What to Pack for a Painting Retreat (and How to Get Your Work Home)

The short version: pack clothes you are willing to ruin, comfortable shoes, sun protection, and layers. Check with your host what art materials are provided. If you paint in oils and you are flying, you have a logistics problem that is worth solving before you get to the airport.

That covers the basics. But the detail matters, particularly if you are travelling by air, painting outdoors, or working in a medium where getting your finished work home safely requires some advance planning. This is the practical packing guide that nobody else has written properly.

The single most important packing decision is knowing what the retreat provides and what you need to bring yourself. This varies enormously between programmes, and getting it wrong means either hauling unnecessary weight or arriving without something essential.

Most retreats provide the heavy, bulky items: easels, drawing boards, outdoor stools, water containers, palettes, and rags. These are the things you cannot realistically carry on a plane, and good hosts know this. Studio-based retreats will typically have these set up and waiting for you.

Some retreats provide all consumable materials as well: paints, brushes, paper, canvases, charcoal, pastels, inks. This is the easiest scenario for packing. You bring clothes and personal items and nothing else. Retreats that include all materials will say so explicitly in their listing or programme details. If it is not mentioned, assume it is not included.

Many retreats provide some materials but not all. A common setup is shared basics (solvents, turpentine, linseed oil, large tubs of gesso, communal drawing paper) with the expectation that you bring your own paints, brushes, and any specialist supplies. Watercolour retreats often provide paper but expect you to bring your own paint box. Ceramics retreats almost always provide clay and glazes but may expect you to bring your own hand tools.

A few retreats provide nothing, and the listing price reflects tuition and accommodation only. This is more common with self-directed residencies and advanced programmes where participants have strong preferences about their own materials.

The solution is simple: ask. Before you pack anything, email the host and ask exactly what is provided and what you should bring. A good host will have a packing list ready to send. If they do not, the questions to ask are: do you provide paints, brushes, paper/canvas, and easels? Is there anything specific I should bring? Are solvents available on-site (relevant for oil painters)?

What to wear while painting

Painting gets on your clothes. This is not a risk. It is a certainty. Watercolour is relatively forgiving (it washes out of most fabrics if you catch it quickly), but acrylics bond permanently to fabric within minutes, and oil paint never comes out of anything.

Bring clothes you do not mind losing. This does not mean you need to look terrible for a week. It means choosing items where a smear of cadmium yellow or a splash of ultramarine is not a disaster. Dark-coloured tops are practical. An old shirt or a lightweight overshirt worn as a painting layer works well. Some people bring a dedicated apron; most retreats have a few to borrow.

Trousers or shorts should be comfortable enough to sit on a stool for three hours. Avoid anything you would be upset to stain. Jeans work. Linen trousers work. Anything dry-clean-only does not.

Footwear

For plein air retreats, footwear matters more than most people expect. You may be walking to painting locations on uneven ground, standing on gravel or grass for hours, or hiking short distances with a backpack of equipment. Comfortable walking shoes or lightweight hiking shoes are ideal. Sandals and fashion trainers are not.

For studio-based retreats, the footwear requirements are simpler: anything comfortable that you can stand in for long periods. Floors in studios tend to be hard (concrete, tile, stone), so a shoe with some cushioning helps.

Bring a second pair of shoes for evenings and excursions, particularly if your painting shoes are likely to end up covered in mud or paint.

Weather layers

Even in southern Europe and the American Southwest, mornings and evenings can be cool, and the weather can shift during the day. Plein air painting means being outdoors for extended periods with limited ability to move to shelter quickly (you have an easel, a palette, and a work in progress).

Pack layers rather than a single heavy jacket. A light fleece or merino layer, a waterproof shell (if there is any chance of rain), and a sun hat are the essentials. In Mediterranean climates from June to September, sun protection is more important than warmth: a wide-brimmed hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses are not optional if you are painting outdoors for three hours in the middle of the day.

A lightweight scarf or buff is surprisingly useful: it blocks wind, keeps the sun off your neck, and can be improvised as a headband, a lens cleaner, or a rag in emergencies.

If the retreat does not provide materials, here is what to pack by medium. These are working lists, not aspirational ones. Bring what you will actually use, not your entire studio.

Watercolour

A travel palette with your working colours (twelve to sixteen pans or half-pans is plenty), two or three brushes in different sizes (a large wash brush, a medium round, and a small detail brush), a water container (collapsible ones pack flat), a small natural sponge, pencils for sketching, an eraser, and masking tape. Paper is heavy, so if the retreat provides it, leave yours at home. If not, a block of cold-pressed watercolour paper (A4 or A3) is the most packable format.

Watercolour is the easiest medium to travel with. The entire kit fits in a small bag, nothing is flammable, and airport security will not look twice at it.

Acrylics

A set of tubes in your working palette (eight to twelve colours is sufficient), brushes (flat, round, and filbert in two or three sizes), a palette or disposable palette paper, a palette knife, a small bottle of retarder (slows drying time, useful in hot climates), and canvases or canvas boards. Acrylic paint is water-based and safe for air travel in both checked and carry-on luggage, though individual tubes over 100ml will need to go in checked bags.

Oils

Tubes of paint in your working palette, brushes, palette knives, a palette (a tear-off paper palette is lighter than wood), linseed oil or a painting medium in a small bottle, and canvas boards or primed paper. The complication is solvents: turpentine and mineral spirits are flammable liquids and are prohibited on aircraft, in both carry-on and checked luggage. If you are flying, you have three options:

1. Use water-mixable oils. These clean up with water and require no solvent at all. They handle slightly differently from traditional oils but are an excellent travel solution.
2. Buy solvents locally. Ask your host if solvents are available on-site or at a nearby art supply shop. Most hosts in areas that regularly receive painters will have this sorted.
3. Use odourless mineral spirits (OMS). These are generally permitted in checked luggage in small quantities (check your airline), though rules vary and enforcement is inconsistent. Not worth the risk if you are unsure.

Drawing

Pencils (a range from 2H to 6B), charcoal (willow and compressed), a kneaded eraser, a sharpener or craft knife, fixative spray (small can; check airline rules for aerosols), and a sketchbook or loose sheets of cartridge paper. Drawing supplies are the lightest and simplest to travel with.

Ceramics

Most ceramics retreats provide clay, glazes, and kiln access. You may want to bring your own hand tools: a wire clay cutter, wooden modelling tools, a needle tool, a ribbon tool, and a small sponge. These are light and pack easily. Specialist tools like turning tools or stamps are worth bringing if you have favourites. Everything else will be on-site.

Air travel with art materials requires some planning, but it is not as complicated as it might seem if you know the rules.

Carry-on: Paints in tubes under 100ml are generally fine in your liquids bag (watercolour, acrylic, gouache). Pencils, charcoal, brushes, palette knives, and dry materials are all permitted. Scissors with blades under 6cm are allowed in carry-on in most jurisdictions, but check your airline.

Checked luggage: Larger paint tubes, bottles of medium, and most supplies travel safely in checked bags. Wrap glass bottles in clothing for padding. Aerosol fixative sprays are permitted in checked luggage in limited quantities (usually up to 500ml total of all aerosols).

Prohibited entirely: Turpentine, mineral spirits, and other flammable solvents. No exceptions, no workaround. Leave them at home and source them at the destination.

Practical tips: Put all paints and liquids in a sealed ziplock bag inside your luggage in case of leaks. Lay tubes flat rather than standing them upright. If you are bringing canvas boards, wrap them in clothing or bubble wrap; they will survive checked luggage but can dent if something heavy shifts during transit.

This is the section most packing guides leave out, and it is the one that matters most if you have spent a week producing work you care about.

Watercolour, gouache, and acrylic

Your work will be dry by the time you leave. Lay paintings flat between sheets of glassine paper or clean tissue paper, then place them inside a rigid portfolio or between two pieces of stiff card taped together. This goes in your suitcase, laid flat against one side, with clothes packed around it for padding. Alternatively, roll works on paper loosely around a cardboard tube (do not fold). Acrylic paintings on canvas boards can be stacked face-to-face with tissue paper between them.

Oil painting

This is where it gets complicated. Oil paint takes days to weeks to dry depending on thickness, pigment, and conditions. A painting finished on day five of your retreat will still be wet when you leave on day seven.

Wet canvas carriers are the purpose-built solution. These are rigid boxes or clip systems that hold two canvases face-to-face with spacers keeping the painted surfaces apart. They work well and are worth owning if you paint in oils regularly. Pack the carrier in your checked luggage or carry it separately.

Canvas paper and boards are lighter and easier to transport than stretched canvases. Some retreats use these specifically because they are more travel-friendly. Canvas boards can be stacked with spacers (small pieces of cork or cardboard glued to the corners) and wrapped in cling film to prevent smudging.

Posting your work home. Some retreats offer to ship paintings to you once they have dried, usually for an additional fee. This removes the transport problem entirely but means waiting several weeks for your work to arrive. Ask your host if this is an option.

Leaving work to dry and collecting later. Occasionally possible if you plan to return to the area, but not a practical solution for most people.

A pragmatic note: not everything you produce on a retreat needs to come home. Studies, warm-up exercises, and experiments are part of the learning process, not precious objects. Be selective about what you transport carefully, and photograph everything before you leave. The photos are often more useful than the physical pieces for remembering what you learned.

Everyone

• Clothes you can paint in (dark tops, comfortable trousers)
• Comfortable walking shoes (for plein air) or studio shoes
• A second pair for evenings
• Sun hat, sunscreen, sunglasses
• Layers: light fleece or merino, waterproof shell
• A lightweight scarf or buff
• Phone and charger (for photographing your work)
• A notebook or sketchbook for personal notes
• Reusable water bottle
• Any medication you need
• Travel documents, insurance details

If providing your own materials

• Paints (in your working palette, not your entire collection)
• Brushes (three to five, not fifteen)
• Palette (tear-off paper palettes are lightest)
• Pencils and eraser for sketching
• Paper, canvas boards, or a sketchbook (if not provided)
• A ziplock bag for transporting paint tubes

If painting in oils and flying

• Water-mixable oils (instead of traditional oils) or a plan to source solvents locally
• Wet canvas carrier or spacers and cling film for boards
• Glassine paper for protecting surfaces

Optional but useful

• A small folding stool (if painting outdoors and the retreat does not provide them)
• A compact umbrella (doubles as sun shade and rain protection at the easel)
• Clips or bulldog clips (for holding paper in wind)
• A head torch (useful in rural locations with limited lighting)
• Earplugs (shared accommodation in old buildings can mean thin walls and early risers)
• A tote bag or daypack for carrying supplies to painting locations