Carrying a full French easel, over a dozen tubes of 200ml paints, paper towels and canvas (or canvases) can get heavy. I’m always looking for ways to ease the burden of conveying my gear into the unknown with as little physical debilitation as possible, leaving me (relatively) fresh to take in the subject upon arrival.
The finished painting “Summer Field”
When I began painting outside, I worked small, and I worked mostly in water media. So, my whole setup was compact and fleet-footed, fitting neatly into a regular sized backpack. As I’ve made the transition from water media to oils, I find that, not only am I carrying more stuff, the stuff I am carrying is a lot heavier. This isn’t so much a complaint as a realization. I love painting thickly, and to do so I must use a lot of paint.
One possible solution to this problem of conveyance is the Burley Coho XC trailer. The Coho XC was designed to be hitched to off-road bicycles and I had the pleasure of trying one out and reviewing it for Dirt Rag magazine (see my full review here). But this post isn’t about the Burley in particular, but rather, trailers in general as a means of plein air equipment hauling.
One benefit straightaway was the fact that the Coho XC held all f my gear easily. Good thing too as I needed my limbs for pedaling and steering… Anyway, the fact that all my gear fit into one compartment was great and liberating. It’s also quite open, so everything is reachable, unlike stuffing everything into a giant backpack (which I’ll probably talk about in another blog post).
All loaded up and ready for the return trip.
As per my review guidelines, I took this trailer through some rigorous mountain biking trails, which was met with mixed results as far as paint supplies are concerned. I tried navigating a particularly dicey downed tree and ended up going ass-over-tea-kettles and spilling part of the assembly in the trail. My French easel took the worst of it, damaging one of the legs, but otherwise everything, including me, was fine. The easel still works as well, just has a little scar tissue now. Subsequent outings with the Burley have been less eventful and more (thankfully) predictable.
This particular painting was done in mid-morning at the height of summer 2018. It was already incredibly warm and being western Pennsylvania, quite muggy as well. I chose this spot because I liked the high grass and wild flowers in the foreground framed in by the dark treeline in the background. My vantage point was not only immediately off trail, it had the added bonus of being under tree cover, sparing me from the worst of the heat.
My perch from the shadows. Not a bad way to spend the morning.
I took the inbound trip much more carefully than the outbound, avoiding excessively aggressive trail features wherever possible. As I hit the pavement marking the end of the off-road portion of my journey I cracked a big smile. Not only had a gotten out to a nice vista to paint in good time, I didn’t have to schlep all my gear over shoulder. And I got a ride in!
Still, there were some drawbacks. While the French easel will hold canvases in transit, the wet paint is left exposed to the elements. In this case, the dirt and trail debris that was kicked up from my rear tire (an added talking point to its future owner, I’m sure). A wet box would fix this problem.
Little dirt flecks and trail detritous embedded in the wet paint.
Another thing is, unless you can roll out of your garage, fully set up, you have to break the whole ensemble down and cram it into your vehicle. It’s not so bad for me, I have a truck and a bike rack, but it is a few extra steps and sometimes those are the niggley little thoughts that can talk you out of getting out and painting.
I’ll certainly keep the trailer in my arsenal though, as much of a deterrent as setting up and breaking down can be, having alternate means of conveyance can equally inspire you to get out to new places.
Have you tried carrying your painting gear around in a bike trailer? Or have some other contraption you prefer to carrying thing with your hands? Leave a comment, or shoot me an email, I’d be happy to chat with you.
