Portable Art for Small Spaces

On my trip up to New England, I worked on my "Think Pink" flamingo series for the Grand Bohemian Gallery in St. Augustine, FL. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and they wanted to add some pink to their gallery walls. I figured what better in FL than our favorite bird?

I packed my usual tote bag (carry on size, fits under the seat) with gallon zip lock bags of collage paper divided by color (squeeze the air out before you zip, to save space). I brought one #8 filbert brush, four 6x6 pre-painted cradled birch panels (images of flamingoes with splattered backgrounds) and I emptied my kids old finger paint plastic jars out (less than 3 oz each, this is crucial when flying) and funneled gloss gel medium into them with tinfoil. I then put the small jars of glue into a zip top quart sized bag, as required by TSA.

One thing I would have done differently would be NOT to have taken a long handled brush, that proved a little challenging for the tight space. I recommend you invest in a short handled #8 filbert when working in tight spaces such as coach class airline seats! The seat back tray table proved to be very helpful, as did the air sickness bag for all scraps and trash. I asked the hostess for two cups of water, one for my brush and one for drinking, which they totally do not mind giving. I would recommend bringing your own couple of sheets of VIVA paper towel for drying your brush, the cocktail napkins were not very good quality and fell apart when wet.

I created two 6x6 collages on the way up, and two on the way back. (two hours flying time each way) I have to varnish them here in the studio. Even acrylic varnish is flammable and this liquid would not pass security. It's no big deal to save varnish for home.