Packing for Manchester

Packing for my trip to Manchester, and for my workshop  People and Places: Life in Contrast at 7th Urban Sketchers Symposium in Manchester.

I’m keeping my sketch kit simple, but adding in some extra stuff for my workshop.

My standard supplies:
Pens: An assortment of fountain pens  and brush pens, ( 2 Sailor Bent Nib, Lamy Safari and Pentel Brush pen) filled with DeAtramentis Document Ink.

Watercolors: I’m using a metal palette with the original clips removed and an assortment of halfpans and fullpans that I will refill with tubes I carry. And a little Nalgene container stuck on with a magnet.  Pans stuck down in that palette with Blu-Tack.

Brushes: A couple of brushes from Rosemary & Co: a small mop and a dagger brush. I may add another wide, flat brush to the mix…

Sketchbooks: I always carry the largest sized Stillman & Birn Beta book, but I’ve added a smaller Alpha and Delta book and a Strathmore Toned Tan paper book. Yes, I totally overdo it with how many sketchbooks I carry, and they weigh a ton.

Other supplies: The biggest difference to my kit is how many pencils I’m taking along: graphite pencils, a set of colored pencils, my two-sided red-blue pencil, and a rainbow pencil.

A lot of my workshop is about building little vignettes with both people and places, using a mix of different media, and it’s a great time work with materials that are easy and fun to use. Besides, it may be rainy in Manchester and there’s only so much patience I have with non-drying watercolor on a rainy day!

If you are taking my workshop, you don’t have to have all these supplies.
Here’s what would be great to bring along:
– a cheap paper sketchbook in which you can use a lot of pages to do gestural sketches
– a bigger book with nicer paper for a larger composition
– a brush pen for gestural drawing.
– other media that you can experiment with mixing in. Keep them easy and portable. I’m bringing colored pencils, pens, and watercolors.
– Keep your kit LIGHT. If it rains, we might stand/huddle someplace and sketch!
– Bring a waterproof jacket/poncho: it’s hard to sketch when holding an umbrella

If you aren’t coming to Manchester, I’ll be posting a workshop review and a downloadable version of the handout you see in the photo here when I get back in early August.