Every trip I take I bring along a different configuration of art supplies based on what worked well and what didn’t on previous trips.

For the trip to Amsterdam, I took a much smaller palette then I have in the past. The previous trip I brought a light weight palette made out of a recycled pencil tin. The pencil tin held over 15 colors of paint but it felt too flimsy. So this trip I took a pocket palette made by the German manufacturer Schmicke that is quite solid but little.

Along with the pocket palette I took along a little collaspible metal cup which was a winner! It didn’t take up much room and gave me two containers to hold water, both the cup itself as well as the lid. A thin travel hair spray atomizer came along on the trip as well as some flat Richeson travel brushes I bought from Dick Blick and my amazing kolinsky sable #2 pocket brush made by Rosemary and Company .

Two mechanical pencils came along and an eraser plus a regular pencil and a sharpener. And one or two thin tipped waterproof pens. That was it. I did not want to drag around too much and I wanted everything portable and light enough so I could take it with me everywhere. Everything was placed in a small wooden cigar box I got from my friend Viv. I believe she traded chocolate chip cookies for it.

Oh and I cannot forget the wonky sketchbook I took along that I made myself. I usually sew my watercolor paper into the cover of a vintage book. This trip I decided to make a lighter weight sketchbook. I created a sort of landscape sketchbook filled with watercolor and mixed media paper with light cardboard on the back and front. When it came to bind it all together I couldn’t figure out a nice looking functional binding so I took a deep breath and drilled two holes threw the covers and all the pages and strung them together with a shoelace. Oh yes, it was embarrassing but it worked well and Bev, one of the wonderful ladies on my trip showed me how to bind it in a more formal looking way. I may get around to fixing the binding someday…..