In less than a week I am off on holiday to Montenegro. I'd like to try and get some sketching done while on holiday (and en route!). So I am putting together a travel kit.
For a while I have carried a small sketching kit with me to work every day, so that I can try and squeeze some sketching into my rest breaks. I normally try and carry a mechanical pencil, some water-soluble pencils, eraser, pen and a waterbrush.
Recently I have been experimenting with a way to challenge being too hesitant by using pencils and eraser. I recently bought a Lamy Safari fountain pen, and bought some Platinum Carbon Ink which when dry is permanent and waterproof. I am really liking the commitment needed when using ink, and am looking forward to experimenting with it. I also want to get better at painting, to give me more confidence to work non-digitally. So I really want to bring some paints with me.
I have recently been watching the YouTube channel of James Gurney, I really like his plein air gouache sketchbook paintings and I am wondering if I can do something a little bit like that. So I think I will take my field kit watercolours and a tube of white gouache, which I can mix with the watercolours to make them opaque if I need to.
I don't expect that my work will be anything as good as this, but that's OK! I just want to have fun. I think I will take my little A6 sketchbook as well, as this might be easier to use on the plain, or if we are out and about and I don't have lots of time to paint.
Choosing what to paint
Thinking about what to take with me, and what I might capture to fit into 'the everyday' I remembered an article in Artists and Illustrators magazine [1] a few months ago regarding travel sketching. The article gives some really useful insight and advice on the subject. I particular appreciated this quote towards the end of the article:
"It's important only to sketch things that interest you and not to feel you have to draw this, that or the other because of some sense of what sketches ought to be of" (Desmet Ra, 2019)
I found this intriguing. I often feel a sense of obligation when sketching, like my choices are driven by what I think other people expect me to sketch. I noted on my introductory conversation with my tutor last night that sometimes it feels like I need permission to break rules - even rules I might have unintentionally set for myself. That's why I appreciate this article so much. It's given me that kind of permission. I have been working with personal values as part of my professional work. One of my core values is authenticity, so it really speaks to me when the author says
"...but in fact you need to draw what most interests you because the amount of interest you've got in a subject is always clear in the drawing you make of it." (Desmet Ra, 2019)
I am looking forward to challenging myself on holiday, but also in the spirit of the great Bob Ross, to have a little fun with my painting, and not to be too hard on myself!
Desmet Ra, A. (2019). Travel Sketching. Artists & Illustrators, (1473-4729), pp.70-73.
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