As I shared a couple of my quick watercolour sketches over on Insta the other day, I thought it might be interesting for me to show you the travel sketching kit I use to paint when I'm out and about.
The three main elements to my kit are: my Field Notes Memo Books, a Winsor & Newton Watercolour tin and a couple of strong bull clips.
It's quite simple to put together one of these kits yourself, but this is the method that I find works the best when I want to whip the old sketchbook out on a muddy walk! I prefer keeping things small when it comes to my notebook and watercolour tin of choice but I'm pretty sure this technique would work equally as well with a bigger sketchbook and tin- if that's more your style!
So my method is to pin down the open page I'm working on with a bull clip, to keep it in place (especially helpful when the weather isn't so good!) and then clip down my watercolour palette on the opposite page. I also try to remember to grab a sheet of kitchen paper and fold it up underneath one of the bull clips to use for blotting- if I forget, a bog-standard pack of tissues does the job just as well!
The Winsor & Newton tin already comes with a compact paintbrush but I like to clip a biro (I use this for initial sketching and detailing) to one of the bull clips, as well as a couple of small paintbrushes.
I also take the tiniest jam jar I can find, fill it halfway with water, and keep it alongside my notebook- making sure the lid is tightly screwed on! Sometimes I find it helpful to stow this away in a plastic sandwich bag, just to keep it separate from anything else I have in my bag.
I also know that some people prefer to use a Water Brush in place of the paintbrush and jam jar technique, as a way of keeping everything compact and easy to carry. I must admit, up until very recently I didn't even know that such a brush even existed... and I was majorly impressed when I happened to stumble across a whole new world of art equipment online! Safe to say, a pack of water brushes has gone on my Christmas list and I'm very excited to try them out soon!
So that's how I pack my watercolours for sketching on the go! Do you have any tips for travelling and journalling? I'd love to hear them in the comments below!
I'm really determined to start using my watercolours more often, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled over on my Instagram for any further scribbles and doodles!
In the meantime,
All the love,
Sian x
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