How about a Wishlist for the Art Journaler or “lifeBooker”?

Here’s my wishlist:

#1 A nice set of Pencils. A set ranging in hardness from H
up to 6B is excellent. IT gives a lot of great selection for drawing and
sketching. Or maybe a group of all around great sketching pencils like a 2B. (A
set of Palominos is always nice. Send me an email if you want some prices on
stuff I have in stock.)

#2. A nice set of pens. I like Pigma Microns. They come in a
great selection of sizes a variety of colors and will write anywhere and are
archival. I read a story once of a photographer who tipped her canoe and all
her stuff went into the water. He journal washed ashore a day or so later,
covers gone, pages still stitched together and with everything written in Pigma
still there. Not that I think that the average journaler will find occasion to
tip their canoe, but you might decide to journal in the tub and you never know
when your going to drop something into the water. I’d pick 3 sizes a small,
medium and larger size. You can get Pigma’s at most craft and art supply stores
in singles as well as in 3 and 6 packs.

#3. A set of watercolors. Watercolors are one of the fastest
and easiest ways to get color onto a page. A page can be sketched out, inked
in and then colored pretty quickly. Go
for a pocket set of 8 to 12 colors. I’m partial to grumbacher water colors, but
there are a lot of brands. Go for something on the nicer end of the spectrum
rather than crayola…

#4. Niji waterbrushes. Niji makes these cool brushes that hold
water in their handle. I discovered that you could also fill the handle with
ink or dilute watercolor. These are great for when you’re out sketching or
journaling at a coffee shop if your into that.

#5. Gouache. I’m a big fan of gouache. It’s good stuff. It’s
watercolor on steroids. It’s water based and opaque. You can pain in layers,
like in oils and acrylics, but you can wipe out whole layers of color at a
time. Good stuff right there.