Mike's Tips: What to take when painting on location

This is my travelling paint-box. It measures 10cm X 7cm. It used to hold quarter pans, but now these are no longer easily available I refill from tubes which in fact gives me much moister colour - quite a consideration when working in hot climates. I include Titanium white in this box as I often make my studies on tinted hand-made paper and this is a useful way of making direct notes of highlights in the composition (although these are more often left as reserved paper in the final painting. Contained in the box is a small water container. Some cut down brushes, a stump of a 2B pencil and a knife blade (for scratching lights into dark areas) to complete the kit.

Ask yourself some questions -

• Could the car give me a good working space ?- (particularly useful for vulnerable people)
• Am I taking too many materials?
• Would it be a good idea to have a simple plan for the work? (e.g. limit study to looking at just tone / line / colour / format / texture etc.)
• Don't forget the camera . Back in the studio you can never have too much information.