how to send canvases from europe to california

how to send canvases from europe to california

hello,

I'm planning on painting in europe for two years and sending my work back home to california and was wondering what the best way to send my paintings back from there to home. Ill primarily be in france and italy and dont know the postal system there. which is the least expensive and reliable? should i go with ups? is there one in europe?

any comments, suggestions, ideas is appreciated.

thanks in advance. nigel

I'm not sure about the postal systems but when I worked in Canada I found that it was cheaper to take my canvases back to the UK as excess baggage and just pay the airline fee. That also meant it didn't get grabbed by customs (which it inevitably will if you mail it) and I didn't have to argue about taxes due. It definitely saved a lot of hassle so if you could do this with even part of your work it might be worthwhile.

Although not the best solution, I do try to send things in tubes when possible because there's less risk of damage and buying new stretchers in the UK is cheaper than shipping ones over.

UPS is in Europe, as is Fedex. UPS Expedited (their cheapest option ) is a pretty good price and I've shipping paintings from London to the US and Japan using that method. Box gets quite battered but the paintings were fine.

Sounds like a great opportunity! Make sure you have the right visas, etc, as I'm not sure how long you can stay in Europe with just a US passport (for me it was only longer than a year because I was studying). Have a great time!