Artbag Wednesday, 10th December 2003
I've got a spiral bound cartridge paper Daler-Rowney sketchbook in landscape format (148 x130mm, about 6x5 inches) which just fits into the main section of the bag. I keep my basic set of drawing materials (see below) in the front pocket so it's all there when I grab the bag. There are another two slim pockets front and back.
By the way, I keep a keyring compass, which also has a thermometer included in it, attached to one of the zip fastners. It's not often that I need it but, when I do, there it is. Fashion Hints
No! - I look like Brueghel peasant! However, as fashion doesn't matter too much as you trek through the woods and fields, I'm sticking with this arrangement but when Barbara and I visit the Café Casbah I tend to take it off and carry it under my arm. So then it probably looks like an handbag! It shows how much I love my art. Pens
Rotring art pen
|
Previous Page
I've
recently joined an artists' journals group and there's been a lot
of discussion about bags so I thought I'd do a page on my artbag
- a Gelert Bumbag or waist bag - and its contents.
Last
month, when I set off on a long walk, I was carrying a rucksack
so I wore the bumbag across my stomach, marsupial fashion. When
I stopped to do a quick 
sketch
I could get at everything (there was room for a small bottle of
drinking water in there too) without heaving my rucksack off. I
found it useful to rest my sketchbook on the bag as I drew. I could
simply stop and stand, wherever I was - in the middle of a field
for instance - and get on with my sketch.
One
word of warning. Bags of this design were used in medieval times
by shepherds, pilgrims, outlaws and so on, so I was convinced that
I'd look sporty and dashing; a latter-day Robin Hood in the mould
of Errol Flynn or Kevin Costner.
As
I've often mentioned in this diary, my favourite drawing pen is
the Rotring Art Pen. 
I've
got two fitted with black ink cartridges, which are easy to change
on location. There's room for a spare cartridge in the barrel of
the pen so, if you run dry mid-drawing, you can refill the pen in
seconds. I've got a third art pen which has a fountain pen filler
in it instead of cartridges. I've filled that with sepia Manuscript
Calligraphy Writing Ink. Sepia ink cartridges are also
available.
These
pens are not recommended for use with waterproof ink but using water
soluable ink means that, when the drawing is dry, you can dab it
with a brush dipped in water to produce a tonal wash.
Pentel
Brush Pen
I
use a brush pen when I want to free my drawing up a bit. It doesn't
give quite the freedom or unpredictability of drawing with a brush
or bamboo pen loaded with Indian ink but it's more practical on
location as you don't have the danger of spillages or the need to
clean out your brush.
Pilot
Drawing Pen
Watercolours
I
like gadgets so I couldn't resist this Daler-Rowney Artists
Watercolour box that folds up into a tube. I've varied
the colours in it a little.
I
first read about waterbrushes in an article by Martha McEvoy
in Trumpetvine Travels. The barrel unscrews for filling
and you control the flow of water into the brush by squeezing the
barrel. To clean it squeeze more water through and dab the brush
on a tissue. On my walk I was glad to save a little weight and space
by packing this instead of the plastic screwtop bottle of water
that I've taken with me for the last 25 years.
