Thank your u so very much for sharing all of is wonderful information! I am leaving in a week, to paint in the Dordogne Valley, in southwest France, ....have begun to pack, and it's been a total nightmare to figure it out on my own....finally emailed a friend and asked for help, and she passed along your information! Can't thank you, and my friend, enough for sharing!
Please put me on your email list...I would be interested in Provence next year!
Sharon

Sharon Cohune, thanks so much for your comments. I'm glad you liked it and it would be great to have you join us in Provence next year. You can sign up for my newsletter by scrolling down to the bottom of my website, on any page and enter your email address. All the best, Laurie

Laurie,
Look at you. Remember me? I am so happy I found you and so impressed.
How are you? Would love to hear from you - send me an email when you have a window of time How are the girls? I have great memories of our Hollywood days. Still have your crystal. sue ann

Hi Sylvia! I'll try to answer your questions here, but it might be easier if you email me directly at lauriehendricksart.com rather than using the blog format, First of all, I only work very small on location since taking larger canvas panels would require larger luggage and I always try to travel as light as possible when flying to foreign countries.. The exception is when I go to a plein air competition - then I do bring larger panels. I only work on linen, cotton canvas or gessoed boards (not stretched canvases) - I often purchase the feather light ones from Raymar. Sourcetek also has a lightweight canvas and linen panel. While traveling abroad weight is very important - if your bags weigh more than 50 lbs, you have to pay extra. I bring a wet box which holds up to 6 8x10 or 6x 8 canvases. I use this for transporting the wettest paintings home (i put it in a plastic bag inside my suitcase - this doesn't have to be checked). The other panels have had a chance to dry by the time I leave so I use the method I described in my blog to stack them together face to face using spacers of some type so that the painted sides don't touch. These spacers can be as simple as bits of gummy erasers stuck on all four corners of the panels. I stack as many panels this way as I want and then wrap masking or blue painters's tape all around them to hold them in place. I put this in a plastic bag inside my suitcase. You may need to touch up the corners of the paintings once you're home and have removed the spacers. Yes, you will need a lightweight portable easel for traveling. Some good ones include Open M box, Strada Easel, and EasyL. There are many plein air easels on the market these days. I like the ones that go on a lightweight sturdy tripod. It's good to choose a sturdy set up and a medium weight trip pod. If it's too lightweight it will blow over in the wind and may not hold an umbrella for shade. The tripod will fit diagonally in my suitcase. The easel itself (paint box) will fit in a backpack or carry on and doesn't need to be checked. Only the paints themselves and any solvents you bring will need to be in your checked bag. These days I'm not bringing any solvents when i air travel. I find walnut oil works well for cleaning my brushes and the Gamblin Solvent Free Gell is a good substitute for liquid for my initial thin lay in or my darks.You could also purchase odorless turpentine when you arrive. I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to email me directly if you have any other questions..Thanks, Laurie

Dear Lucia, I'm not familiar with the two pochade boxes you mentioned, but if they're small and compact and fit on a sturdy but lightweight tripod, I'm sure they'd be fine. My tripod is a made by SLIK and I like it a lot. It came with my James Coulter system which is two bulky for air travel, but I convert the tripod head to use my Open M box or EasyL pochade on it instead. You are wise to do a lot of research and preparation before taking your paints on the plane. I personally don't like water based oils for several reasons, but several people I know find them satisfactory. I would suggest you try them out before you go and see if they are a good substitute for your regular oils. Your brushes should work fine. The difference is that you can use water to clean them rather than oil or gamsol (odorless turp). I've never had a problem traveling with my oil paints as long as I label them, check them and follow the guidelines I outline in my blog. I just went to Kauai and both my bags were inspected but everything arrived in tact. I'm sure you'll have a great time painting on location! let me know if you have any other questions. I agree that a Soltek is too heavy to take abroad.

Hi Stephanie, How exciting to be painting in the south of France! I love it there. As far as brushes go, my personal favorites are regular Bristol filberts - I usually use Princeton brand since my local art store stopped carrying Robert Simmons. I take 2 of each: #2, #4, #6 And one or two #8 for massing in the big shapes. I also take a liner (watercolor rigger) for signing (just in case). I usually use my palette knife for fine lines like branches or wrought iron. I'm not into too much detail, preferring suggestive large shapes, so these are enough for me. I recently found a small plastic cylinder brush holder - only about one inch in diameter: I fit as many brushes into it as I can and that's all I can take with me on my trip. You may have personal favorites like flats or even rounds and by all means take them! Walnut oil is good for cleaning brushes or buy vegetable oil in a grocery store when you get there, or if there's an art store handy get some odorless turp. Now a days, I bring small bottles of Gamsol and make sure I pack the Manufacturer's Data Sheet (MDA) with it and highlight the flammability number and -not restricted for air travel” (see the Blog post)- so far so good! Bon Voyage!