Big Fun! I’ve been documenting travel adventures in art journals. I’m using ‘hand-book journal company’ acid free books (available on Amazon). This one is 3.5” X 8” when closed. I like them. Nice binding, and the paper is heavy enough so watercolor can go on both sides of a page without showing through.
My Process is to sketch in pencil, ink over it with Pigma Micron pens or other archival ink pens, erase the pencil, then paint watercolor over. I shift images and words around between the pencil and the ink to improve composition. I sketch and paint contemporaneously at the beginning of a trip, but typically get behind after several days, and must rely on my notes and photos for reference. Such is the price of working so small and detailed!
Here’s a picture of my little Altoids tin, which is spray painted inside with white, then filled with favorite watercolor paints. Twelve mini paint pans (Amazon) and a 3-D printed mixing palette (Etsy) fit inside the tin with a narrow piece of sponge slipped in to fill the void. I use a water brush (brush that holds water in the handle) and that works fine. Sometimes I supplement my tin of paints with a Cheap Joe’s wrist-palette (on the left), for additional colors.
My store-bought and homemade mini paint palettes
In the tinned palette, I used (top left to right) Benzimidazolone Yellow (A.K.A. Winsor Yellow), Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Burnt Orange (or Burnt Sienna). Middle row left to right: Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, half Permanent Rose/half Quinacridone Magenta, Quinacridone Coral. On the bottom row, a turquoise blue, Perylene Green (Shadow Green), Cadmium Red, Ivory Black.
I like adding the wrist palette sometimes for the Phthalo Green, the Phthalo Blue (strong mixing colors) and the non-opaque Pyrrole Red.
I cut the top of an old sock off to slip on my wrist to wipe paint off my brush. It’s either that, or paper towels to keep the brush clean and control the amount of water on the brush. All of this - pencils, erasers, pens, brush, paints and journal fit in a small bag.
An unexpected advantage! I just returned to gorgeous Lake Pend Oreille with a good friend whose sibling and friends are amazing people and way fun to hang out with. After reviewing the art journal from my first trip three years before, I was able to identify the people I had met previously by their portraits and names in my art journal! That’s golden!