Why Peerless DryColor Is the Best Watercolor for Travel (And What to Know Before You Fly)
By Dalton Scolman
If you paint with watercolors and you travel, you have probably wondered at some point whether your paints are going to make it through the security line. Maybe you have done the research and come away confused. Maybe you have just crossed your fingers and hoped for the best.
Here is the honest answer: it depends entirely on the format of your paint. Tubes create real complications. Pans have some rules attached. And dry sheet watercolors like Peerless DryColor pass through airport security with zero restrictions, every time, in any quantity, without a second glance from TSA.
This article explains exactly why, and why that matters for anyone who wants to paint on the road.
The Problem With Tubes on a Plane
Watercolor tubes are treated as liquids under TSA rules. The same rules that govern your shampoo and your toothpaste govern your cadmium yellow.
In practical terms, this means every tube you bring in a carry-on bag must be under 3.4 oz (100ml), and all of your tubes combined must fit inside one quart-size zip-top bag along with everything else you are already putting in there. For a painter with a real palette of twelve or more colors, that bag fills up fast. Some colors only come in larger tubes. And if you are also bringing a water container, a wet palette, or anything else that counts as a liquid or paste, your options shrink further.
Checked luggage has no size or quantity restrictions on tubes, but that means your paints are in a bag you cannot access for the whole flight. If you get to your destination and want to paint in the airport, at the hotel, or on the train, those paints are out of reach until baggage claim.
There is also the pressure issue. Altitude changes affect sealed tubes. Experienced traveling painters know the feeling of opening a bag to find a tube that has crept open and made a mess of everything around it.
The Problem With Pans on a Plane
Pan sets seem like the obvious travel solution, and for many painters they work fine. But there are a few things worth knowing.
Dry, solid pan watercolors are not regulated as liquids by the FAA or TSA. You can bring them in carry-on or checked luggage without restriction, as long as everything is dry. That last part matters: if your palette has any moisture in the mixing wells from a recent session, it could be flagged at the checkpoint. The official guidance from experienced traveling artists is to leave your palette open for at least a week before flying so every surface is completely dry.
Even when everything is fine with security, pans come with practical travel headaches. A metal tin of half-pans is heavier than it looks, especially if you are carrying it every day of a two-week trip. The mixing surface accumulates color from every session and never fully cleans out. Lids come open in bags. And over time, the pans themselves pick up traces of every other color in the palette, which affects your mixes in ways that are hard to track.
None of these are dealbreakers, but they add up. The weight, the mess risk, the contamination, the pre-flight drying protocol: every one of these is a problem that does not exist with dry sheet watercolors.
Why Peerless DryColor Is the Only Watercolor Format With Zero Travel Restrictions
Peerless DryColor sheets are dry. Not "mostly dry" or "dry enough." Completely, genuinely dry. The pigment is bonded to the sheet at the point of manufacture. There is no moisture, no liquid, no paste, no gel.
This means TSA liquids rules do not apply at all. There is no 3.4 oz limit. There is no zip-top bag required. There is no pre-flight drying protocol. You can bring as many sheets as you want in your carry-on. You can pack them in your sketchbook, your jacket pocket, a small pouch, or loose in your bag. They weigh almost nothing. They take up no meaningful space.
At the security checkpoint, a stack of Peerless DryColor sheets looks exactly like what it is: a small pile of paper. It goes through the X-ray with your laptop and your shoes and attracts no attention from anyone.
When you land and want to paint, you are ready in under a minute. Wet your brush, touch it to the sheet, and the concentrated pigment activates instantly into rich, vibrant, transparent watercolor. No palette to set up. No paint to squeeze. No water jar to fill and then worry about spilling. Just your brush, your water source, and the sheet.
The Peerless Sidekick is the format this was made for. Eight colors in a flip-tab design that fits in a passport holder, with a built-in mixing surface and a form factor that does not ask anything of you except to paint. It is smaller and lighter than any tin of half-pans you will find, and it goes through every airport in the world without a single complication.
For painters who want a wider color range on longer trips, Individual DryColor Sheets let you hand-pick exactly the palette you want. Pack the warm ochres for a desert trip. Bring the cool blues and grays for a coastal one. Each sheet is tiny, the whole set takes up almost no room, and none of it ever touches your liquids bag.
What About Water Brushes?
A regular brush needs a water jar. A water jar is a container of liquid that can spill, is limited to 3.4 oz in a carry-on if it has any water in it when you go through security, and has to be emptied before you get to the checkpoint anyway.
A water brush has a reservoir built into the handle. You fill it with water before you leave, or you fill it at a tap on the other side of security. Squeeze the handle gently and water flows to the tip. Press the tip on a paper towel to rinse between colors. That is the whole system.
For travel, a water brush is not a nice-to-have. It is the thing that makes painting in a moving vehicle, a waiting room, a crowded plaza, or a seat on a train actually possible. No jar to knock over. No surface required. No setup beyond uncapping the brush.
Paired with DryColor sheets, a water brush means your entire working kit is two objects and a sketchbook. You can be painting within thirty seconds of sitting down anywhere.
Peerless carries a watercolor brush set worth looking at if you are building your travel kit from scratch. A medium round, a small round, and a water brush will cover everything most traveling painters need.
Building the Rest of Your Travel Kit
Once you have sorted your paint and your brushes, the rest of the kit is straightforward.
Paper: A5 size (roughly 5.5 x 8 inches) in 140lb (300gsm) watercolor paper or heavier. Below that weight, the paper buckles badly when wet. Watercolor blocks are excellent for outdoor painting because the sheets are glued on all four sides and stay flat while you work. Spiral-bound watercolor journals lie flat naturally. Either works well.
Pencil: A mechanical pencil means no sharpening, no mess, and consistent line weight. Pack it in carry-on with no issues.
Pen: If you sketch in ink before painting, a waterproof fineliner like a Micron travels easily and holds up to watercolor washes without smearing.
Paper towels: A few folded paper towels weigh nothing and solve the brush-rinsing problem completely. They are your water jar alternative.
The full kit, organized this way, fits in a jacket pocket or a small pouch inside your day bag. It weighs less than your phone charger. It goes through security faster than your shoes.
One Last Tip for Painting Outside
If you are painting outdoors in sunlight, keep the sun off your paper. Glare makes it nearly impossible to judge your colors accurately, and what looks rich and vibrant in direct sun often looks muddy and dark when you get back inside. Find shade, or position yourself so your paper is in shadow even if you are not.
Start with large shapes and light values first. The light outside changes constantly, and if you spend the first twenty minutes on detail work, the shadows will have moved and your whole composition will have shifted. Work broadly and quickly, then refine. A small, finished painting in thirty minutes is worth more than a large half-finished one.
And paint smaller than you think you should. A 4 x 6 inch painting done well is a real thing. A half-finished A4 is not.
FAQ
Can you bring watercolor paint on a plane? It depends on the format. Dry pan watercolors can go in carry-on or checked luggage as long as all mixing surfaces are fully dry. Watercolor tubes are treated as liquids: carry-on tubes must each be under 3.4 oz and must all fit in one quart-size zip-top bag. Dry sheet watercolors like Peerless DryColor have no liquid content and are not subject to any TSA liquids restrictions at all. You can carry as many sheets as you want, in your carry-on or checked luggage, with no limitations.
Are Peerless DryColor sheets the most travel-friendly watercolor paint? Yes. Because they are completely dry, they are not subject to FAA or TSA liquids rules. They require no special packing, no zip-top bag, no pre-flight drying, and no size or quantity limits. They activate fully with any wet brush and produce highly concentrated, vibrant, transparent watercolor. No other watercolor format offers the same combination of zero travel restrictions and professional-quality pigment.
What is the easiest watercolor kit to travel with? The Peerless Sidekick paired with a water brush and a small watercolor sketchbook. The Sidekick holds eight colors with a built-in mixing surface and fits in a passport holder. The water brush eliminates the need for a water jar entirely. The whole setup fits in a jacket pocket, weighs almost nothing, and passes through airport security without any complications.
Do I need to empty my water brush before going through airport security? Technically yes, because water in the reservoir counts as a liquid in carry-on luggage. Empty it before the checkpoint and refill it at a water fountain or cafe tap on the other side. Most water brushes empty and refill in about thirty seconds.
Can watercolor tubes leak on a plane? Yes, this is a known issue. Altitude and cabin pressure changes can cause sealed tubes to weep or the caps to loosen, especially if the tubes are not completely full. It is worth double-bagging any tubes you pack in checked luggage. In carry-on, tubes are already limited by the liquids rule, so most traveling painters with tube paints either pre-fill a dry palette and check it, or switch to a dry format for travel.
Ready to Fly?
The Peerless Sidekick is the only painting kit that fits in a passport holder, clears security without a thought, and is ready to paint within thirty seconds of sitting down anywhere in the world. Eight colors. Built-in mixing surface. Nothing to spill, nothing to declare, nothing to leave behind because it felt like too much to carry.
If you want to build a custom travel palette, Individual DryColor Sheets let you choose exactly the colors that match where you are going. Pick your palette, tuck the sheets in your journal, and go.
You spent time and money getting somewhere worth painting. Bring the paint.