What's in your (sketching) bag?

I was hoping to put this and similar information in the future on a separate page but I have failed miserably with my blogger skills so I'll just have to post this here as normal :(.

In this first post I wanted to show you my basic watercolour sketching kit which I generally take out with me on full day trips or just shorter walks in the local countryside with my dog. I do change it or add to it occasionally but this really is the bare minimum.

The kit comprises an A6 Winsor and Newton heavyweight sketch book, a tiny 5x7 watercolour pad, a few graphite pencils for outline drawing and quick pencil sketches, a small W&N watercolour box with its own water supply and water cup, a water bottle and a few travelling brushes. The brushes in the case are both Escoda Kolinskys which are absolutely gorgeous brass brushes. They are exremely comfortable to hold and they keep their points even when completely dry. I also sometimes take the little wallet shown here which contains some lovely old W&N Sceptre brushes. These are a sable/synthetic blend and also brass. I found these in the bargain box at the local art supplies! The whole kit fits in a Cotman Sketcher's Case which is a lovely set just to start with, even if you don't later swap out the student watercolours for an artists quality set as I have done with mine. I also take a few sheets of kitchen roll and some anti-bacterial hand spray or gel - very useful for when you need to clean paint or animal by-products from your hands! The heavy oak gate leaf table, which has been in my family for well over a hundred years now, stays at home in my 'studio' you'll be glad to know!

The colours in the box are Winsor Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Perylene Maroon, Permanent Mauve, French Ultramarine, Cerulean Blue, Winsor Green Blue Shade, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna and Venetian Red. The palette is a hybrid of a conventional split-primary and earth colours set with green and violet secondaries to give a better gamut of mixes around the colour wheel.

With the exception of Burnt Sienna, these are all single pigment colours so there's less chance of me making mud when I mix them! I generally don't use black and prefer to mix my own although I'm not a purist about it. I only use white when I work with opaque media i.e. oils, acrylics, pencils, pastels and gouache. I have these same colours in both half and whole pan sets as well as 14ml tubes. I use W&N for most of my work but I do have a handful of other colours and sets from other manufacturers like Schmincke and Maimeri but these are my favourites and my workhorses ... at the moment anyway :)

I hope you're all having better weather than we are here in the East of England. (Il pleut, es regnet, it's chucking it down). That's it for now. Back to the DIY again very soon - Have a lovely weekend everyone :)