Packing for a family trip often means prioritizing essentials and leaving hobbies behind. But what if your passion for watercolor painting could join your adventures? Creating a portable Watercolor Travel Kit is the perfect solution for artists who love to capture the beauty of the world around them, whether you’re exploring a national park or relaxing in your backyard. This guide will walk you through building your own compact and efficient watercolor kit, ensuring you’re always ready to paint wherever inspiration strikes.
Portable Watercolor Painting kit Packed up
Before we delve into the specifics of what to include, let’s explore why a dedicated watercolor travel kit is a game-changer for artists on the move. Many artists, myself included, tend to overpack art supplies, especially when painting outside of a studio setting. This often leads to decision fatigue and wasted time assembling materials when you could be painting. A pre-assembled watercolor travel kit eliminates this hurdle. It’s a grab-and-go solution, perfect for spontaneous sketching sessions, whether you have a few minutes in your garden or a longer painting session during a hike.
This kit is designed for versatility and portability. Its small size makes it easy to carry anywhere, from a local park to international destinations. It removes the guesswork from packing, ensuring you have everything you need to start painting instantly – just add water and inspiration! Whether you’re painting in your backyard, hiking scenic trails, or exploring a bustling city, a well-prepared watercolor travel kit is your creative companion.
Picture of components of portable watercolor painting kit.
Beyond time-saving convenience, the quest for a lightweight and compact kit is driven by practicality. Imagine hiking to a breathtaking vista and wanting to capture it in watercolor, but being weighed down by heavy art supplies. A lightweight watercolor travel kit is ideal for such scenarios. It’s designed to be easily carried without feeling like unnecessary baggage, even if painting opportunities are limited. This ensures that you can always bring your artistic passion along without compromising mobility.
This particular kit strikes the perfect balance between portability and functionality. It’s been tested in various settings, from car painting sessions to mountaintop sketches. Even on days when painting doesn’t happen, the kit’s minimal weight and size mean it’s never a burden to carry. This “no wasted sweat” approach makes it an invaluable tool for artists who value both their art and their adventures.
Picture of sketch done plein air in back of car using portable watercolor painting kit.
Picture of sketch done plein air on hike using portable watercolor painting kit.
Inside the Watercolor Travel Kit: Essential Components
The foundation of this portable setup is a simple zip-top bag to organize all the essential elements, keeping the sketchbook separate to avoid paint smudges. A stylish and functional bag, like an art-themed one from the Brooklyn Art Library, adds a touch of personality to your kit. The core components include a sketchbook with page clips, drawing tools, a watercolor palette, and travel brushes. A rag or paper towel for brush cleaning is also a must-have, though easily forgotten during packing (and perhaps self-explanatory!). Optional items like a water mister or extra palettes can be added based on your specific needs and painting style.
Let’s explore each component in detail:
Sketchbook and Accessories for Travel Art
Picture of sketch done plein air using portable watercolor painting kit.
Sketchbook: For plein air sketching, an A5 size sketchbook like the Etchr Sketchbook (140lb, Cold Press) from Etchr Lab is a great choice. The A5 size offers a balance between a generous painting surface and portability. While smaller A6 sketchbooks are even more compact, A5 provides ample space to develop your watercolor sketches without feeling cramped. Its size is comfortable to hold in hand or rest on your lap when a table isn’t available.
Page Clips: To combat wind and keep pages flat during outdoor painting, page clips are invaluable. These clips, available from St Louis Art Supply, securely hold down pages, preventing unwanted flipping and ensuring a stable painting surface. The palette cover can also be tucked under these clips to prevent it from sliding around while you work.
Tape: Preparing pages with tape beforehand can streamline the painting process on location. Using Nichiban tape (various types available) to create clean edges for your watercolor sketches is a satisfying touch. Pre-taping a few pages with standard frame sizes (like 4×6 or 5×7 inches) allows for easy framing later without the need for custom mats or frames. While a roll of 1/4″ tape can technically fit in the kit for on-the-go page prepping, pre-taping at home ensures accurate measurements and saves time during your painting session.
Portable page clips for sketchbook pages.
Tape used to prep sketchbook pages before painting sessions.
Portable Watercolor Paint Brushes for Travel
For brushes, a curated selection of travel-sized brushes is essential for portability without sacrificing quality. While you can carry several, focusing on a few versatile brushes is often sufficient for travel sketching. The pictured kit includes a R9 Medium Squirrel Mop, R1 Sable Round, and R4 Sable One Stroke, all from Rosemary & Co.. These three brushes offer a range of capabilities for various watercolor techniques. Note that Rosemary & Co. has replaced the R4 Sable One Stroke travel brush with a Red Dot synthetic version. Due to import restrictions, the R1 Sable Round might not be available in the USA currently, but a synthetic size 6 round is a suitable alternative.
portable watercolor brushes
Mop Brush: A squirrel mop brush is ideal when you need to lay down large washes of water, especially in dry climates. It holds a significant amount of water while still maintaining a fine point for detail work. While it’s a versatile brush, its fluffiness can make resheathing it a bit tricky.
One Stroke Brush: A one-stroke or flat brush is incredibly versatile for watercolor painting. It encourages shape-based painting rather than linear drawing. Using the edges and flat sides of the brush allows for creating varied marks and interesting textures. It’s excellent for painting foliage, buildings, and any subject where simplifying shapes is beneficial. It helps to paint more expressively and less focused on minute details, perfect for capturing the essence of a scene quickly.
Pointed Round Brush: The classic round brush is a workhorse in watercolor. A sable round brush is known for its responsiveness and versatility, suitable for everything from broad washes to fine lines. In a travel kit, it’s particularly useful for adding small details and signing your artwork. To avoid getting bogged down in details too early in a painting, reserve the round brush for later stages and focus on broader strokes with other brushes initially.
Watercolor Paint Palette for Portability
Plein air setup with portable watercolor kit on sketchbooks.
The Folio Palette from Art Toolkit is an excellent choice for a travel watercolor palette. Its compact size fits easily into a small bag, a field case, or even a pocket (though pocket carry in hot weather isn’t recommended due to potential paint softening!). This palette uses a combination of refillable and magnetic pans, allowing you to customize your color selection with your favorite tube watercolors. For extended trips or varied subjects, consider packing an additional palette with alternative colors. However, for most travel sketching, a well-chosen landscape palette is often sufficient.
Water Containers for Travel Watercolor Painting
Water is, of course, essential for watercolor painting, but carrying bulky water bottles defeats the purpose of a portable kit. Collapsible cups are the ideal solution. Two options from Sea to Summit are particularly useful: the X-Shot and the X-Seal & Go. Both collapse flat for easy packing.
The X-Shot, a tiny collapsible cup, is perfect for situations where disposing of paint water isn’t a concern, such as in your garden. For locations where water disposal needs to be more controlled, the X-Seal & Go is preferable. It features a screw-on lid, allowing you to securely contain used paint water and dispose of it responsibly later. When using these cups, partially collapsing them by leaving the bottom-most ridge unextended provides added stability and reduces the risk of tipping.
portable watercolor water cup
portable watercolor water cup with lid
Regarding the safety of watercolor paints and water disposal, it’s worth noting that while pure cadmium is toxic, cadmium in artist-grade watercolors is chemically bound and considered non-hazardous according to EU regulations. For more in-depth information on paint toxicity, resources like the Jackson’s Art Supplies articles on cadmium pigments offer valuable insights. The key takeaway is to be mindful and courteous when disposing of paint water, especially in sensitive environments.
Assembling Your Own Watercolor Travel Kit
Creating your own watercolor travel kit is a personal journey. Every artist has unique preferences and essential supplies. The kit outlined here is a great starting point, but feel free to customize it to fit your individual needs and artistic style. Embrace the spirit of “hike your own hike,” and “paint your own painting!” Explore different materials, experiment with various setups, and discover what works best for you. The goal is to create a portable watercolor painting kit that inspires creativity and accompanies you on all your adventures. Happy painting!
-Jill
