Portable Watercolor Painting Kit

Lately, my days are spent on the couch in my living room, looking after and feeding my newborn daughter while on maternity leave this summer. I've been getting the itch to find a way to incorporate some kind of creative outlet during the brief downtime I have between feedings and naps each day, and I decided to try using my portable watercolor setup in the living room. It's been working out really well! Here's everything I've been using over the last month to make that happen.

Sketchbook - Saunders Waterford is my go-to paper for the majority of my paintings, so it's worth it to me to splurge on a spiral sketchbook with the same paper. I have yet to find a watercolor sketchbook with paper that I like, so this one is my go-to. Arches also makes a travel sketchbook (finally!) that I used last summer on vacation at the beach.

 Easel - I discovered the Stablo Easel a few years ago on Instagram, and it's been one of my favorite portable painting tools that fits easily into my tote bag or backpack. The easel is handmade in France and uses magnets to keep your paint palette in place along with modular inserts that attach to the sides to hold a water cup or brushes. It's been great for sitting on the couch with my sketchbook in my lap for my quick painting sessions and allows me to balance everything perfectly without fearing I'll bump my water cup over or drop my palette!

Travel Palette - nothing beats the portability and convenience of Art Toolkit Palettes. I loved using their Demi Palette when I went hiking in Sedona, AZ last year, so I decided to upgrade from my Meeden palette and get their larger Folio Palette for my everyday portable painting kit. I configured my palette with 18 pans, perfect for emulating my studio palette and colors I use regularly.

Travel Brushes - I upgraded my watercolor brushes to these Escoda Versatil travel brushes and they are a dream! They hold plenty of water but their fine points also allow easy detail work. I use sizes 2, 8, and 12, with size 12 being the one that I use the most. I also found a 1/2" travel flat brush that's great for wetting the paper and putting in large washes quickly.

Water Brush  - I use this more when I'm on-the-go, but having a water brush pen like this Faber Castel brush is super handy since it has its own water reservoir - no need to have a water cup nearby. The button on the barrel controls the flow of water if you want to get a more fluid wash. It's also easy to refill the water reservoir when you need more.

Tape - not entirely necessary, but I like having this soft Holbein tape in my kit so I can get nice borders around some of my sketches, or to divide the page up if I'm painting a few vignettes. It's easy to remove from my pages since its low-tack and doesn't tear the paper.

Spray Bottle - how cute is this tiny spray bottle! Perfect for misting my paints to get started with painting or keeping a wash on the page wet while I keep working.

Pencil - I like sketching my preliminary drawings with a mechanical pencil, this one has a nice weight to it and I like the size of the lead.

Book Lights - this one is a bit unusual for a portable painting kit, but indispensable for painting on the couch at night! Sometimes the only time I have during the day for sketching is when the baby is napping in the evening, and we keep the living room pretty dark for her. Clipping these book lights onto my easel is such a game changer and allows me to easily see and paint! They get really bright with five different settings and are rechargeable. I started out with just one but really found it beneficial to clip two to my easel to balance the light evenly across the sketchbook. I bet you could use these to paint a nocturne outside!

I'm so glad I found a way to keep my painting practice going over these last few weeks, no matter what brief free time I have.

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