There’s a certain poetry to capturing a landscape exactly where you find it: a hedgerow slick with morning rain, a square bright with market stalls, the hush of a coastline under changing skies.
For artists who work en plein air, portability is paramount. It’s not enough for paints to perform beautifully – they must also travel lightly, withstand a little rough and tumble, and offer a palette wide enough to catch the scenes unfolding before you.
Yet not all miniature paint sets are created equal. Some favour convenience over quality, others sacrifice vibrancy for size.
Choosing the right kit makes the difference between a frustrating afternoon and one where the work simply flows out onto your canvas. Whether you’re setting off with a weathered satchel or slipping a few tools into the corner of a backpack, selecting paints that suit your practice is essential.
Choosing the best medium for you
- Watercolour: Light, luminous, and highly portable, watercolour is the quintessential travel medium. Best for artists who like working quickly and embracing the unexpected; less forgiving for those who prefer to build slowly.
- Oil: Rich, textured, and deeply pigmented, oil paints bring unparalleled depth to a field sketch. Modern fast-drying formulations make oils more viable for travel than ever, though they remain heavier and more maintenance-heavy than other media.
- Acrylic: Quick-drying and versatile, acrylics can mimic the look of oils and watercolours. Travel kits often come with slow-drying additives to keep paints workable outdoors, though some artists find the rapid drying can limit subtle blending.
- Gouache: A favourite among illustrators and plein air painters alike, gouache offers the opacity of acrylic with the easy hydration of watercolour. It dries with a gentle sheen and can be layered easily, though it is vulnerable to water once dry and doesn’t travel brilliantly. Since gouache is best used straight from the tube, you should first decant your favourite pigments into a portable case.
What else to keep in your travel paint kit
A well-packed kit can be the difference between a blissful afternoon of painting and a scramble to improvise with a broken brush or a missing cloth. Alongside your paint set, consider adding the following:
- A compact sketchbook or pad: Featuring heavyweight paper suited to your medium.
- A small but sturdy brush set: Look for travel brushes that collapse into themselves or have protective covers. Synthetic fibres have improved dramatically in quality and stand up well to the rigours of outdoor use.
- A collapsible water pot or solvent container: Silicone versions fold flat and weigh almost nothing. Some travel kits come with built-in options, or brush pens with water reservoirs.
- A lightweight palette: If your set doesn’t come with one, a small folding palette will serve you well for mixing colours on the go. This is also something some travel kits come equipped with.
- Cleaning cloths, sponges or paper towels: For wiping and dabbing brushes, hands and accidental spills.
- A compact easel or clipboard: If you prefer not to balance your work on your lap, invest in a portable easel designed for outdoor painting. Some travel kits come with bulldog clips for securing small pieces of paper and canvas to the back of your palette.
Whether you find yourself working quickly under fleeting clouds or lingering on the same quiet street for hours, choosing materials that suit your medium and your temperament will serve you better than any number of gadgets.
A well-chosen kit, pared down to the essentials, not only lightens your load but sharpens your instinct, allowing you to respond better to what you see. After all, the best plein air paintings are less about precision, more about presence.
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Charvin Traveller’s Thumb Box, Watercolour Half Pans
Just a glance at this traveller’s thumb box filled with premium watercolour half pans, and we feel transported to Paris’s Montmartre district, where artists have gathered to paint en plein air for centuries.
Featuring an impressive 24 half pans, accessories and a shoulder strap for painting outdoors, this is the ultimate luxury accompaniment for any avid outdoor artist.
Not in the market for a full set? Charvin is also famous for its delightful portable watercolour tins, which can be filled with water and taken on the go.
Buy now £200.00, National Gallery
Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour Field Box
A classic for a reason, this cleverly engineered box contains a selection of half-pans, a tiny water bottle, a mixing palette and even a travel brush, all no larger than a paperback novel.
The colours are vibrant and highly pigmented, performing beautifully even in shifting outdoor light. For watercolourists who prize both mobility and quality, it remains the gold standard.
Buy now £44.50, Cass Art
Canipha 15 Grid Miniature Painting Kit
A budget-friendly magnetic option beloved by artists of all levels, this clip-on miniature palette has made the rounds on social media. It features 15 squares in which you can decant your chosen paint and comes with three travel-friendly water well brushes, plus an 8x8 cm sketchbook containing 58 sheets.
The right side of the palette features an easy-to-clean ceramic mixing plate. If you prefer using your own detail brushes over these that come with built-in water wells, invest in a handy and value-for-money clip-on water well instead.
Buy now £10.99, Amazon
Schmincke Horadam Watercolour Paint Set, 8 Half Pans
Featuring eight premium Schmincke Horadam half pans, a built-in water flask, a detachable water cup, and a built-in folding palette which can be extended to make colour mixing a breeze, this little kit nevertheless fits in a jacket pocket. A little goes a long way with these highly pigmented paints, so they’re set to last you a long while when used economically.
Buy now £65.59, Jackson's
Sennelier Watercolour Paint: La Petite Aquarelle, Half Pan Set of 16
This luxurious Sennelier watercolour set contains 16 half pan colours, a ceramic palette, room for additional compatible half pans, and even comes with a brush.
The pièce de la résistance? This uber portable wooden easel attachment, which can be removed and placed behind the lid to create a makeshift pochade or simply used as a painting rest.
Oh, and it has a postcard-size pad inside that you can use as a guide to trim additional sheets to fit inside in the future.
Buy now £42.00, Jackson’s
Sennelier Plein Air Oil Set
For oil painters unwilling to compromise, Sennelier’s compact set offers luscious, buttery paints in a road-ready format. The colours lean towards a traditional landscape palette (think ochres, deep greens and stormy blues) and the included cloth, palette knife, brushes, dipper, varnish and turpentine are thoughtful additions.
Though compact, this set isn’t exactly travel-ready. We recommend selecting a few tubes and packing the portable palette alongside a small clipboard. Best paired with a pochade box or similar sturdy support.
Buy now £153.85, Amazon
Golden Open Acrylic Landscape Set
If you want the flexibility of oils without the need for solvents, Golden’s Open Acrylics is an inspired choice.
They remain wet for far longer than standard acrylics, allowing for detailed blending and layering even on warmer days. This set includes essential landscape tones in small, portable tubes, perfect for tossing into a backpack, but we think it would pair best with an empty, portable palette, which you can decant your favourite paints into.
Buy now £46.99, Amazon
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Portable Watercolour Paint, Set of 14
Though technically watercolours, these Kuretake Gansai paints behave more like gouache, making them perfect for those who prefer the latter medium – but also enjoy painting on the go. This portable set features a built-in palette and space for your chosen brush and pen.
Buy now £36.00, Cult Pens
Sakura Koi Watercolours Pocket Field Sketchbox, Set of 18
Sleek, sophisticated and fitted with two sponge pads for dabbing paint, we love the fact that this set comes with a detachable peg palette which can be secured to either the right or left side of the set depending on your preference – leaving space on the snap lid to secure a piece of postcard-sized watercolour paper.
It also comes with a 9ml water reservoir barrel with a detachable medium brush head, as well as a pull-down ring at the base that allows you to safely and securely hold the palette while painting.
Buy now £28.00, Jackson's
Travel Palette Box with Foldable Brush Washer
Ideal for decanting and organising gouache while on the move, this brilliant compact set is airtight and comes with a collapsible silicone cup with a capacity of 400ml.
Buy now £11.99, Amazon
