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Author: Annie_Howell-Adams, Contributing Editor
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An artist on Wet-canvas, “the canvas road show” describes a method that works well for her. She starts with one 16” by 20” and wraps multiple layers of canvas around that one stretcher. As she completes each painting, it is unpeeled and there is a fresh canvas below. She also takes a roll of precut and formatted canvases, with standard sizes marked off on the canvas, leaving enough border to stretch at home. She has a roll of tape and light weight surfaces to paint on. Armed with these ideas, Linda Degnan and I prepared surfaces for our trip. We started with a 4’ by 8’ sheet of lightweight 1/8” birch door skin plywood. We cut 12” by 16” panels and a stack of 9” by 7” as well. Panels were edge sanded, double coated with gesso, ready to paint. We also prepared a roll of canvas and taped it around a cardboard tube which was handy for packing paintings on the return as well. We decided not to precut canvas, so we could be free to respond to various compositions and sizes on location. Here’s what we prepared for a month’s painting trip: |
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| We packed brushes, stay-wet palettes with lids, a tape measure, gloves and traveling easels. Linda took a light weight field easel and I took my French easel. French easels are heavy, but they are hard to beat. |
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| Paints, according to Robert Gamblin’s advice are not paints, but instead
“artists colors made with vegetable oil. There are no solvents and they are not hazardous.” This was typed on a piece of paper, in with the paints, in a clear plastic bag. Recently Daniel Smith paint medium was confiscated on a domestic airplane flight from my checked bag. Just in case, I mailed a plastic bottle of medium to my hotel ahead of time. At airport security, they took small scissors, the paint was no problem. As to medium, I used Gamblin’s galkyd medium which speeds drying time and left very slow drying pigments at home. I took about 12 tubes of a basic palette. One last item that proved to be quite useful was a portfolio. Inside was a piece of 1/8” masonite to hold paper flat. The masonite doubled as a drawing board and a flat surface to tape canvas to. This portfolio fit as carry-on under our seats, and also in the on-board airline closet. It was nice to have a sure way to transport drawings. |
| During funky weather we went car drawing, found great locations, and stayed out of the weather. The country back roads were the best, though there is no parking on small roads. On the streets in towns, people were interested in what we were doing. We had many great conversations. People were appreciative that we found beauty in their corner of the world |  |
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| So how did all this work out and what did we learn? First of all, Old Holland oil paint is very reasonable in Amsterdam. Infact, anything you need, is available. We found a good art supply store just a short walk from our hotel. On our travel route we found art stores in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris. Besides, isn’t it a bit of a pilgrimage to visit the Sennelier art store in Paris? One of our most useful “art supply finds” was an inexpensive large grocery bag used to carry our stuff while out on location. |
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