There’s healthy hard work, and then there’s the point at which efficiency rapidly descends into chaos. I must have been at that point on Saturday because, after carefully wrapping frames and paintings at the end of the 19th Annual Sedona Plein Air Festival, I managed to lose my painting pack. Although my paints and pochade box were in my suitcase instead of in the pack, it’s still a big issue. I’ve contacted the Sedona Arts Center and my car rental firm to see if either has it. Until they respond, I wait.
My exhaustion comes not just from my teaching and painting schedule but from the hours spent filming and editing Seven Protocols for Successful Oil Painters. Four are done; the fifth is almost in the bag. My intention was to finish them by the end of this calendar year, but that’s looking impossible.
Exhaustion has many harmful effects on the human brain, including cognitive impairment, emotional instability (quit saying that; I’m fine!), reduced attention span, impaired judgment, and a greater risk of accidents. Add to that the stress I alluded to here, and I had set up a perfect storm. However, I still don’t know how I could have missed a full-sized backpack full of painting tools as I was packing to come home.
“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade,” my husband told me. “Tell your reading audience what was in that pack and why you have those things.”
Eric Jacobsen and I were trudging up Beech Hill in the early spring when he noticed I was carrying my gear in a crummy old messenger bag. “You have good backpacks for hiking,” he pointed out. “Why don’t you buy one for painting, which you do every day?” That’s why I bought a Kelty backpack. Although expensive, it’s paid for itself many times over. The exact model I have is no longer made, but this is a close approximation. It’s sized for women, but they make a similar pack for men. If I’m carrying a small pochade box, I can hike long distances without hurting my elderly back.
Two years ago, my students got sick of me telling them, “you need good brushes for watercolors, but you can paint with sticks in oils,” and bought me this fantastic set from Rosemary & Co. I added a few Isabey Chungking bristle brushes and three long-handle flats for laying in flat fields of color. Needless to say, I have great sentimental attachment to that brush set.
The only other important thing is my brush-washing canister, but I misplace them so often it hardly signifies.
In the miscellany category, there’s my Bristol-board sketchbook-my dearest friend-and a mechanical pencil from Staples. Eric Jacobsen also recommended this Princeton Catalyst wedge for moving paint around (I swear it only cost me $2 last year). I have a marking stylus given to me by my friend and monitor Jennifer Johnson, and a 4″ plastic putty knife I use as a straight-edge. Then there’s my Red Devil scraper, key to keeping my pochade boxes in their seedy but workable condition. And of course, there are bottle caps I use instead of palette cups, assorted S-hooks and other random hardware, and painting rags.
I had pulled my paints out along with my pochade box, but my pack still held my lucky 1-pint Gamsol bottle, which has been refilled endlessly and has traveled around the world with me. There was also a small bottle of stand oil.
Last but certainly not least, there were these inexpensive mesh bags I bought from Amazon last year on the advice of Casey Cheuvront. They keep me organized-can’t you tell?
Reserve your spot now for a workshop in 2025:
- Canyon Color for the Painter, Sedona, AZ, March 10-14, 2025
- Advanced Plein Air Painting, Rockport, ME, July 7-11, 2025.
- Sea and Sky at Acadia National Park, August 3-8, 2025.
- Find Your Authentic Voice in Plein Air, Berkshires, MA, August 11-15, 2025.
- Immersive In-Person Fall Workshop, Rockport, ME, October 6-10, 2025.
Oh sweetie, not the entire kit? That’s a freaking tragedy! It HAS to be SOMEWHERE – this is NOT an earbud! How can I help? Sending hopeful hugs!
I know the feeling. I hope you get it back!
We had our car broken into in Tulum Mx 5 years ago. They did not take everything but got both of our packs. Chris had his passport , computer phone and a treasured journal and a book in his. Mine had my travel painting stuff and my glasses. I had my prescription sunglasses on for 6 weeks after til I could replace them.
The most bizarre thing happened though. About 3 weeks after we were home Chris got an email with a photo of his pack asking if it was his, found in a local grocery store. Long story short he got almost everything back – not the phone – but the computer. Mine no luck. My wish for it is it went to some kid in the the thief’s sphere who is still happily drawing, painting away.
Which is to say there is hope for the return.
Oh Carol, awful to lose your kit! Unfortunately, it happens. We are all human. Your husband seems quite wise, to turn this into another teaching lesson. Sorry to hear you lost your brushes! The one thing that is not replaceable is your film! Ugggg!
Hope the pack gets found and returned to you soonest.
Not your brushes! That’s the only part of my travel art that I carryon. But I hear the Kelty is one fine case.
Hi Carol,
Oh no. Just know you are not the only one. Most of us other than a few super peaceful folks are living with too much stress and too much on our minds.
A neighbor of mine went on a month trip and didn’t discover till too late she’d left her suitcase at home!
My daughter took her brand new, $450 pair of glasses off and set them on the back of the toilet in an airport bathroom while we were traveling and after we got to our gate realized. Too late! We knew exactly where they were but didn’t have the time to take the tram back, and get them without missing our flight.
I’ve had a number of close calls myself where i felt really stupid but fortunately luck was with me. The most amazing of which I flew to FL to get on my boat delivered from ME ( with damages the angry young captain i hired unintentionally caused ). I took the taxi from the airport, and as I arrived at the marina to the captain ranting on i discovered I’d left my purse and pack in the taxi.
I rushed back to the airport in another taxi (naively hoping to find the first taxi back there). It wasn’t. Then the new taxi driver suggested we go to the taxi yard. Announcements from the dispatcher had no result. So I walked thru thousands of taxis, literally, remembering not much other than a cross hanging off the mirror. There in one of the last taxis was the cross I was looking for, with my purse and pack still in the back!
Love those Kelty packs. I’ve had mine (a Tioga for extra space) for 50 years now!
Hope your stuff is found, but if not just be grateful you yourself and your family are fine, no paintings lost and bless those brushes etc for all the years of work and good memories ! Then go buy some new and enjoy them!
I left my faithful painting backpack behind in Maine this summer. Outside on the deck where I had been painting is why I missed it on the last sweep of the room.
I messaged the inn where we had been staying and they had it. Shipped back to me safe and sound. To great relief.
I hope yours returns to you.