This past fall and winter were rough for a variety of reasons- cancer scares in my family, my own knee issues, actual cancer in my family, perimenopausal nonsense and then we had loads of snowfall and a bitter cold winter. The result- really really not wanting to go outside and sketch. My en plein air habit really does drive a lot of my finished work. Those on site images allow me to think about art in a different way.
Also, I’m not sure I find anything more relaxing than sitting on a local beach or in a park, sketchbook in hand, making art.
Anytime I need to reinvigorate a habit, I look to make it as low friction as possible.
I’m starting with a modular system that will fit into my Po Campo Vernon trunk bag on my bike* with plenty of extra room. It can also be pared down and be put into my EDC backpack with ease and less space and weight than my current EDC art tool kit.
The needs:
Core Kit:
- Watercolors
- Pencil
- Pen (uniball 207 in bold or medium)
- White Marker (cheap white paint marker)
- Eraser (Sakura Sumo)
- Water cup, way to refill water brushes
- Brushes (Fuumuui travel set or water brushes)
- clips
- Board- Gurney Easel, Clip Board etc…
Add Ons in Small Pouches
- Water soluble crayons
- Chalk pastels
- Inktense
- Colored Pencils
- ArtGraf or similar
- Ink Brushes
- Paint Markers
- ETC…
The idea behind this is to grab a core kit and a sketchbook then add on a pouch with additional materials I might want that day. The goal is to keep this smaller and lighter on a regular day. I can fit a great deal into the Vernon Bag, but I also want to be able to carry my water bottle in it and an extra sketchbook or panels. Maybe even my small pochade box.
So far I have 3 core kits- a Lihit Lab ActAct slim, an Art Tool Kit Pocket, and a small Pochade box. They all have roughly the list of supplies, but in different configurations and sizes. The ActAct has a small watercolor set with a modified version of process colors. The Art Tool Kit (ATK) has a small but expanded set of colors based off the process color idea. The pochade box has a 9 color set that holds a larger amount of paint. Each has a different array of brushes and ways of holding water. Again all based off the size of the kit.
The idea is a core watercolor set up and that the various pouches add on mixed media capability to my day. I also hope to lighten my load on a day to day basis. I know if I’m going to drive into work and stop on my way to draw and paint I can leave some of the mixed media materials in the car. If I’m on the eBike I can carry more than what I would carry on my regular bike.
For pouches I have a variety of things from Muji and no name clear vinyl pouches. What goes into what pouch is determined by size and cleanliness of the material.
*Now that my knee is mostly better I’m looking forward to logging a lot of miles on my bike this summer, both my eBike AND my regular bike. I’m planning to commute as soon as it’s warm enough via the eBike and regularly ride my regular bike when I can.