Watercolour Travel Kit
I travel with an art kit. It takes some planning but preparation makes sneaking in moments of creativity, attainable. I’m so often inspired on holiday that having an art journal handy and a few supplies allows me to take moments to express that inspiration on a page.
When I travel I love to spend time working through some pent up creativity. I can’t go on a walk without photographing and collecting unique petals and leaves (alive and dried). My art journal is the perfect place to record my treasures.
Today I’m sharing the watercolour supplies I recently took on a vacation to the Big Island, Hawaii.
Art journal + Watercolour
I pull out my art journal many times during the day. My first layer is a sketch so all I need at that point is a pencil and my book. If that is all you have room for this will allow you to sketch and you can always paint when you get home. When I have a bit more time, usually in the evenings, I pull out the paints. I always take photos of the things I’m sketching for reference in the future.
Supplies to pack: art journal, water colour set, brushes (I bring a #2, and #8 round brushes) , graphite pencil, pencil sharpener. Optional: Uniball Vision Needle black pen, water soluble pencils like Inktense, Stabilo All pencil (I bring blue and navy) and a white gel pen.
My travel paint set is a Koi Water Colors, Pocket Field Sketch Box by Sakura. The additional paints that are dried on the flat surface are Daniel Smith. For my tropical plant water colour paintings I primarily use Green Gold, Serpentine Green, Mayan Dark Blue, Hansa Yellow Deep, Quinacridone Gold and Phthalo Turquoise.
My brushes are driftwood paintbrushes from Sugarhouse Ceramic Co. a small round #2 and medium round #8.
This box contains all the colours you’ll need.
I’m a fan of the vintage Hawaiian vibe.
I think the tea stained watercolour paper instantly gives my pages that same feeling by washing everything in raw senna or more specifically Roobois tea.
I’m using my own handmade watercolour journal. The pages were dyed with tea before I made the journal. The cover was made from dried flowers and resin and the back cover is cork. The first signature is handmade paper that I pick up in Switzerland. You can use any type of water colour journal.
This video shows some of the pages that I created while in Hawaii. After I painted and added some Hawaiian words, plant names and black lines around the edges of the page.
Happy travels fellow art friends and Aloha.
Kerry
