The early warm spring weather has cleared the roads so travel season is upon us. I thought you might be interested in my various travel kits! If I list a product that is more difficult to find I will put a link to where I buy it. I only tell you about products that I like and use and I do not get paid for telling you.
My number 1 kit is the Purse Kit. This goes with me whether I am transporting children or heading out for a volunteer gig. About a year-and-a-half ago, I finally just made my own satchel-type purse so I could always carry a journal with me.
Purse with Journal in Back Pocket
Small Kit for Purse
The Purse Kit includes: a small flat tin of water color crayons, a water brush, 2 permanent black pens, 1 white pen, a glue stick, an eraser, a small tweezers, a small ruler, and my Bumblebee scissors. When flying, the scissors go into my suitcase, as I would hate to have them confiscated. I also use a tiny, cheap pair of folding scissors that hang on my key chain. The toothbrush holder holds my drawing pencils and a kneaded eraser, and lies in the bottom of my purse. Oh, and I usually carry some small ATCs for discreet doodling.
Purse with kit velcro-ed in place
Inside the purse I added a strip of industrial Velcro to hold the zippered pouch in place. The zippered pouch is a cosmetics freebie that I painted red to match the purse.
When I am traveling for more than a long weekend, or on a road trip (when I have lots of room), I carry the Large Kit. The large kit is another freebie case, I think fancy pajamas or slippers came in it. I decorated it with duct tape to hide the logos and to make it easier to find in the back of the car. The smaller matching case came with a travel mixer (I think) and it was just fun to use the same tape to disguise the logo.
Large Art Travel Kit
This Large Kit includes everything in the Purse Kit with the addition of: 2 sets of Pilot gel pens, lattes and sweets, in their own case; a set of Koi watercolor paints with another larger, water brush, colored Pitt pens, and an additional white pen. I also carry journals in the Large Kit (see below). The metal ruler is just shown to give a size comparison. There is also room for a baggie full of collage elements and ephemera. When on a trip I get brochures at Tourist Info Centers, Postcards and maybe a magazine or two to add to my collage stash.
Traveling Journals
With the Purse Kit I generally carry the larger journal shown here. I made it with several different types of paper. When I carry the Large Kit I normally carry the larger journal, the 5 X 7 Moleskine watercolor journal, and one of the small journals. I am test-driving the small Strathmore Mixed-Media journal to see if I like it.
The Hiking Kit is the last kit to show you. As the name implies anything that goes along is carried by moi. So it is the stripped down version of essential art supplies.
The Hiking Kit
The little journal doubles as a flower-press – thus the hair band. Sometimes I ditch the pencil case in favor of a #2 pencil with a good eraser on it. The greenish suede pouch hangs on the belt of my camel pack, so I have easy access to the camera. I usually just take pictures and then sketch from the pictures at a later time.
This week I’m doing a two-day road trip, so the Large Kit will go along with me in the car. I will also have two middle-sized kids so I will probably have to share. I might just throw in some extras.
Do you have an art essentials kit? What do you include?
