I thought I'd show you some photos of the supplies I take with me to Sketch Club Wednesdays. I found a cute little blue polka-dotted bag at Michaels a couple of years ago. It has lots of outside pockets and one large inside pocket. In the pockets, I keep a palette knife, and an assortment of erasers. I use them a LOT!!, a waterbrush, some watercolour brushes and a bulldog clip or two to keep the wind from blowing my pages. The name tag is from the Master class I took from Robert Bateman (inspiration)
I take mosquito spray with me in case they are bad -
The inside holds mosquito spray in case they are bad, and I have sunscreen because you can't always stay in the shade for .the whole two hours as the sun moves. My watercolour set has just the basic colours from tubes, water, a water mister, 2 little gelato cups to hold clean and dirty water, a pencil case with various sizes of Pigma pen markers. Pigma pens are permanent when dry so you can paint over them with watercolour and they don't smear. The other pencil case holds a selection of mechanical graphite pencils. and a pencil case with pencils, a blue col-erase pencil, another waterbrush, a carbon ink fountain pen and another uniball marker. I sometimes include a small set of coloured pencils. I also take a small package of kleenex tissues (without lotion in them) and I will throw in some paper towels folded up in a ziploc baggie. I also have a small kitchen sponge which I wrap the paper towel around to absorb water, and little bits of sponges to make trees. There are blending stomps too. I have some watersoluable graphite pencils. You can draw with them and then add water to make the shadows. I keep my monopod for my camera in there too because sketchclub is always where I use that - to steady my camera if I want to take a better shot.
I still have room in that bag to put my sketchbook - right now I'm using a Canson Multimedia sketchbook. The paper takes water and ink really well and it is good for pencil sketching also.
You could just take a sketchbook, and a pencil and eraser. You can draw anything with just that much equipment. But I like to add some colour so I take a lot more stuff with me. I try to pack light and this is what I normally carry with me each week.
I often have a tea in my pop up top tea thermos.
I take along my camera. It's a Canon Powershot SX60HS with a zoom lens built in. I first learned about this camera from Robert Bateman. He uses it when he's out on hikes looking for reference photos :-) I love it for its ability to zoom in to capture details that are too far to get close enough to. And I usually just use it on the automatic setting. It does such a great job. If I forget my camera I do use my i-phone 6s but it's only good for close ups.
I have a lightweight aluminum and canvas fold up stool to sit on. It has a shoulder strap so it can be carried easily.
There are lots of places online that show what other people pack and carry in their sketching kits.
Keep it as simple as you can because even a small bag can get heavy if you have to carry it any long distance. Mine is just right!
Keep it packed and ready to go so you will be able to join us any Wednesday a.m. you happen to be around in the KW area. All summer we travel to different locations. There is a schedule print out at the Button Factory on Regina St W in Waterloo. In the fall and through the winter into spring we meet at the Button Factory for sketching in one of their meeting rooms.
Or there is a group that meets on Saturdays called the KW Urban sketchers. They have their own schedule and they often go further afield than the Button Factory Sketch club.
But we are all fun people and we don't bite! Please join us :-)
