Moving on now to wet materials….
One of the joys of Urban Sketching I’ve discovered relatively recently is the sheer pleasure of wlelding a paintbrush in the open air, and often at the drop of a hat!
Not all situations lend themselves to actually getting out a full kit, and setting up an easel, however, so this year, after experimenting a lot with gouache, which can also be used with watercolour techniques, I’m concentrating on travelling with just a mini pocket travel set of watercolours, refilling separately – bought empty pans from spare tube colours when necessary!
I can just slip this little set into one of my capacious working waistcoat pockets, although I will be taking the precaution of wrapping it in a re-sealable sandwich bag together with a piece of kitchen paper or similar!
The colour range I like is similar to recommendations by David Curtis http://www.djcurtis.co.uk/, a brilliant plein air painter, whose preferred palette in watercolour is :- cobalt green; viridian; French Ultramarine; Cerulean Blue; Cobalt Blue; Cobalt Violet; Raw Sienna; Permanent Rose; Cadmium Orange; Burnt Sienna; Gamboge; Indian Red; Cadmium Red.
I LOVE drawing and painting sketchkits…my own and those of other people – and here are a couple of quick sketches of my enamelled mixing palette, in use, as you can see, and two of my fountain pens.
I’m a firm fan of chinese brushes, which travel well and are very robust, often made with more than one type of hair and which are wonderfully versatile to use.
Nevertheless, I travel with a range of simple brushes in a standard pencil case….eventually I’d LOVE to splash out on a set of Da Vinci travel sables https://www.jacksonsart.com/da-vinci-maestro-kolinsky-sable…, of course, but meanwhile these’ll have to do!
