I recently shared with you my updated nature journaling supplies.
Already I have fussed around and changed them! It was more the method of organisation than the supplies themselves, but seeing as I love to look at how others organise their supplies, I thought it would be fun to share mine.
First off here is my new daypack; the other was very old and tatty. This is a child’s pack, so not too big, which is great as it is always tempting to pack more stuff.
Water for painting with
A tiny atomiser filled with clean water for spraying over my paints to get them nice & juicy before I begin to paint.
A genius, foldable pouch for pouring your water into (I stand the bottle in the pouch, to avoid the water blowing away on windy days!)
First Aid kit
It contains:
Antiseptic spray
Sun cream
Bite / sting lotion
Antibacterial gel
Bug repellant (I made this myself, it is just a blend of essential oils in a coconut oil base)
Plasters
Small sandwich box (to collect small nature treasures)
Hand wipes
A large pencil case stores the following:
Watercolours
Tissues for blotting
Paperclips to hold open my journal
Tin of supplies:
Prismacolor pencils in white & black grape (useful for sketching and asking highlights / shadows)
2B pencil
Platinum carbon ink pen My favourite pen! Oh, how I love this one! Reliable, waterproof, deep black ink. Never lets me down.
Derwent watercolour pencil in blue grey I have added a nice new one to my kit. Smashing for sketching, then painting over with watercolour. Gives a lovely effect
White gel pen Perfect for adding small highlights to finished watercolours.
Cross mechanical pencil (not quite the same as mine, but similar) Fantastic, as it never needs sharpening!
Versatil round pointed brush Great for tree branches & fine details. A smashing, well-priced, synthetic brush.
Da Vinci 1503 size 8 watercolour brush A beautiful brush, with an exquisite point. Pretty much the only brush I use in my journal.
An old brush. Used for splatters & scrubbing out colour. It is also sharpened at the other end, so I can use it to scrape out colour when dried, or scrape in twigs etc.
Ruler. Useful for measuring specimens out in the field.
Birthday candle. Perfect for keeping white highlights in your watercolour, due to its resist properties.
Penknife For cutting wee plant specimens.
Kneadable Eraser. These are smashing! You can shape them to the smallest point to erase tiny details, or add highlights to a pencil sketch. Knead after use to avoid build up of colour from the pencil.
Cut up credit / key card. Again, useful for scraping in twigs and so forth.
Tiny chunk of sea sponge Useful for creating texture in foliage, rocks etc.
Water colour palette. Mine is a Schmincke, to which I have added Winsor Newton & Daniel Smith paints. My current colours:
NB. I have removed the Napthamide Maroon & replaced it with my much needed Raw Sienna.
Field Guide This is a smashing guide that we have used on and off for years.
A journal – this one is My newest journal, a Stillman & Birn Alpha Sketchbook which I am using to practice new techniques and such. A smashing journal, the paper is wonderful; it takes a wet wash beautifully & has a nice tooth, but still works well when writing in ink.
I also use:
My regular nature journal. I am currently using the Leuchtturm 1917 sketchbook in medium (A5). The paper is a decent weight, and very smooth, however the paper is really too thin for watercolour, so I have found that once I have completed my painting & it is dry, I miss a page, & glue them together, so I get a double weight of paper.But I like the journal a lot, and am enjoying using it.
UPDATE: I actually really love this journal, and having finished this one, I have moved on to another, but this time I am not glueing the pages together. It isn’t perfect; if I use a particularly juicy wash, it bleeds through the page, but I love the crisp white of the paper & it holds up to most of my pen & ink and watercolour washes.
My Calendar of Firsts. A Moleskine diary, the paper is, as always with the Moleskines (except the specialist water colour book) not great for watercolour, but I am used to how the paper takes the wetness of the media & this book is doing exactly what I need it to do; record what is happening in nature in simple sketches. The fact that it is such a ‘casual’ book makes it easier for me to sketch in hasty sketches; I don’t feel bad about messing up!
I hope that is of some interest! Please do share your own supplies & packing tips in the comments!
Happy exploring
Lynn
“Some interest” is an understatement! Thank you so much for sharing. We are just beginning on our nature studies and have so much to learn. This is so helpful.
Yay!
Thanks Rebecca.
Have you seen the watercolour tutorial I did a while back? It might help you to get going with watercolour.
http://raisinglittleshoots.com/2015/11/02/creating-a-watercolour-nature-journal-page-a-tutorial/
Thanks for linking that other post. I have stuck with colored pencils and some fancy markers we have but haven’t dived in to water colors, yet. I actually found a children’s book illustrator in my little town and she is coming over soon to give me some pointers, also. An online class would be so great!
How wonderful Rebecca!
Thank you for the feedback.
Hi Lynn
Thanks for this post, I too love to see what everyone else does, just gives a bit of reassurance I am on the right lines. You won’t loose your pack in a hurry, my daughter loved the colour! What you have is very similar to what we use at the moment, you have reminded me to restock a few items, such as the wet wipes, tissues and bite cream! My kids are so used to being mucky we never think much of it, but it is good to clean up before eating, now the picnic season is here again. Had a picnic today at a new place for us, it was sandy grassy heath and woodland very different to our usual patch.
The only things we add are small hand lenses, ( keep meaning to get a loupe), a bug viewer and a paint brush ( new) specifically for picking up little beasties without hurting them. We also used to use a tin to put pencils etc in but I found it rather noisy.
My daughter and I were admiring your trees, they are gorgeous, I also note your supplies for scratching, this is fairly new to me any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
I must confess we have two bags, one for the watercolour stuff and the other with everything else is called the explorer pack, we don’t often take both and it is usually the paints which get left behind. As my children are quite young I have concentrated on just getting them out there and sketch when we get home, mainly because I don’t want to carry three lots of everything. I think this year my son is maturing enough to want to sit and sketch, he is also more than strong enough to carry his own supplies. What do your girls do? I don’t want to weigh him down too much and quash the enthusiasm.
So loving our nature study, thanks for encouragement and leadership.
Best wishes
Jenny
Hello Jenny!
It is a very bright pack, isn’t it 🙂
Scratching; if you scratch into a damp wash, you will get a darker line, however if you scratch into a wash that has lost its shine, you get a lighter mark. It can be useful to represent grasses, twigs & so forth.
My girls take their own supplies with them, housed in one of those small insulated child’s lunch packs that have a long shoulder strap. Though I have to say that over winter, we have been leaving our supplies at home & sketching when we return.
Lovely to ‘talk’ with you as always x
Hi Lynn
Yes it does feel like talking, thank you for taking the time to listen:-D
Great tips with the scratching, I will try it out.
The children are quite keen on the idea of taking their own backpacks, I will have to tactfully help them with what to include, my son is inclined to carry a lot of rocks around with him!
Time to repack!
Best wishes
Jenny
Ha ha! Yes, rocks can get a little weighty 😉
I love the sandwich box idea for treasures. I always put them in my pocket or end up carrying them, and they often don’t make it home intact. Thanks for the great idea, Lynn!
Glad to be of help 🙂