Wednesday 13 April 2011

My grab and go sketch kit



I thought I'd share my grab and go sketch kit for anyone interested. This is what I take at the moment although it's always a work in progress (*note to self add a white oil pastel). Depending on where I'm going I will normally have all or part of this with me, if I'm going out to specifically sketch for a day or half day there's a whole lot more that fits snugly into a rucksack, weighs a ton and has enough materials in to last a week. This is the pared down version that's a lot more portable and for now, works for me.

Contents;
  • Small watercolour moleskine sketchbook (moleskine is a new one for me but I was seduced by the tiny size and so far so good)
  • Winsor Newton Cotman mini plus watercolour box with my own artists quality paint - naples yellow, gamboge genuine, quinacridone gold, burnt sienna, thio violet (which I bought by mistake but quite like), manganese blue, indanthrene blue and sepia
  • small and medium pental waterbrush pens
  • 4 caran d'ache watercolour pencils in ochre, hazel, umber and burnt sienna
  • a disposable propelling pencil
  • my special ladybird pencil sharpener - just because it's silly, fun and leaves no mess behind ;o) It's also a bit of a conversation starter when people are watching.

When I was deciding on the colours for the paintbox I made a chart and colour no. 8 I couldn't decide on for ages but I think sepia is such a useful colour that it'll probably be the one to get used up first. Apologies for the fuzziness of the photo of the chart but it's really tiny and was hard to focus.

I'd love to know what other people take out sketching.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lisa, This looks like a great portable kit! I'm getting ready to post next week what I take out with me in my watercolour grab and go bag. Thanks for sharing.

Caroline Simmill said...

Hi Lisa, very organised! do you also have a wee water bottle so you can paint outside too? are the pencils water soluble? thanks for sharing. I tend to take just a sketch book and some graphite pencils.

Roger Seddon said...

Well Lisa, today I went out sketching between Clavell Tower and Chapman's Pool. I travelled light by my standards. Back pack, car keys, spare sunglasses, map and compass, digi camera, thermos flask with decaf coffee, 50cl drinking water, lightweight pac a mac and cornish pasty. Oh yes I nearly forgot. Sketch book and one pencil, eraser and pocket knife. On this occasion the walk, the exercise and pasty were good but the sketching failed to excite. Next time I may travel lighter and leave the eraser behind.

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Maggie, I'll look forward to reading the post :o)

Hi Caroline, I find if I use pencil on it's own I just make line drawings and don't record enough info of tone, colour etc. The 2 waterbrush pens hold enough water in the barrel to last about 5 or 6 sketches this size which is probably the max that I would do on a short walk so need to take extra water. The pencils are watersoluble and I like the marks I get when drawing into the wet washes.

Hi Roger, you've given me the giggles - you do travel light. I can see from reading your list that I will have to make some adjustments to my kit....I must remember to pack a pasty...

jazz said...

hello lisa,

your sketching kit has similarities to my own - as pictured here: http://www.jazzgreen.com/artistjournal/grey-sky-thinking-out-of-the-blue

i also substituted some of the watercolour pan colours, i use derwent water-soluble graphite, caran d'ache + conte pastel pencils, chinagraph makes a good resist... i also use a small 'elle' cosmetics/travel bag as it opens out, has lots of useful pockets & compartments & also snugly fits my A5 sketchbooks...

my 'sketching' trips are very much as & when the time/weather/mood takes though - as i am reminded here, so many thanks for sharing!

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Jazz, I love the pictures of your kit especially the beautifully worn stubby pencils that wear their size as a badge of honour. I hadn't thought of a chinagraph pencil as a resist, that would work better for me too as I think oil pastel will mush into a 'nice' little mess.

Those were great sky sketches, I like the way you displayed them all together. Thank you for adding the link.

Kelly M. said...

how compact! no matter how i try to condense/consolidate, i always seem to have too much. and your entry reminds me that someday i need to make some color charts!

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Kelly, welcome. I used to groan inside when they told us we would be making colour charts AGAIN, at college. Now I quite enjoy them :o)