Uses of a travelling paintbox for novelists, poets, memoir writers, travel writers, researchers

 I attended a course on researching and writing historical novels. The lecturer told us that he used a sketchbook to draw houses from the medieval period which he saw in historical villages. 

Even if his sketches were not worthy as pictures, the very act of sketching made him look carefully at what he was drawing. 

As a result, he was better able to memorize and recall the buildings, even the smells. This made his written descriptions more accurate and lively.

He used a small paintbox by Derwent. The paintbox contains a small brush.

Sketching On Holiday

On holiday it's lovely to have a record of the places you visited and the friends you've met. Sketching is a great calmer after the stress of travelling.

Pencils
A6 Sketch Pad
50 sheets, 135g
For sketching only because thin paper  tends to buckle with water paint

Watersoluble Sketching
Tin of 6 sketching pencils with handy pencil sharpener. When I bought them they cost me £4.99.
www.acco.co.uk

Water colour pencils
Daler Rowney has 12 Artists Pencils in a double height metal
tin.
www.daler-rowney.com

WHSmith 24 watercolour pencils in a large square tin, was £9.99, now £4.99 (in May 2015). Includes bright colours, black, white, and a pinky-orange flesh tint. All sharpened nicely.

Watercolour paints

Paper pads
If you are driving, for example around the USA, or from London, England to Wales or Scotland, you could put an easel and poster size sketchpad in the boot of your car. (The UK car boot is the USA trunk - if you are reading in the USA or travelling from the UK to the USA.)

If you are travelling light on a plane, or ultra-light with hand luggage only, you could probably find room for a small A6 sketchpad.

Postcard Pads
Thick postcards are strong enough for water paints.
You could paint a postcard of your destination - same view for yourself and several friends. Enclose each postcard in an envelope to protect the watercolour from rain, fingermarks, creasing or theft.

I used to send away my photos for developing throughout a long trip. That way they would be ready when I got home. If anything happened to my luggage en route, I was sure a record of my trip had reached home.

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