Lightening my Load

October 20, 2015 | Leave your thoughts

Just when I get around to updating my current sketching tools I make another change! This time trimming my standard kit down to a minimum version so I am carrying less on a daily basis.

Basically I took out my extra brushes and all of those fountain pens out and swapped my standard palette and the pocket palette for a small one. This results in a reduction of 310 grams – not insignificant. I could trim my watercolour pencils totally, but I use them so much that I am going to keep them in for the time being.

I love the little palette – mine was a gift – but I know the Arters in Singapore have them. By using re-used Winsor and Newton half pans (they are slightly smaller than the standard empty pans you buy separately) I can fit 14 colours in this tiny kit. As for the colours… I know you want to know… so I will list them below.

From next week I am going to start using this Pentallic Aqua sketchbook – a gift from the wonderful Stephanie Bower. Another gift – I have so many generous friends! I am a little nervous about going back to this size so for the rest of this week I will be finishing off the A5 size Moleskine I got in Singapore.

Going to a smaller palette (less mixing area) and a smaller sketchbook is a huge deal for me! How will I cope?

Small palette colours:
DS Hansa Yellow Medium – PY97
DS Transparent Pyrrol Orange – PO71
DS Quinacridone Rose – PV19
DS Ultramarine Blue (not French!) – PB29
DS Cerulean Blue Chromium – PB36
WN Cobalt Turquoise Light – PG50
WN Potters Pink – PR233
Holbein Marine Blue PB16
DS  Indanthrone Blue – PB60
DS  Quinacridone Gold – PO49
DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna – PBr7
DS Transparent Red Oxide  – PR101
DS Van Dyke Brown – PBr7
Steels Grey III (a pre mix of WN Cobalt Deep Blue with a little DS Quin Burnt Orange and a touch of DS Quin Rose)

So… this is halfway between my standard palette and my recommended 12 colour palette) The interesting thing is that my current fad colour Marine Blue is very similiar to the missing colour in my 12 colour palette – Pthalo Blue Red shade – proving that although I make tweaks now and again, the basic principles remain the same.

Just finally – thanks to everyone for all the great comments yesterday on my Adult Colouring Book post. The comment section is a great read if you have a moment. I actually started colouring the Secret Paris book last night as a warmup and look forward to sharing more about that soon!

 


Subscribe to my mailing list for my monthly newsletters including first notification of my new SketchingNow Online Sketching Courses and face-to-face workshops.


Leave a Reply