Plein Air Pastel Painting Supplies
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- Traveling Easel set up and/ or Pastel Box. Popular ones include Dakota Traveler (dakotapastels.com) OR a Heilman Box at com. Or create your own box using a wooden box set of pastels.
- Pastels – Be selective; limit the number of pastels and keep them in one box. Too many will become too weighty and numerous boxes of different sets promote lost and broken sticks. Best supplier of various brands and can be purchased by the stick or set at dakotapastels.com.
- Small folding stool (if you use one) Prices from $13 to $80 weighing around 2 pounds. Several varieties found on Amazon.
- (Great for sunshade) Varieties available but recommend the ShadeBuddy at Judson Art Outfitters
- Pastel Paper - Board and tape
- Small spray bottle of turp, water or alcohol
- Paper Towels
- Digital Camera
- View Finder - com
- Small Sketch Book – Pencil and/or Pens (Black and 50% Cool Grey Markers are great)
- Hand Wipes - Sunscreen - Bug Repellent
- Bag for Trash
- A big Sun Hat - Old Windbreaker
- Drinking Water - Snacks/lunch
- A Swiss Army Knife - A whistle and compass combo
Before going out plein air painting or traveling with pastels, consider your selection of the pastels you will most likely use carefully. Taking all 900 different wonderful, yummy sticks of pigment isn't the way to go - tempting as that may be! I have a small padded box into which I store the pastels I will use during a plein air field trip. The padding is to keep the pastel sticks intact and not reduced to dust with the jiggling and jostling that happens during transportation. I use a piece of memory foam which compresses against the pastels and cleans them during travel and storage. As with all things plein air, simpler is better, lighter weight is best.
Prepared by Jane Wallis