The Best Backpack for Plein Air Painting: Is a Specialist Pack Worth It?

You've done a session or two outside. Kit crammed into whatever rucksack was nearest the door, brushes rattling around loose, a panel wedged in sideways, and a nagging feeling that there must be a better way to do this. There is, but "better" doesn't automatically mean "more expensive." If you're trying to find the best backpack for plein air painting, the honest answer is that it depends on your kit, your medium, and how far you're walking. This article looks at the leading specialist option, the Richeson Ultimate Plein Air Backpack at £220 from Jackson's, and tells you plainly when it earns that price and when it doesn't.

What Your Backpack Actually Needs to Do

Before looking at any specific product, it's worth being clear about what the bag actually has to accomplish. The right answer varies more than people expect, and a few minutes of thinking about your typical load will save you a lot of money spent on the wrong thing.

The core load

A typical plein air session involves carrying more than it might seem at first. The essentials generally include:

• An easel or pochade box (often the bulkiest item)
• Painting panels or canvas boards
• Paint tubes and a palette
• Brushes, palette knives, and rags
• Mediums and solvents (if working in oils)
• Personal items: water, food, an extra layer, sun protection

Medium makes a significant difference here. Oil painters using a pochade box have a denser, heavier, more leak-prone load than a watercolourist carrying a compact palette and a sketchbook. That difference should drive your bag choice as much as any feature list on the product page.

The UK conditions factor

UK painters face specific demands that don't always come up in reviews written for Californian light and predictable skies. Weather changes quickly, and even a July morning on the South Downs can turn damp by midday. That means rain resistance isn't optional; it's a baseline requirement. It also means packing an extra layer is normal rather than cautious, which adds volume.

Many of the best painting spots in the UK involve a walk: from a National Trust car park, along a coastal path, across a field. Comfort over distance matters. And for painters who rely on public transport, particularly in cities, pack size and weight are practical constraints, not just preferences.

The Richeson Ultimate Plein Air Backpack: A Closer Look

Jackson's

Richeson : Ultimate Plein Air Backpack

The Sienna Ultimate Plein Air Backpack Is An Excellent Addition To Your Plein Air Setup. It Is The Perfect Accessory To Carry All Of Your Plein Air Gear And Will Easily Fit The Sienna Large Pochade Box, Wet Panel Box, A Tripod, brush Cleaner, And All Of Your Other Painting Suppli

Jackson's · £220.00

Organisation and compartments

The defining feature of a purpose-built plein air pack is that it's been designed with a painter's workflow in mind rather than a hiker's. The Richeson Ultimate has dedicated zones for different types of kit: a main compartment sized for a pochade box, a separate area for panels, tube storage, brush organisation, and space for accessories like solvent cups and medium bottles.

What this means in practice is that you stop guessing where things are. When you arrive at a location and want to be set up within a few minutes, knowing exactly where your brushes are and being able to get your pochade box out without disturbing everything else is a genuine advantage. That organisation takes time to replicate with pouches and improvised dividers inside a general pack, and even then it rarely feels quite as settled.

The trade-off is that this layout assumes a fairly specific kit. If your pochade box is significantly larger or smaller than the compartment is sized for, or if you prefer to work with a French easel rather than a box system, the internal logic of the pack starts to work against you rather than for you.

Carrying comfort and load distribution

A plein air pack is a loaded pack. Oil painting kit is heavier than it looks on paper, particularly once you factor in panels, mediums, and a pochade box with paint already in it. The Richeson addresses this with a padded back panel, shoulder straps, and a hip belt that takes some of the weight off your shoulders on longer walks.

These are features you'd expect on any decent hiking daypack, and the Richeson delivers them competently. Fit varies by body type, as it does with any pack, and it's worth trying a similar load in a similar pack at a shop if you can before committing at this price. What the Richeson offers that a hiking pack doesn't is that the weight is distributed around a layout that makes sense for painting kit, so you're not compensating for a heavy item that's ended up in the wrong place.

Weather resistance

This is important for UK painters and worth being direct about. The Richeson offers a degree of water resistance in its materials, which will handle a light shower and the general damp of an overcast British morning. It is not a waterproof bag in the way a dedicated dry bag or a pack with a proper rain cover would be.

For the kind of weather UK painters regularly encounter, this is probably adequate for most sessions. If you're heading out in serious autumn rain or working on exposed coastal ground in a westerly, you'd want either a rain cover over the bag or the habit of getting your panels and kit back inside promptly. The internal organisation does help here: if your panels are in their designated slot and your tubes are in a contained pocket, water ingress is less catastrophic than it would be with kit loose in a single compartment.

UK availability and price

The Richeson Ultimate is stocked by Jackson's in the UK at £220. That's the price in GBP, with no need to import from US retailers or pay international shipping. It's a specialist product at a specialist price, and it's worth being honest about what that means for a hobbyist painter still building their kit.

For context: a quality 30-litre hiking daypack from a brand like Osprey or Deuter costs roughly £80 to £130. Add a set of organisational pouches and a dedicated panel carrier, and you're spending perhaps £150 total. The Richeson costs more than that and does specific things that combination won't do as neatly. Whether the difference is worth it depends entirely on how established your kit is and how often you're out.

Jackson's

Richeson : Ultimate Plein Air Backpack

The Sienna Ultimate Plein Air Backpack Is An Excellent Addition To Your Plein Air Setup. It Is The Perfect Accessory To Carry All Of Your Plein Air Gear And Will Easily Fit The Sienna Large Pochade Box, Wet Panel Box, A Tripod, brush Cleaner, And All Of Your Other Painting Suppli

Jackson's · £220.00

When a General Pack Is the Better Choice

This section matters. Many experienced painters use a hiking daypack and a few well-chosen accessories, not because they can't afford a specialist bag, but because it suits how they work. It's a legitimate choice, not a compromise born of ignorance.

The hiking daypack option

A 25 to 35 litre hiking daypack from a mainstream outdoor brand handles plein air kit well once you add some internal organisation. Watercolourists especially tend to find this route works well: a compact palette, a sketchbook, brushes in a roll, and a water bottle fit comfortably without needing dedicated compartments for pochade boxes or solvent storage.

For oil painters taking this route, the approach typically involves sealable pouches for solvents and mediums, a brush roll to protect bristles, and some kind of rigid separator or padded sleeve for panels. It's a little more effort to pack and unpack than a purpose-built bag, but the result is a lighter, more flexible setup that costs significantly less and can also function as a walking bag when you're not painting.

The camera backpack option

Camera bags with configurable padded dividers are worth serious consideration for oil and pastel painters who need their kit to travel securely. The modular divider systems in a quality camera bag can be reconfigured to hold panels flat, keep paint tubes contained, and protect fragile accessories from impact. Most come with dedicated rain covers, which addresses the UK weather question directly.

These are widely available from UK photography and outdoor retailers, often at prices comparable to mid-range hiking daypacks. The aesthetic is unobtrusive, which can be useful when painting in public spaces where a brightly branded "artist bag" might attract more attention than you want.

Helping your kit fit any pack: useful accessories

Whichever bag you use, the right accessories can significantly improve how well it works for plein air painting. A dedicated wet panel carrier is probably the most important single addition for oil painters: wet panels are the thing most difficult to improvise a solution for, and a purpose-built carrier keeps them safe without limiting what else you can carry. A canvas board carrier similarly protects panels without the bulk of a full panel bag.

Small organisational accessories like cinch sacks are genuinely useful for keeping tubes, mediums, and small tools contained inside a larger compartment. They won't transform a general pack into a plein air-specific one, but they make the difference between fishing around in a bag and finding what you need quickly.

Useful accessories for any carry system

New Wave : U.GO : Plein Air : Wet Panel Carrier

£174.00 · Jackson's

Jackson's : Plein Air Canvas Board Carrier : 24x30cm

£29.50 · Jackson's

New Wave : U.GO : Plein Air : Cinch : Pack of 2

£5.90 · Jackson's

How to Choose the Best Backpack for Plein Air Painting

The decision comes down to medium, working style, and how settled your kit actually is. Here's a practical guide.

A few practical notes worth adding. If you paint in more than one medium, or if you're still working out what your typical session looks like, a flexible general pack with good accessories will serve you better than a specialist bag designed around a specific kit. The Richeson earns its layout when your setup has stabilised; before that point, the rigidity can feel limiting rather than helpful.

If you travel by air to painting workshops, note that flammable solvents cannot go in hand luggage regardless of what bag you're using. A compact hiking daypack within cabin baggage dimensions is a sensible choice for travel sessions that use water-based media.

For UK painters who walk to their spots: weight compounds over distance. A loaded Richeson with a full oil kit is not a light bag. If your typical session involves a twenty-minute walk along a coastal path rather than a five-minute stroll from the car park, that's worth factoring in.

The Honest Verdict

So, is the Richeson Ultimate Plein Air Backpack worth £220?

For painters who know what they're carrying, paint regularly in oils with a pochade box, and want an organised system they can rely on without improvising every session: yes, it earns its price. The dedicated compartments, the easel attachment, and the considered layout save real time and frustration in the field. It's a well-designed specialist product and, crucially, it's available from Jackson's without any need to import.

For painters still building their kit, working primarily in watercolour or gouache, or simply not yet sure how often they'll be out: start with a quality hiking daypack and a few smart accessories. The New Wave U.GO Wet Panel Carrier solves the hardest problem (wet panel transport) for any bag, and the Jackson's Canvas Board Carrier adds panel protection at a fraction of the Richeson's cost. That combination leaves money for paint and panels, which will improve your painting faster than a better bag will.

A score of 78 reflects a product that does what it promises for the right buyer, without being quite right for everyone. The 22 points left on the table are for the price, the sizing assumptions, and the lack of flexibility for painters whose kit is still evolving.

Get the right bag sorted and then get outside. That's the part that actually matters.