Travel art supplies
Making your own travel art kit and embracing limitations of creating art outside of your studio
Today I want to share my ideas about making your own travel kit with art supplies a.k.a. a portable art studio.
The idea came to me this summer, when we were travelling for two months straight. Travelling and changing places frequently doesn’t leave you with much time for making art (and space for carrying art supplies is limited). My travel art kit wasn’t thought through very well and as a result I was overwhelmed with the choices I had to make. The sketchbooks were too big to carry around. I had too many supplies and I was confused what to use. I learned from my mistakes and created this post to sum up my thoughts and experience.
First of all, I would recommend to set limitations, because as I already mentioned, you won’t be having much time for creating art. At the same time, you still want to create regularly, so by limiting your choices you reduce the necessity to make decisions about how to create and which supplies to use. It’s just easier to jump in and start creating something when the choice is limited.
So what to include in your travel art kit? Depending on the situation and your personal and artistic preferences, the size and content of the kit may change, so I decided to provide a list for a basic kit, an extended kit and some additional ideas.
Basic kit
Small sketchbook (like this one or even smaller). You can also make a handmade sketchbook with various papers like this one. If you only intend to draw, you can choose a sketchbook with drawing paper, but if you want to use some wet supplies, it’s better to choose a sketchbook with thicker paper (watercolour or mixed media)
OR you can prepare a stack of separate sheets of various papers and attach them to a small piece of cardboard with a bulldog clip
Mechanical pencil
Graphite pencils (choose 2-3 with various degrees of hardness)
Water-soluble pencils (I use a black or a Paynes grey and sometimes a white)
Charcoal or charcoal pencils (again choose 2-3 with a variation in hardness)
Coloured pencils (I have a Paynes grey at all times)
A couple of ink pens / fine liners
Eraser
Waterbrushes (and a small piece of fabric or wet wipes to clean them). I like to use them with the water-soluble supplies.
Extended kit
If you have space or are going to create outside of your studio for a prolonged period of time, consider adding the following:
Small watercolour set (e.g. like this one, it is very small, but allows to mix a lot of colours). It’s also a good idea to create a custom watercolour set and add only those colours that you need (e.g. like this by Jeanne Oliver or this by Sandi Hester).
White gouache / acrylic gouache to create some highlights or to mix with some of your watercolours.
Acrylic pens (e.g. in 2-3 colours)
Some additional coloured and water soluble pencils, crayons (e.g. Neo Colour II), pastels - just a few to add colour, don’t choose too many!
Additional ideas
A tin / basket / purse, etc. to store and carry your kit with you
Reference photos / images (print out images from the web or collect magazine / book pages)
My recommendation is to start with very limited art supplies and gradually upgrade your kit. I also recommend using a sketchbook that already has something in it, e.g. some sketches, colour swatches or collage. It’s good to have a starting point instead of staring at a blank page (and having to make additional decisions). I like carrying with me a handmade sketchbook made from a variety of papers, so I can have a different substrate every time when I want to create. Sometimes I can get a little bit too precious about good watercolour paper, so warming up on something that is less precious (such as craft paper) helps.
The main idea is to create a kit that allows you to make art on the go, so it needs to be convenient, light and have all the necessary things, but not too many. You don’t want to make too many decisions. If you limit the supplies and colours and have only one sketchbook, it becomes easier to create outside of your regular studio space. I recommend carrying with you some images (photos, magazine pages, etc.), so you’ll always have a subject and reference to draw inspiration from. Alternatively you can work from photos on your phone / tablet, but also practice creating from observation and try working plein air.
Concluding thoughts
Having a travel art kit helps to create art wherever you are - stuck in traffic jams, sitting in a café or airport lounge, walking in a museum or in the park, etc. I know that for many artists it is challenging to create outside of their usual creative spaces. It is a skill that needs to be trained, but I believe it is a very rewarding, inspiring and enriching practice.
If you are anything like me, then during your travels you are probably walking long distances every day and you don’t have that much time to just sit still and create a complete sketch. My recommendation is to make quick and simple sketches to loosely capture a scene or any object that catches your attention. The goal is not to create finished artworks, but to practice regularly, capture the beauty around you and create memories from your travels. Flipping through all the sketches afterwards helps to get new ideas and develop them further into finished pieces.
I understand that sometimes you really don’t have time to just sit and sketch. Think of your phone camera as a part of your portable art studio. Keep in mind that you need to make photos with intention - paying attention to details, composition, colours, shapes, values, etc.
Don’t overwhelm yourself and have only the necessary minimum in your travel art kit. Don’t get frustrated, if you do not create something every day. The goal is to be more connected, intentional and engaged with your surroundings. When you don’t have time for creating, take some photos instead and revisit them later as a source of creative inspiration.
Further inspiration
Jeanne Oliver - Portable Art Studio
Renee Mueller - Voyage (the course includes a free preview lesson on traveling art supplies)
Hope it was useful!
Until next time
Lisa