Have you ever wanted to paint your way as you travel somewhere new? I will be heading to Italy later this year and I wanted to practice some scenes ahead of time to get more familiar with the area and to help test various art supplies. I want to take enough supplies to be able to capture my memories, but not be weighed down with too many. Too many also complicates decision making. This is one of my efforts. It's in watercolor and the fourth time I had painted that scene.

You may wonder, why in the world would I want to paint the same scene that many times??? Well, each time, I was changing the surface and wanted to compare the results. Gouache is what I used on the first three. Follow along and join me as I explore parts of Italy.

I will be teaching a class at Wildacres Retreat Center (https://wildacres.org) in the mountains of North Carolina (right off the Blue Ridge Parkway). The class will be focused on ways to document a trip in your journal or sketchbook. I will be using watercolor, gouache, and pen. If you want to be on the announcement email list, please send your request to Carson. She organizes this event in July. I will be teaching in the session July 21st 27th.

Carson's contact for being added on the email list:
[email protected]

Class description will be up March 1st, and Registration opens March 13th.
Wildacres Website https://wildacres.org/

My Favorite MINI Watercolor Kit – Many of these items are optional, but this is my favorite collection of supplies I currently carry everythere I go. Once you begin your journey to create “on the go,” you will figure out what you need to have in your kit.
Journal of choice and size varies, but most are watercolor paper 140lb. (Moleskine, Pentalic, Strathmore…)
Water Brush – Large Pente
Limited Palette in small tin (four ½ pans with magnets)
o Perylene Red (Daniel Smith)
o Hansa Yellow Med. (Daniel Smith)
o French Ultramarine (Daniel Smith)
o Burnt Sienna (Daniel Smith)
Convenience Colors limited palette
o Quinacridone Opera (Holbein) or Quinacridone Magenta (QOR)
o Dioxazine Purple (QOR) or (M. Graham)
o Peacock Blue (Mission)
o Quinacridone Gold (QOR) or New Gamboge (Daniel Smith)
Atomizer or small spray bottle
Pens
o Uniball EYE Micro or Fine– waterproof black
o Micron 005 black
o Uniball Signo – WHITE gel pen
o Elegant Writer – black Calligraphy pen
Mechanical pencil (or your choice)
Eraser – Kneaded
Paper Towels or something absorbent
Index cards – test colors and practice strokes
Pipette – to fill brush
Clip magnets for each palette
SafeT Compass (optional)
Small magnifying glass (optional)
White gouache (optional)
Freezer paper (optional)to protect journal pages.
Tape (optional) masking, washi, or painters (create border edges)

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