As someone who loves art and travel, my favorite souvenirs from trips are often original watercolor paintings from street vendors. However, on recent trips I have found it harder to find the watercolor paintings I’m looking for, so I’ve started keeping my own sketch journal of my favorite sights. Knowing the frustrations of both overpacking and under packing art supplies, I have compiled a list of the bare essentials for starting your own watercolor travel sketchbook.
A Good Sketchbook
When it comes to watercolor, the paper quality often makes a bigger difference than the brush or paint quality. Find a sketchbook size that will work for your trip and can fit inside whatever bag you use while sightseeing. I suggest finding paper that is labeled as cold press, 140 lb weight. Pure cotton paper is nicer to paint on than synthetic blends but will also increase costs.
Three Paint Brushes
Some paint brushes, marketed as travel brushes, come with caps that becomes the handles. These tend to work well and remove any concerns about the brushes being damaged while traveling. When looking for watercolor brushes, try looking for either squirrel hair or sable brushes (in this case the synthetic ones work great). For a sketch journal I like using a round 6, round 1, and a 10mm flat brush. These three sizes tend to fit all my needs. When it comes to traveling, less is more.
Pen, Pencil, and Eraser
My process usually involves sketching my subject lightly in pencil, tracing my final sketch in pen—with waterproof ink to prevent smudging—and then erasing the extra pencil marks with a separate eraser. I like seeing the pen outlines in my final pieces, although some people prefer to just see the watercolor. Other artists may prefer to jump straight to the pen without a preliminary sketch because it is faster and can force the artist to make looser paintings.
Minimal Set of Watercolors
There are lots of watercolor sets on the market and travel sizes are easy to find. Dried pans are typically nicer to travel with than tubes of paint. I suggest a set that comes with pans of red, yellow, blue, green, and a few browns. Although green and brown can technically be mixed from the primary colors, I tend to use these colors a lot when I’m traveling, so it saves me time when mixing colors. Look for paints that are marked as lightfast so that your souvenir paintings don’t fade over time.
Foldable Cup
If you are planning to paint on sight, I would suggest getting a rubber cup that folds flat for easy traveling—you can’t make watercolors without water.
Of course you can add to this list with what fits your needs and style as an artist, but I have found this to be the basic kit I go to when I am packing my bags. There are so many ways to be inspired as a traveler, and I believe that painting helps me to truly appreciate the beauty of the places I visit.