My sketching tools, drawin and painted into a Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook.
Plein Air Sketching Palettes and Tools
I have written about a number of palettes, including studio and sketching palettes in the 'Palettes' tab, but here I'll look at palettes that are really only for plein air sketching.
I love plein air sketching. I tend to work in a number of sketch books of various sizes from pocket through to A4. I keep a small sketchbook with me at all times, along with a lovely travel brush, a number of fountain pens with waterproof ink, a couple of pencils and a small brass watercolour palette. This one was made by John of Littlebrassbox.
I love plein air sketching. I tend to work in a number of sketch books of various sizes from pocket through to A4. I keep a small sketchbook with me at all times, along with a lovely travel brush, a number of fountain pens with waterproof ink, a couple of pencils and a small brass watercolour palette. This one was made by John of Littlebrassbox.
The 16 colours are from Daniel Smith - Buff Titanium, Goethite, Quinacridone Gold, Hansa Yellow Medium, Indian Red, Burnt Sienna, Pyrrol Scarlet or Transparent Pyrrol Orange, Quinacridone Rose, Ultramarine, Cerulean, Phthalo Blue Red or Green Shade, Jane's Grey (a mixture of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine), Phthalo Green BS), Undersea Green, Green Apatite Genuine and Raw Umber.
My brass watercolour palette made by classicpaintboxes.com
For planned sketching trips, I take a larger Herring compact palette (shown in the main Palettes tab) or this Classicpaintboxes travel palette with me. It has 24 colours - quite a large number but I am a realist so I like to be able to get the exact colour rather than an approximation, and I include a number of ready-mixed colours so I can work faster and spend less time mixing.
To see the colours painted out click here.
Palette dimensions are 111mm x 72mm x 20mm closed.
Open 190mm x 111mm.
Pan size 16mm x 14mm.
This is also included in the sketching materials study at the top of this page. I also take a selection of pens, pencils and other tools. For more detail about these items see my Blog entry here.
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I also have a gorgeous one made by David of Classicpaintboxes, pictured left, open, on a page of my A5 sketchbook. It is a miniature version of the one above and is in my handbag at all times. I love brass palettes! As they are handmade, they can be made to individual specifications :-)
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The Pocket Palette filled with my Ultimate Mixing Set colours.
In 2013 I discovered a gorgeous very slim pocket palette designed by Maria Coryell-Martin that holds 14 tiny metal pans or up to 6 larger square pans and two small ones. It is very cute and very clever if, like me, you want to be always ready to paint! She also has a compact travel kit that is definitely worth looking at. With a water-brush, you don't need a lot of equipment to be able to add some colour to your sketches.
If you are interested in purchasing them in Australia please contact me. They are $40 empty or $90 filled with Daniel Smith artist quality watercolours, plus shipping. These colours are my suggested ultimate mixing colours - suitable for painting pretty much any subject you choose. The colours are Buff Titanium, Hansa Yellow Medium, Quinacridone Gold, Pyrrol Scarlet, Pyrrol Crimson, Quinacridone Rose, Ultramarine, Cerulean Chromium, Phthalo Blue GS, Phthalo Green BS, Goethite, Burnt Sienna PBr7, Indian Red, Raw Umber and Jane's Grey.
I use the new mini pans, added in 2018, to fit all 15 colours in. Here I have shown it with the phthalo blue and phthalo green as mini pans, but I'd generally make it with pyrrol scarlet and pyrrol crimson in the mini pans as these are used less often in urban and travel sketching.
I have sprayed the old style pans with epoxy enamel to protect them, though Maria's new pans are now coated to protect from rust.
I have also written a Blog about travelling light with colour that you can see here. It shows a number of different travel palettes.
The Pocket Palette filled with my plein air extra colours.
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I have one of these set up with wonderful special effect colours in my sketching bag.
The photo below shows the new half sized pans as well as the normal rectangular pans and the double sized and largest pans. The pans are now coated to be rust resistant. I spray mine with enamel - white on the inside and black on the outside :-) 
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Art Toolkit - small version.
In 2015, Maria added the lovely Art Tool Kit to her sketching range. This is another wonderful idea - designed for her business card sized pocket palette above, it is custom made in Seattle and is nice and strong. The picture left is how she sells it filled and ready to go - complete with a pocket-sized Moelskine sketchbook
I have filled mine with a lot more tools and it is working very well. I keep it in my handbag, set up with my basic sketching kit - my palette, a pencil, watersoluble graphite pencil, water-brush, Da Vinci sable #8 travel brush, grey pen and ink brush. My fountain pens are in a separate roll in my handbag as well :-)
You can see the Pocket Art Toolkit and her larger Art toolkit here - https://expeditionaryart.com/shop/art-toolkit/
In 2017 Maria has updated both the pocket palette and the larger toolkit, which now holds an A5 sktchbook.
I have filled mine with a lot more tools and it is working very well. I keep it in my handbag, set up with my basic sketching kit - my palette, a pencil, watersoluble graphite pencil, water-brush, Da Vinci sable #8 travel brush, grey pen and ink brush. My fountain pens are in a separate roll in my handbag as well :-)
You can see the Pocket Art Toolkit and her larger Art toolkit here - https://expeditionaryart.com/shop/art-toolkit/
In 2017 Maria has updated both the pocket palette and the larger toolkit, which now holds an A5 sktchbook.
Art Toolkits - original small and 2018 larger versions.
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You can see the original A6 size and the new A5 size. This fits a lot of sketching gear in it - here is my original small one all filled (left) and below is the larger one with even more sketching gear ;-)
The larger Art Toolkit filled with sketching tools.
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This page was last updated in April 2018