On my recent trip to the beach I forgot one of my favorite art supplies… a white and a hot pink Sharpie paint pen. However sometimes not having your favorite supply can be a good thing. It pushed me to try new things.

Instead of using the Sharpie pen for the whites of the eyes, I tried a turquoise blue water-soluble oil pastel and found I absolutely loved the effect. I never would have thought to try that blue to create reflections in blue eyes, but the result was a bit heavier and more dreamy.

For my quick, sketchbook paintings, I always begin with adding layers to cover up my white space.

Then I add my face colors so that I get an idea of where my character will be. I use the oil sticks to add depth and to cover up the parts I don’t like. That way, I can really cut out my character and make it stand out from the rest of the painting.

If you look closely, you can see in many of these paintings where the original eyes and mouths were. I love leaving a bit of the history of a painting showing in the final piece. To me, that all adds to the story.

On this trip, I also had with me a box of crayons. Playing with the crayons reminded e of how I used to love to layer them with watercolors as a child, so I kept doing that (another technique I will take with me and use in future paintings).

What art supplies do you take when you travel? I’ll look for your suggestions in the comments… and probably take them with me on my next journey.

Thank you so much for reading and for all of your kindness and support.

xo,

Ps. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, you can see how I use some of these art supplies in my videos here.

I also play a lot with these travelling supplies in my online class Bliss – Mixed Media On Location.