While taking a tole painting class, I needed a system to keep my supplies portable but handy.
I purchased a plastic tote, which was originally sold for cleaning supplies. This is the type that has a handle in the middle and the sides are about 4 inches high. There are dividers down the center and on one side. The tote is about 14 inches long by 9 inches wide.

I placed the 2 oz bottles of paints I use the most often in this tote, along with a couple of soft clean rags to wipe my brushes, paper towels, 2 ceramic tiles for mixing colours, and my most frequently used brushes. I also carry paint extender and drying retarder.

The brushes are kept in a hard plastic pencil container that I bought at an office supply store. They are stored with the bristles up, so they don't get bent out of shape. I put an arrow on the container with an indelible marker so I don't store it upsidedown by mistake. I labeled the arrow "this end up".

I also keep a small empty pump spray bottle in the tote. This is filled with distilled water before I leave home, (the hard water around here can change colours over time).

I use this sprayer to keep the palette wet so paints don't dry out as I work (the tile is my mini palette), and to wet and thin down paint, so my colours stay true.

If you use water from your paint cleaning bucket, you will get muddy colours. If you try to use one bucket for cleaning and one for mixing, eventually the "clean" water will get dirty and so will your colours. You can also easily mix up the buckets and end up with two really dirty buckets of water.

I only use the distilled water from the spray bottle to thin down colours, and this way I avoid that problem and I can get better control over how much water is added to my paint.

Cleaning brushes;

I carry three empty plastic mini-bucket food containers (from deli salads) in a shopping bag for water, along with my current project. One is quite deep, I dump my dirty water into this one. The other two are my brush cleaning containers. I prewash in #1 to get most of the paint out, then dip into #2 to get the remainder out, and then wipe my brush off.

Another container with a tight lid holds my source of clean water. I only put about 1 inch of water into each bucket, and change it frequently. I find this more effective than using more water. I dump it out, and refill as often as I need to. My brushes are always clean between colours and I don't have a problem with colours getting muddy.

This portable system works so well for me that I continue to use it for my paints, even though I am done my classes. I can take them anywhere with me.

I store my extra paints inside see-thru plastic containers with hinged lids. They are about the size of a large shoebox. I have a dot of colour on each lid, like most people do, to tell at a glance which colour is in the bottle.

Several classmates liked my portable painting system so much they used it too. I use this system for watercolours and acrylics too.

Marge B