Painting outdoors is one of the best ways to capture a place, a moment or a changing atmosphere. However, carrying palettes, water containers, brushes and paints can quickly turn a spontaneous sketching trip into a major packing exercise.
Portable Painter offers a clever solution. Designed specifically for travelling watercolourists, these lightweight palettes transform from compact cases into complete painting systems in seconds. They are ideal for urban sketching, plein air painting, nature journalling, travelling or simply keeping a small watercolour setup ready to use.
Gordon Harris stocks the Portable Painter Classic Palette, the smaller Micro Palette and Micro Expansion Pans, giving you a choice between a more complete setup and an ultra-compact pocket palette.
The Portable Painter Classic Palette
About the size of a standard smartphone and only 25 mm thick, the Portable Painter Classic Palette is compact enough to slip into a pocket, handbag or daypack. Despite its small size, it unfolds into a stable, professional-grade watercolour palette.
The Classic Palette includes:
- 12 detachable half-pans
- Two folding palette plates with deep mixing wells
- Two detachable water containers
- A synthetic folding double brush
- An anodised aluminium clasp
- A silicone band for securing the palette and holding extra brushes or pens
Once opened, the water containers attach to either side of the palette, creating a stable pedestal base. One container can be used for rinsing your brush and the other for clean water, helping you keep colours fresh while painting.
The two folding palette plates provide plenty of room for mixing washes, and the detachable pans can be filled with your favourite tube watercolours. The pans are removable, so you can rearrange your colour selection to suit different subjects or painting trips.
The Classic can sit on a surface or balance securely on your knee, giving you a convenient hands-free setup when painting outdoors. This makes it particularly useful in places where a table or easel is not available.
At only 146 g, it provides a surprisingly complete painting setup without adding much weight to your bag.
Who is the Classic Palette best for?
The Classic is a great choice if you want an all-in-one travel palette with generous mixing space, separate water containers and room for a broad selection of colours.
It is particularly well suited to:
- Plein air watercolour painting
- Urban sketching
- Nature and travel journalling
- Longer painting sessions
- Artists who prefer a larger colour selection
- Anyone wanting a self-contained portable setup
The Portable Painter Micro Palette
For artists who want to travel even lighter, the Portable Painter Micro Palette offers an impressively capable painting system in an exceptionally small package.
The Micro is smaller than a credit card, only 25 mm thick and weighs just 43 g. It can easily fit inside a pocket, pencil case or small sketching bag, making it ideal for everyday carrying.
When opened, the Micro provides:
- Six standard-size half-pans
- Two deep mixing areas
- A convertible water container
- A sturdy T-shaped finger grip
- A lanyard hole
- A microfibre-suede drawstring pouch
The supplied half-pans can be filled with your preferred watercolours, while the deep mixing areas give you room to create washes and colour combinations.
Its water container forms part of the closed palette and converts for use when you are ready to paint. The sturdy finger grip helps keep the palette secure in your hand, allowing you to work without needing a separate table.
The Micro can also accommodate standard full pans, giving you flexibility when creating your colour layout.
Who is the Micro Palette best for?
The Micro is made for artists who value portability above everything else. Its tiny size makes it easy to keep nearby, so you can paint whenever an opportunity arises.
It is an excellent choice for:
- Quick urban sketches
- Small watercolour studies
- Travel journalling
- Hiking and outdoor adventures
- Minimal everyday sketching kits
- Artists who work with a limited colour palette
- Anyone who wants the lightest possible setup
Expand your Micro Palette to hold up to 16 colours
The Micro Palette comes with six half-pans, but you are not limited to six colours.
The Portable Painter Micro Expansion Pans allow you to increase the Micro’s capacity without changing the size or weight of the palette.
The set contains eight expansion pans:
- Four two-cavity pans
- Four four-cavity pans
- Reusable adhesive discs to hold them securely in place
Each two-cavity pan holds 1.5 ml of pigment per cavity, while each four-cavity pan holds 0.75 ml per cavity.
By combining these with the standard half-pans, you can configure your Micro Palette to carry 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 or up to 16 colours. This lets you build anything from a simple primary palette to a broader selection for landscapes, botanical work or travel journalling.
The reusable adhesive discs keep the selected pans secure while still allowing you to rearrange your palette when your colour needs change.
Please note that Micro Expansion Pans are designed specifically for the Micro Palette and are not compatible with the Classic Palette.
Classic or Micro: which should you choose?
Both Portable Painter palettes are made for travelling artists, but each offers a slightly different painting experience.
Choose the Classic Palette if:
- You want 12 colours ready to use
- You prefer more room for mixing
- You want separate containers for clean and used water
- You would like a folding brush included
- You regularly paint for longer periods
- You want a complete portable setup
Choose the Micro Palette if:
- You want the smallest and lightest possible palette
- You use a limited selection of colours
- You mainly create quick sketches and small studies
- You want something that can stay in your pocket or everyday bag
- You would like the option to expand your palette to as many as 16 colours
For the most compact option, start with the Micro and six carefully chosen colours. If you want a more extensive palette without carrying a larger case, add the Micro Expansion Pans.
Creating your portable colour palette
Portable Painter palettes are supplied without paint, allowing you to create a personalised colour selection using your favourite tube watercolours.
When selecting colours, think about what you paint most often. A small, versatile palette could include:
- A warm and cool yellow
- A warm and cool red
- A warm and cool blue
- An earth colour such as Burnt Sienna
From these core colours, you can mix a wide range of greens, oranges, violets, neutrals and natural tones.
Landscape painters may wish to add extra earth colours and greens, while urban sketchers might include colours suited to brick, concrete, foliage and shadows. The best palette is one designed around your own subjects and painting style.
After filling the pans, allow tube watercolours to dry before closing and transporting the palette.
Less equipment, more time to paint
Portable Painter palettes remove much of the complication from painting away from the studio. Their clever design combines paint storage, mixing space and water containers within a compact system that is quick to set up and easy to carry.
Choose the Portable Painter Classic Palette for a complete travel setup with plenty of mixing room, or the Portable Painter Micro Palette for maximum portability. Add the Micro Expansion Pans when you want more colours without carrying a larger palette.
Wherever inspiration finds you, Portable Painter makes it easier to stop, set up and start painting.