Friday, November 7, 2008

Light Sketching Supplies

Recently one of you asked to see a photo of all the gear that I (Jim) take on the spot for field sketching.
Here’s all you need for the watercolor pencil sketches: a few pencils, a waterpen, and a pocket drawing sketchbook. They all fit in two pockets of a jacket, so you can take them anywhere.


The complete watercolor/drawing sketch kit fits easily into a fanny pack or a briefcase.
1. Paper towels in a plastic bag.
2. A plastic pencil box
3. Assorted pencils and erasers.
4. A sharpener with a shaving catcher.
5. 60 ml (1/4 cup) wide-mouth Nalgene water container.
6. Bound watercolor book (Moleskine, Cass, etc)
7. Schmincke (or Winsor Newton or Lukas) small watercolor box with half-pans, with larger pans of white (used only for special effects) and of sepia

10 comments:

Random York said...

I love the detailed info you guys share on this blog!- John

Super Villain said...

that paintign in the book is amazing, thanks for all the insight into the world of gurney, haha, its great!

and while james is away feel free to drop any gossip you would like, such as if he's afraid of the dark and sleeps with a nightlight, or if he has a lot of back hair or somthing, we would like to hear, haha.

and dont worry he's all the way in africa and by the time he gets back this post will be well hidden!

Frank Dormer said...

Could you elaborate on the 'Cass' watercolor book you mentioned in this post? I am always looking for a good watercolor book.

Thanks,

Frank Dormer

James Gurney said...

Frank, the Cass book we got a few years ago in England. There is a chain of art supply stores, Cass Art, that made up a nice watercolor book under their own brand, with thick paper. I don't know if it's still available.

Ginger*:) said...

thank you for sharing in such detail.... you have the talent to make all these tools work for you and your paintings, even the small sketches are incredible

Unknown said...

Beautiful paintings!

enb said...

lots of priceless information on this artblog.
Thanks a million for sharing!
IanB

James Gurney said...

Digasaur, the waterpen is made in Japan by Yasutomo, but we get them at Utrecht Art Supplies in NYC & Boston, also saw them at Pearl Paint and our local hometown independent, Rhinebeck Art Supplies. I just read the packaging and it says "Waterbrush", Jim accidentally wrote "waterpen". It's got a synthetic sable tip, and a reservoir that we fill with water (or sometimes a sepia wash).

Joseph Miller said...

I am curious about pencil sharpening techniques. I've noticed that you use conventional hand operated pencil sharpeners. On other sites, like Academy of Realist Art they talk about exposing long lengths of lead with a knife and creating a point with sandpaper. They seem to be very convinced that this is the superior way to go... what are your thoughts?

James Gurney said...

Joseph, I'm usually sharpening pencils in an airplane seat or a crowded cafe where the knife and the long point isn't an option. That way of sharpening is custom made for the kind of work that is done in the ateliers, but I get what I need for most kinds of drawing out of a conventional sharpening.