80° North, anyone? Art supplies for the Land of the Midnight Sun!

 

That's where we'll be the first part our trip!  Far, far, far northern Norway, off the mainland. I am going to try to get some sort of memento with that latitude engraved on it! I'm a north-going spirit, that's for sure. 

This being such a once-in-a-lifetime trip, I vow to document it fully in writing and sketches, in addition to the separate group of drawings I'll do for my Caledonian Orogeny project.

But what supplies to take with me?? I travel only with a carryon and that has to contain clothes for winter weather (still there in May and early June in Svalbard) as well as for cool spring days, which I hope we will find in the other parts of Norway we are going to. Yikes!

Wakeful at 2am today (and you can understand why!), I looked at past sketches of similar atmospheric situations. Here are my tentative choices. If you have any suggestions, by the way, please do make them!

I know you've seen most of these before, but bear with me. I have to think.;D

1. Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons: I use these often. Here are some examples from  the past:

Iceland, Budir Bay

More Iceland. Here there's a wash of Daniel Smith Lunar Black with the crayons. I'll take that and Lunar Blue and those will be my only watercolors. Right? I can add more washes later. if I want to.

 

Mt Hood, Oregon. Unlike my previous trips to Norway, which all took place in the Arctic Twilight, this trip will be, as I mentioned, under the Midnight Sun!

    2. Pentel pocket brush pen. These are practically extensions of my hands. I use them everywhere.

In Bergen, Norway, with white gel pen and watercolor wash

 

In E.Lansing, Michigan, with watercolor crayons! Two for the price of one!

    3. Inktense pencils? When you must have bursts of juicy color!

Don't you love how a mere spritz of water makes inktense sketches ebullient!

Inktense pencils at Carn Llidi, Wales. Speaking of atmospheric, as we were:

     4. Cretacolor Oil pencils in Nero. I have to have these for regular drawing, right?  With these, you can be both gestural and precise:

And I'll need these for my Caledonian Orogeny drawing, of course;

    5. Sketchbooks: I'll have a couple of custom handmade concertina sketchbooks for the rock drawings and then two Stillman & Birn softcover 8 x10s, one in gray, one in white.

    6. Blue and red colored pencils, not watercolor ones. Oh, let's add orange and green, too. I just like to draw with these and they come in handy if you want quick, dry color.

 

 Oh, I've given myself a headache now.

I'm serious... if you have any suggestions, any new products you like for travel sketches, or old favorites of yours (not watercolors, though, or fountain pens for this trip, unfortunately,) I'd love to have them!

Takk!

Comments

[Laura]

Thank you, Nina! I took some gouache with me on our last trip to Wales...if you scroll down to that post, you'll see a jellyfish painted with gouache. But where I go, it takes FOREVER for paint to dry and that makes it impractical for me. I wish that weren't the case, because I love gouache (the little bit I've used it over the years) and I love what you do with it! I believe your gouache sketches are smaller than my typical ones, so maybe they dry faster??

[Laura]

Thank you, Robyn! I will have to check which pen I used there... I don't often use them for the reasons you gave! I believe a big Pitt artist's pen in white works well-ish for bigger areas (though the white is not opaque), but for the Bergen drawing, a gel pen worked fine on those tiny lights. I do mostly use white crayons.

[Laura]

Thank you, dear Kate! It's going to be a challenge getting everything into the carryon for a trip that will have such varied weather! Good thing we can wash out shirts and pants, etc. ;D.

[Cathy Johnson (Kate)]

Can't WAIT to see what you bring back with you! I'm impressed if you can get all that into a carryon...seasoned traveler, you are! Have a wonderful time...

[Robyn Mixon]

Oh boy--this is the most fun! I want all those supplies and to be out in the wilds with you. What excitement. Love the supply list--which white get pen? I've tried several the Classic Gelly Roll and the Signo Uniball--they both skip and have to be primed often. Am I missing a better option? I thought I might try this one--Elmer's Painters Opaque Paint Marker, Medium --gets mixed reviews but I love to have a strong white in my battery.

I hope David will take a few videos of you at work--this is so exciting.

[Nina / Apple-Pine]

well, I would take a tube of white gouache and a small set probably too - working on toned paper will be amazing with it. And it will work well with all the other materials you listed :)