll be looking to see what you come back with.
Are you going to post on your blog from France?
Thanks Frank,
I appreciate your comments! Mostly I agree, though I think the paintings on MMAB will be fine on whichever support, given that they are rigid to begin with, unlike the linen. In any event, I’m taking the Coroplast mainly as a board to tape everything to, and I’ll figure out the permanent solution at home.
Being the tech junkie in the family, it would be my preference to blog while I’m overseas. Maybe next time. I didn’t have enough lead time to figure out all of the “ins and outs”, but it doesn’t look like Southwestern France has a whole lot of wireless hotspots. Guess I’ll just have to console myself with a sketchbook/journal!
I leave this Wednesday and I’m trying to get my partner and husband Dave to post here while I’m gone. Should give a whole other perspective! BTW, I love your blog and look forward to exploring it more deeply when I return. Great work, and your posts on color are EXCELLENT.
If I was going to France to paint in 4 months I doubt that could muster the where with all to keep my mind on the subject at hand. I am sure it will be “Jennifer Young’s Most Excellent Adventure.”
One more thing. If you have time please post lots of photo’s of places like Lagoon Como and lavender fields and orange stucco walls and soft fading architecture so that I can paint them and sell them for lots of $$. Cindy and I went to Rome and Venice 2 years ago. I didn’t bring my camera or the eyes of a painter. John Stienbeck had interesting things to say about travel in “Travel’s with Charlie”. His premis was travel to see and not to be seen. Therefore I don’t carry a camera? Next trip I will, and I will also wear my painter’s eyes. I look forward to your posts. And if the muffin pusher doesn’t make comments he could consider making a workout video. People just love those. And If nothing happens on your blog for 48 hours everybody will start to worry and after 4 days nobody will come back to reread all about easels. For goodness sake.
I agree with Rick about the easel stuff, I’ve read that enough! Maybe you could dictate to Dave, with one”e”, every night some good lessons for us and he could post for you each and every day. You could start with how do you carry your paints? I was so excited to get all new paints in the mail this week and then realized there was something I had not thought of when ordering. All the tubes are 120ml!!!! Now how is that going to work in plein air? I obviously will need to take paint in some kind of individual containers when working outside and in you case traveling. I thought of film containers as possible air tight and small vessels. Would plastic ones be OK or would the aluminum work better for oil paint? Maybe you take small tubes just for outside work and have a separate set of paints for that? How do you carry you medium or do you use it in the field? Do you use a more limited palette when working in plein air? Do you try to keep any left over paint from one day to the next and how would you do that? How do you know how much paint to take for the whole trip and will you be able to purchase paint there? See, I already have your new lessons outlined for you. You are very welcome.
You have probably done this, but all my practice work to date has been on primed canvas taped to a board. I’ve recently been mounting them according to Kevin Macpherson’s instructions in “Oil Paintings with Light and Color” which I know is in your library. Works great on masonite and I use acid free “YES” paste from Binders art supply. Maybe you could do all work on just canvas taped to a panel. Have several panels so you could let each piece dry for a few days to the touch taped to the panel. When you come home the few that would still be too wet to be touching could still be taped to the few panels. Then at home all could be mounted on whatever you wanted to use. Advice from the inexperienced is so great, isn’t it? I think this would work for a smaller number of pieces, but maybe not for the quantity that you will be producing. ???????
Rick- If nothing happens on my blog for 48 hours I doubt many will notice (except perhaps you..my one true friend?
)
I went to Belgium, France and Italy before I was in “landscape” mode. Mon Dieu! My early pictures were horrible. Or maybe that was just my ruse for having to go back to take more photos! Over the years I’ve gotten a little better, but they’re still never enough, even with the last trip and 1500 pics. The times when I’ve painted on site helps those photos enormously. But I will do my best for you, as will Dave.
Marilyn 1: I’m still working on an answer to this post. Gotta take a breath, but I’ll respond to this soon.
Marilyn 2: Yes, something like that. I will bring the art board for small stuff and pre-primed linen for the larger things. All surfaces will be prepared and precut, but unmounted, ready for mounting when I return home. Will pack 2 boards- a 12×16 and a 16×20 Coroplast (very light) that I will use as a temporary support to tape the surfaces to. Glassine paper (kind of like an archival wax paper) is good to take along to use as “separator” sheets in between the paintings. This is what I’ll be using. I’m going to try and bring a medium, but if I can’t, the last days I’ll only paint on surfaces that can fit into one of my wet panel carriers. Or I may just concentrate on another medium towards the end– I’m also bringing sketchbook, watercolor, pens, and wc block.
Hi Jennifer, I am here in Richmond too. I have been to your gallery. And have just found your blog. I have enjoyed it sooo! I no those alleys! It is wonderful to find a blog where I familiar with the places the artist is talking about.
I am glad I found you before you leave for France, lucky you!
Up until this past Sept. ,I was the Master Scenic for Theatre IV & the Barksdale . I had to give it up. The hours were incredibly long & tiring. And left no time for my art or family. So, in the past months I have been throwing myself into my own art & have discovered the internet & it’s art world. Amazing!
I wish you a wonderful and safe journey. With a very fruitful daily artist life there. (did that make since?) oh well, you no what I mean. Enjoy & I am very jealous. Amy Sullivan
Amy- So great to hear from a fellow Richmond painter! Thanks for stopping in on my cyber space and my “real world” space as well. I very enjoyed seeing your creative works on your blog. I’m sure I’m not the first to remark that your paintings are reminiscent of Mary Cassat–just lovely.
My cousin used to work in theatre set design and did a good deal of scene painting himself. Yes, very stringent work from what I hear. Cousin Tom has now moved on to lighting design, but he has told me that due to his experience in scene painting, he can now only make paintings that look good from 100 feet away
I see you have easily overcome those challenges of proportion in your own work.
Keep it up, and I hope you’ll keep in touch–say hi next time you’re at the gallery.
Interesting post!!!