Art On The Go

3 minute read

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to get advice from a beginner. Like “I tried this because I have no idea what I’m doing, but it actually worked out! Yay!”

I want to see the learning stage, the figuring out and fiddling along. Expert advice is good and all, but sometimes those experts don’t remember the stumbling in the dark moments from when they were learning, so their advice is a bit too shiny.

I am not an expert artist. But I am an expert at keeping an open mind, and trying new things.

This is the story of my first art-on-the-go kit.

LIST OF ITEMS

Here is the list of all items in my (current) art-on-the-go bag. Now that I’ve taken it out for a couple “test drives”, I will be making some slight changes, but the base will stay the same.

• glue stick, paper clips, washi tape
• coloured markers, gel pens, Posca pens
• mechanical pencil, Pilot pen with black ink
• water brush, acrylic paint (white)
• stickers, ephemera, bits of colourful paper, white printer paper
• self inking stamp

KIT IN ACTION

The original raison d’etre for this kit was my first time joining Sketch Club YEG. The stars finally aligned for me to meetup with their group at the Royal Alberta Museum in downtown Edmonton.

I finding sketching in the wild very intimidating, so I kept it simple and tried to incorporate some of my collage style. It was a lot of fun to sit at the various exhibits and play around in my sketchbook. Those pages eventually made it into my art journal!

BEGINNER TIPS

Here are some of my beginner’s tips for folks who might be interested in creating their own art kit to sketch or collage away from home.

1. Keep it simple and pack minimal supplies; I chose a small bag on purpose.
2. Nothing too messy; paint is fun, but how much will you be able to manage that or clean up when you’re out and about?
3. Consider what type of art you do and your favourite supplies for that; for example, I like collage so I knew I had to include a glue stick, but if you do watercolour that wouldn’t make a lot of sense to include.
4. If you can’t bring all the colours, bring a colour theme; I didn’t have an easily portable set of pencil crayons, so I chose only a few coordinating colours to include.

Once you’ve taken it out for a test drive, consider what you did or didn’t use, and what might be fun to try next time. There were definitely a few items that I didn’t touch, and those were removed when I got home. I’m still figuring out what’s best, and if I’ll be using the same items each time.

REFRESH AND TRY AGAIN

I of course had a lot of thoughts after I took my Art Kit out for the first time. I made a few minimal changes and took it out again to an outdoor location this time.

I still didn’t use the paint, but I forgot scissors and that hit me hard. A solid surface is needed as well, perhaps a small clipboard? Having a lot of pens, stickers, and random bits of scrap paper is a must, and I was able to create an art journal page about my day while I was still living it! Very fun.

Every time I take it out I think I will be adding and subtracting to it, depending on where I am headed and what I want to create. A list of “must haves” would be helpful, as well as dedicated tools that never leave the bag. Shit, I’m going to need a bigger bag.

FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

Sketch Club Yeg meets on the third Saturday of every month at a location in or around Edmonton. It is free to join, but sometimes there is admission for the location. You can join their email newsletter through their Instagram profile.