Scotland art supply breakdown

what's in my bag??

We’re going to Scotland tomorrow on our two-year-belated honeymoon! As a chronic overpacker, my life is still in shambles trying to figure out what to bring on a three-week trip, EXCEPT when it comes to my art supplies. I’m expecting I might see some of the most otherworldly stunning scenery the world has to offer and I plan to draw at least a bit of it.

Sketchbooks

It was tough but I managed to narrow it down to three:

• a larger watercolour album (for the few times I’ll want to sit and paint a large landscape)

  

  The last time I used this was in New York in 2017 hah hah

• a small glue-bound Fabriano watercolour block that folds flat into a square, for when I want to do smaller scale watercolour (or rip pages out to give people!)

• a cheap mixed media notebook that will double as a general purpose sketchbook, and a regular notebook to keep important travel notes in. Its pages are hardy enough to withstand watercolour washes and it folds flat. Honestly a dream find at the local art supply store and only $12! Looking forward to filling this up with lots of scribbling.

  

  doodle with fountain pen and water brush

  Pens

  

  From left to right:

• Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen. I got this thing two days ago and it is the bomb, I am obsessed. One nib produces so many expressive textures and line weights. It replaced 3 other pens I was going to bring! I bought the converter and filled it with Noodler’s ink since the ink cartridge it came with was not waterproof.

• Pentel water brush filled with Noodler’s ink. I trialed and errored a bunch of brush pens, and I just like the dry textures I get from this DIY brush and the control I have.

• Holbein water brush filled with water and a few drops of Noodler’s ink. The thicker brush makes it a ~dream~ for shading and adding dimension to pen sketches.

• Muji black gel pen. It holds up under watercolour washes, so I can use it for writing as well as drawing.

• white Gelly Roll gel pen, for adding highlights to things.

• Staedtler lead holder - no sharpener or pencil shavings to deal with!

Paints

• My trusty Mungyo travel watercolour set with a Pentel water brush.

• Noodler’s ink, for refills (just in case??). It will be interesting trying to package this so it doesn’t explode all over my suitcase (many ziploc bags). I don’t find this ink to be quite as “bulletproof” as it claims - there’s often a bit of grey bleeding into the colour when I paint over it. It’s fine in my sketchbook, but less ideal for paid work. When I get back, I have my eye on a bottle of Platinum Carbon Ink which I think will perform better.

she’s efficient!!!!!!

This is my favourite part about packing/travelling. Now it’s back to worrying about socks and power adapters :(

BONUS: Books I’m bringing!

I’ve been aggressively consuming memoirs so much over the past year to try to kick my memoir-writing brain into gear, that i almost forgot how nice it is to disappear into good fiction. To that end I’m bringing these two ebooks (in addition to a bunch of old unread New Yorkers):

They both won the Pulitzer and they are opposite experiences (Less is hilarious and Anything Is Possible is… not) and i’m enjoying them so much.

I’ll be posting travelogues now and then during my trip - little previews will go up on Instagram, but subscribe here for the full thing! CANNOT WAIT.

xo Zoe