My Adventure Painting Kit

Painting outside has unique challenges that led me to gather a lightweight collection of tools that make it easy and fun to create outdoors.

I painted outside for the first time twelve years ago. I still vividly remember standing in the rain whale holding a soggy piece of paper in my hands. The carefully-placed swaths of paint blended into each other, and the shape of the glacial moraine and stubby trees became hazy. The painting, by most metrics, was a mess. But I loved it. And I loved the experience of painting outside. 

Since then, creating outdoors has become the foundation of my painting process and the inspiration for most of my studio work at home. The joy and sense of connection to a place I feel while painting on-site is also what inspired me to create the Adventure Art Academy classes, where I film a lesson that brings the entire process to light for students. 

Painting outside also has unique challenges, from the weight of my pack to mosquitos and inclement weather. These obstacles to creating led me to gather a streamlined and lightweight collection of tools that make it easy and fun to paint outside anywhere.

The list (and links + descriptions below) represent the baseline art kit that I take with me on every trip, and I share more info about the supplies below.

Foundational Painting Kit List:

• Art Toolkit Folio Palette filled with Daniel Smith Paint (I carry around 26 colors in the standard pan from Art Toolkit)

• #10 round brush and a ½ inch round brush (sometimes a flat brush as well)

• Watercolor paper 

• Mechanical pencil (07)

• Eraser

• Waterproof Pen

• Re-usable blue paper towel

• Tin for water

• Tyvek sleeve & plastic backing board

• Ultralite Sacks bags to carry everything in

Watercolor Supplies

My lightweight and compact palette is the Folio Palette made by Art Toolkit (use code ARTOFHIKING5 for 5% off at the Art Toolkit store for most items). I began using their palettes over ten years ago (I had an early prototype!) and I can’t see myself using anything else. The larger palette fits all my colors in rust-resistant pans that attach to a magnetic base so I can rearrange and clean them. This also allows me to refill the little pans with paint from tubes, which is cheaper in the long run. 

The watercolor paint I use are made by Daniel Smith. I use this brand for three primary reasons: some pigments a little cheaper than other artist quality paints, the paints are more accessible worldwide for students, and because they are the paints I started with and know the best. 

I currently have around 30 colors in my palette, which is WAY more than most folks would need as they are just starting out. When I was first working with watercolor I had 6-10 tubes of paint (a dark grey-black and variations of the primary colors), and then super slowly added colors over time. I’m working on a blog post about the 14 most common colors I use, and the current list of all colors, as well! I’ll link that here once it’s done.

My go-to paint brush is a #10 round synthetic fiber paintbrush. I use brushes by Princeton and Grumbacher interchangeably based on which one is on sale. If I am working on larger paintings I’ll add a ½ inch round brush, and sometimes a square brush for special effects, especially if I am working with some white gouache in the painting.

And, in the last few years, a tube of Schmincke Titanium white gouache has become a favorite addition for some landscapes, especially the desert.

Paper

My current go-to paper is an Arches cold press (140 lb). I like cold press because it is very forgiving to work with. I buy my paper in large sheets and tear them down to size- usually 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14 inches. I am still on the hunt for a cotton paper with slightly less texture than the arches cold press, but one that still performs like a true cold press (hot press papers, which are much smoother, don’t make the lovely blooming patterns I love so much as readily, and are less predictable for dry time). My old favorite paper, the Moulin du Roy, was sadly discontinued by canson, and their new “heritage” paper line is not as nice to use.

Other Supplies

• Pencil- pentel 07 sized mechanical pencil (no sharpening in the field)

• Paper towel- blue shop towels are lightweight and super durable so I can reuse them

• Waterproof pen- either an 05 size Micron Pen or my new Platinum Carbon fountain pen filled with waterproof black ink.

• Eraser- I cut a larger eraser down to a smaller size

• Tin for water (an old mint tin!)

• In 2023 I also added a small pocket size notebook to my kit so I can take notes alongside my paintings

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Carrying Cases

To hold all the painting tools I recently got a super lightweight little ditty bag from Ultralite Sacks that works amazing! It fits my short and longer watercolor brushes and has just the right amount of space if I need to add to my baseline kit for a longer trip. The one I like the best is the “zippered cube Ditty Bag” in size regular.  I use this larger bag primarily during art residencies when I have extra supplies with me beyond the most minimal stuff for backpacking.

For the minimal kit, Ultralite Sacks also has a lovely flat profile bag - the “Zippered Pouch” in size large. This one is just long enough for my normal watercolor brushes and fits nicely the larger Folio Palette and even my little water tin, too! And, earlier this year, the wonderful folks at Ultralite Sacks made me a custom zippered pouch that was a little bit longer than the large and now it fits all of my brushes perfectly!

To protect my paintings, I carry the paper in a 12x15.5 inch Tyvek envelope with a piece of plastic cardboard (also known as gator board or coroplast- the stuff that political signs are made of -  and picking up these signs is a great free way to get some, too). For years I used one of the tyvek USPS Priority mail envelopes (free at the post office), and when it was ready to be retired I simply shipped a print in it! Now, I use a plain white envelope (I had to buy a box of 100 which was annoying but worth it).