Revisit to Sketching Supplies and Kits

I think part of the love of sketching is not just filling sketchbooks and journals but also collecting various supplies and putting together a variety of kits one can use for going out sketching and painting.  It's almost like an addiction for me and I'm always surfing the net for new ideas..........lol.

I have several related posts under the key word (sketch kits) 

1)  This first photo shows only a sampler of the various sketchbooks and journals I use.  From back to forward and left to right.......

Sennelier Accordion sketchbook / Stillman and Birn spiral Beta; Sewn Hardback Delta; spiral Epsilon; and Sewn Hardback Alpha / Strathmore Tinted Sketchbooks; Global Handbook; Moleskine; Handmade Leather Journal / Itoya Presentation Folders with clear sleeves to slide your work down into / Langton Spiral Watercolor Pad; Handmade Journal; Visual Journal by Strathmore / Handsewn Hardback Journal; Spiral Handmade Journal; Handmade Accordion Journal

2)  Traveling Kit using a passport neck carrier.  Perfect for a small sketchbook, small palette, pens, pencil, eraser, tissue tucked down inside, putty eraser, and a waterbrush.

3)  Accruasee Strap- On Sketch Caddie:  Small palette, waterbrush, pens/pencils, putty eraser, tissue.  This sketch caddie has an elastic strap that wraps around the front cover of a sketchbook.

4)  Collection of pre-made palettes and those customized using old children's paint kits, crayon tins, and Altoid tin boxes.  With the pre-made palettes, I often customize them as well using empty half and full pans if the cases do not have molded pan inserts (like the Winsor & Newton Pocket Palette).

5)  One of my favorites - Lihit Lab Pen Case:  Left inside carries my pens and pencils.  The middle flap where you can add additional pens, I use to hang a small portrait Stillman and Birn journal, and behind the middle flap, I have tissue, q-tips, and a paper stump on the left and palette, travel brushes and putty eraser on the right.

6)  One of my day to day handbags (current link as of 07/25/2022) I carry everywhere (my purse).  I always have pens, pencil, eraser, small tissue, waterbrush, customized thin palette and small journal with me at all times.  Inside the zippered compartment I can fit a 5 x 7 journal, small wallet, bottle of IB, and other small items I might need.  The back is where I carry my cell phone.

Keys and camera are attached to the outside with carabiner hooks......accessible at all times.

7)  Another favorite is this canvas tool bag purchased from Harbor Freight for about $10.  I take this one if I don't have a long distance walk ahead of me (I prefer something with a shoulder strap for any walking I might have to do).  I carry the green Lihit Lab Pen case full of sketching gear (as shown above), coffee and water on either side, large Journal, heavy duty cardboard with clips I can use for a mini lap table, white plexiglass sheet (about 8 x 10) I use as a mixing surface, collapsible water bowl, smaller journal on outside pocket, nylon bag with pens and brushes, a larger folding palette, folded paper towels, tissue, hand cleaner, small mister bottle........and still have plenty of room for more stuff if needed.

Another Sketching Kit

I'm such a sucker for finding or creating different traveling sketching kits and this is one of my new ones.  I've had a chance to try it out and works nicely.

It's large enough to carry the most important things for me and yet small enough to fit in my small denim handbag.  Overall size (closed) is 5 x 8 x 2.5 (roughly).

NOTE:  Where to buy:

Strathmore Visual Journal, Lamy Safari pen, DS watercolors, and Albrecht Durer wc pencils

Front has two little pockets, one of which I can carry a few business cards.

Where the Stillman & Birn small journal is here in my kit is actually another area for pens and pencils.  The loop that goes across was perfect for this little landscape oriented journal.

On the left are three little mesh pockets I have yet to decide on what to place there.

Just showing the back - no pockets.

The only thing I wish it had is a carrying strap.

New Brush Set by MyArtscape

Always looking for new travel sketching toys, I came across this brush set on Amazon, manufactured by MyArtscape (aka Pegasus Guild).

What I liked about this set are the ultra short brush handles and the nice travel case they come in.  The brushes themselves are about 5 3/4" from tip of brush to bottom of handle.

Click on each picture and you can see a larger image.......

 

Upon receipt of this set, I discovered one little issue and that was the ferrules on five out of the seven brushes felt loose and "rocked" a bit on the handles.  Initially I was rather disappointed but it's an easy fix adding a bit of glue to secure those loose ferrules and the brush hairs really appear to be of a good quality.............and honestly speaking, the price is very reasonable.

With the discovery of the loose ferrules, I submitted a review on Amazon about my disappointment and to my surprise I received a response (soon after the review went live) on Amazon as well as an email from the manufacturer reaching out to me about what I had written about.

MyArtscape's customer service is superb!  It's not every day a company writes to the customer.........normally it's the other way around when a problem arises.  Quality control and customer satisfaction is very important to this company and I find that to be an extreme positive attribute!  They were quick to want to make things right for me and said their production and quality of these brushes would be followed up on.

One of the biggest pluses (to me) with this set is the case itself....especially the size.  Because I'm always looking for new ideas for small sketching travel kits, it took no time to come up with this idea.

One can lay a small moleskine watercolor sketchbook inside between brush area and the flap that folds over and closes with the magnetic closure (which I love).  Close that up and then slide a thin watercolor palette (in my case a converted NeoColor II tin) and pull the string tight to secure the palette in place.  Perfect little glove box or grab and go sketching kit.

As for the brushes, one might find they prefer to carry other sketching tools in addition to a couple or instead of the brushes that come with the set.  In my case, I chose to include the small flat and liner brush that came with the set and replaced the other brushes with tortillion, Micron pen, Waterbrush, Platinum Carbon Pen (cut down to size), and mechanical pencil.

Am I happy with my purchase???  YES, I am!  I even made a few marks on paper with each of the brushes and liked my initial feel of how they performed.  The flats have nice flat and crisp edges and the rounds are nicely pointed.  Of course I'll know more after I've used them a few to several times if they maintain the nice edges and points.  :-)

Note:  The set includes a 1/2" rake brush (believe that's what it's called).

Example page worked in the Strathmore Watercolor Journal.

My Go To Travel Palette

I have several different travel kits set up so far to grab and go but finding this one to be my first to grab (even while sitting at home).  Part of the reason is the fact it's so light and thin.  It has my favorite pigments of the three brands I use most often....Daniel Smith, W&N, and QoR artist watercolors.

This was set up before I left for WV to finish our move.  I forgot to write down what was what so I'm not exactly sure which pigment is what brand but I have a fairly good idea (if I can rely on my memory...ha..ha).  Most are W&N due to the transparency.  The orange, sap green, and purple are definitely QoR  I prefer QoR Sap Green because it appears to be closest to a natural green compared to other brands.

Cerulean Blue, Shadow, and Moonglow are definitely Daniel Smith.

Only a couple I'm not really sure (like the yellows) as I like yellows of all the brands I have.  If I were to take a wild guess, I'd say W&N but possibly Daniel Smith.....lol.  Oh well.......this teaches me to not forget to write it down at the time I fill the pans!  In any event, I like the choices I made and I guess that's what is most important.

Grab and Go Sketching Kits

Not that I've done much on the go sketching or painting, I do have a couple kits set up ready to go.  One day I hope to get out and about sketching on location.

One that I will probably grab first is a simple strap on sketch caddy found on Amazon.  It has an elastic band that fits over the front  hard cover of a portrait format sketchbook.  This one in particular is the small which fits a book cover up to 10 inches long.  The large fits from 10" to 12".

For a very simple kit, a Micron pen, Mechanical Pencil, Stump for shading, and eraser.  That leaves the bottom left pocket for something small and the zippered compartment for whatever.

Second Alternative is including a small watercolor kit with half pans in the zipper compartment, along with a Waterbrush, Fountain Pen, plus the same as shown above.

Here it is strapped to the front hard cover of my journal/sketchbook.

Complete kit strapped on and  ready to go.

Another Kit I came up with was using a neck strapped passport case.  Nothing fancy but it provides a neat small kit setup.

This kit would include another type folding palette which I customized plus a thin 3 x 5 sketchbook.
Also a Water Brush, Micron Pen, eraser, pencil sharpener for a back up small regular penci.l.

This is the other small folding palette I gutted and fixed up mostly with full pans and a few half pans of colors that might come in handy but I don't use much.  It has a piece of sponge in the corner, a travel brush as well as a small Water Brush that breaks down in half to fit.

 Here is the finished kit ready to go...