If I don’t feel comfortable with my drawing/painting materials, I tend not to bring them out. So I’ve become increasingly picky about my kit over time. Ultimately, my final selection is one that’s lightweight, compact, and not so fragile that I have to worry about where/how I’m toting it.
Here’s what actually works for me:
- Stay-wet gouache container
- Pocket-sized watercolor sheets
- Paintbrushes
- Sweatband/towel/wipes
- Mixing palette
- Spray bottle
- Dirty water bottle
- Clean water bottle
All together, it looks like this:
Stay-wet gouache container
I’ve seen people use tackle-boxes for the job of keeping wet paints. This is similar, with the added benefits of (presumably) better sealing from the rubbery topper, and a nice collapsible water dish which the palette nests in.
It does, unfortunately, tend to do this:
The leakage is annoying but manageable, and hasn’t yet made a giant mess in my bag. 🤞🤞
Altogether, the palette nested within its dish is about 4” x 5” x 1.75” and fits easily in my purse. I’m even able to tuck in a sweatband and a few wipes inside. Very compact!
Watercolor sheets
Ripped from a cheap sketchbook, binder-clipped into a cut-out segment of manila folder: after trying countless sketchbooks, this cheap solution is ultimately the one that makes it out the door with me because it’s lightweight, slim, and I don’t have to be too precious about it.
Yes, that green part is the cover of a sketchbook, cut off and used as a small drawing board.
Paintbrushes, and sweatband
The specific brushes tend to shift over time, but consistently I tend to take with me at least a Round, and Filbert, and a Bright/Flat/Chisel, plus a flat palette knife. Nothing larger than a 6, because I paint small anyway, and because 8 and above tend to be too long, and get destroyed by rubbing up against the top of my bag.
My preferred means of transporting these brushes? Currently a very posh ziplock freezer bag. …it gets the job done anyway, with minimal weight/bulk. Though my brushes tend to get beat up with this transport method, so I’ve got my eyes on brush rolls…
The sweatband makes for a convenient towel to wipe off my brushes between colors, and for a very small amount of palette cleanup. In addition to the sweatband I tend to bring a few baby wipes, for handling the aforementioned leakage from my wet palette and whatever other mess I inevitably get on my hands.
Mixing palette
While many people mix colors on the lid of the stay-wet palette, I find it too difficult without dividers; my colors quickly start to run into each other. So despite its bulk only barely fitting into my bag, I take along a lightweight hand mixing palette (seen on the left below).
Lately I seem to use fewer and fewer of these little cups every time I paint, so I’m starting to consider sawing the thing in half so that it packs more nicely… 🤔
Triple water bottles
For each painting session I bring a full bottle of clean water, which is dumped into the collapsible/expandable dish attached to the wet palette. This is used for rinsing brushes between colors, while I use a small spray bottle (repurposed perfume bottle) to mist my palettes or brushes with pure water when needed. The rinsing water quickly gets full of paint, so the collapsible water bottle becomes my disposal.
Where to find these tools
…and that’s the kit! Some of it purchased, some of it repurposed or modified.
Here are some links to the tools I could remember how to find (not sponsored, just for your convenience):
It’s not perfect; I’m still seeking ways to save space in my bag, since the two water bottles don’t quite fit and must be clipped on the outside. And my brushes take a beating when transported this way. But for now, this kit provides a compact way to paint on the go, and I find it not too cumbersome to carry with me. Plus, besides all the painting supplies I have juuuuust enough room to stash my cards, keys, phone, and sunglasses. 🙂
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