My Watercolor Travel Kit

Every once in a while I notice that I get a hit from someone who googled for "watercolor travel kit." When I see that it inspires me to do a real write up of the kit I use, but it's never high on my list of priorities. But I finally made the time. So here's a description of the tools I use.

This is a Windsor Newton watercolor travel set. It's not very old but they don't make them like this anymore. I'm sure they all have the same basic features. I carry a little glass jar (I suppose plastic would be better) which used to contain jam. Reusing old jars and bottles is A Good Thing.

The kit opens up like a clamshell, and there are trays, a small brush, and pans of paint inside.

My kit has two trays, which are removable. One of them has tabs and can attach to the top or bottom of the clamshell. As you can see, I don't often need the second tray.

Each little paint tray has four pans of paint, and the paint trays are removable. Each pan of paint is in a little plastic container which is also removable. When I first got this kit I did not get the last group of four- instead I got two groups of the reds and yellows. I had no blues. I went to buy replacement pans and found that I could not find them. The nice lady at the art store told me I could just squeeze paint from a tube into the container and let it dry. I did that for the two blues, black, and white, and it's worked well. If I ever run out of paint I'll fill it back up in the same way. (My parents were able to find the two missing blues in an art store in Vermont, but God knows how much they paid for them.)

This kit also has a rubber sleeve in the middle, so that you can stick your thumb through and hold the whole thing like an artist's palette. To be honest I find that a little uncomfortable, but I have big hands.

And this is my Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. I like the weight of the paper, the texture. I also like it's small size, the elastic band to keep the book closed or a page marked, and the pocket in the back.

These things work well for me. They're small and light and easy to carry. Just as important, they aren't a hassle to work with. I don't worry about losing anything, or not being able to manage all my stuff, or taking up too much space. Most of the time I can fit all of this on my lap. The only issue I have is that if I mix up a lot of paint in one of the trays, I often have to wait for it to dry up before I can close the kit and move on. That isn't always a bad thing, because it gives me time to write down some notes about where I am and what I've drawn.

My biggest piece of advice is to think smaller and simpler: if your kit is cumbersome you won't have any fun using it.