Experimenting with Plein Air Easels and Sketchboards

I'm not entirely sure what to call these things: plein air easels, sketchboards, drawing boards? 

Whatever the right term is, I'm on the hunt for a minimal, easy-to-deploy setup for sketching and painting outdoors. The important restriction is that everything has to fit in my red art bag alongside all my other tools. So I've got three prototypes to test on my next trip.

Option one is a simple drawing board I cut down to fit the bag. I've added a quarter-inch T-nut so it can mount on a tripod, which gives it a bit more stability to the bag. It's just a flat sheet of plywood, 33 by 24.5 cm (about 13" x 9¾"). Nothing fancy, but solid.

Option two I'm calling a sketchbook holder. It's a prototype cut from matte board, 34 by 16.5 cm (roughly 13½" x 6½"). The clever bit is a slot cut into it where your sketchbook spine slots in. The back cover sits behind the board while the pages open out in front, held firmly in place with a couple of bulldog clips. The exposed board at the top gives you space for your sketching and painting media. There are plenty of DIY versions of this out there and I've been particularly inspired by Sarah Burn's design experiments. Commercial versions like those in the Etcher series are also worth a look. For my prototype, I'm using Velcro, though a lot of people prefer magnets.

Option three is a watercolour sketchboard, a bit bigger so it can handle larger sheets like an Arches block or similar pads. It's square at 29 cm (11"), mostly because I had a square piece of matte board handy. It loosely follows Doug's Sketching School design. The extra space means there are two configuration options: one end suits a bigger layout with a full size palette and room for a water container, while the other works better for larger pads but has less room for a palette and no space for water.

All three are light and fit neatly in the bag, so I'll take them all out and put each through its paces. With some creative use of clips, they can all handle pretty much the same tasks. Tripod mounting and a water bowl are the exception for now, but maybe I'll sort that out later.

What's In My Art Backpack

You know those "what's in my bag" posts? Well, I've noticed my camera gear and travel kit posts get way more views than usual on this blog, so I figured it's time to give you a proper peek inside my sketching backpack. The little red one that's become my constant companion.

The Backpack Origin Story

I picked this up back in 2017 during my Australian Art adventure. I was chasing the sun around the country with a suitcase crammed full of art supplies. When I reach a suitable destination I transfered most things into a carry-on style tote bag, while spacious, wasn't exactly comfortable to lug around with just two handles. I was also carry a lot of stuff I didn't use on a given day.

My first trip was to Tassy and my wife and I started in Hobart, staying near Salamanca Place, One evening, we wandered into the Kathmandu shop on our way to dinner. Kathmandu isn't usually my go-to product range, their stuff tends to be a bit pricey for my tastes. Yet something caught my eye: these clever little fold-away backpacks called Pack&GO.

The genius of it? It folds into itself, tucking into a zippered pocket until it's barely bigger than a wallet. Unfold it, and you've got a proper day-pack with room for lunch, a jumper, a water bottle, and all your basic sketching essentials. Sturdy arm straps, simple design. I bought this 15L red one on the spot.

Finding the Perfect Setup

It took some experimenting to find my rhythm with this. Over time, I've tried everything: sketch pads and pencils, paint palettes, colored pencils, small boxes of pastels, the occasional raincoat on cold days. Those 2017 "follow the sun" trips around Australia really helped me wear it in. The backpack became invaluable, and I genuinely grew to love it.

The game-changer was making a plywood drawing board that fits perfectly inside, giving the whole pack some rigidity. These days I seldom fold the pack up, it lives in my studio, packed and ready to go. I can just grab it knowing I've got everything I need for a plein-air\ sketching session.

What's Actually Inside

Here's my current everyday setup:

Sketchbooks: I carry two styles and sizes, an A4 watercolour cummed block or pad (the kind you can tear off sheets and clip or tape to my drawing board which now has a camera tripod-style attachment), and an A5 bound notebook/journal or spiral-bound visual diary with paper that handles light washes.

Drawing tools: A mix of pencils and pens for mark-making, plus a Pentel water brush for quick field sketches, which means I don't need to carry water. I keep these in a simple pencil roll to avoid having to go fishing amongst a stack of unknown things at the bottom of the bag.

Paint palette: Here's where it gets interesting.

I've converted to using CD/DVD dot chart palettes. Basically just a set of paint dots arranged in the format of a colour wheel on an old CDs. My current one is mostly Windsor & Newton colours with some Cotman paints filling in where needed. I've pretty much worn my most used colours down to nothing and it's definitely due for a refresh.  It is just so quick and handy. I strongly recommend making yourself at least a test one.

I've made several of these CD dot chart palettes over recent years: some based on famous artists' colour choices, others testing specific limited palette combinations I want to explore. 

If I'm planning serious watercolour work, I'll slip some brushes and one of my three portable palettes into the bag instead. and maybe a small plastic jar for carrying water.

The camera: My little Olympus OMD5 usually tags along too. These days I naturally also have my Smartphone with me and sometimes just use my phone camera.

Why Simple Works

Having such a stripped-down setup means I can get out the door quickly. Unpack, set up, start working without fuss. Often I just keep the backpack on while I sketch, staying light and mobile.

Sure, there are times I swap things out and experiment with different drawing surfaces, but those are stories for other post. For now, this little red backpack has everything I need to capture the world around me, one sketch at a time.

Proof reading and summary assisted by Claude Sonnet 4.5 (AI)

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What do you carry in your art bag? I'd love to hear about your go-to setup in the comments below.

Make your own Colour Wheel Dot Card

This is something every water-colourist should do. Make yourself a dot card of your favourite colours, Better still make it a colour wheel, then slip it into an old DVD case, add a small sketchbook, a pencil or pen, a water brush and your have a very compact and portable plein-air kit.