100 Days of Travel Sketchbooks Project
DAY 7 – The Flight Safe Sketch Kit
As I wrote at the beginning of this adventure into writing on Substack (where these posts are also to be found) I had chosen a ridiculous amount of materials to bring to India, but there was no way I could carry most of them on the flight. The last time I flew, you were allowed blades and scissors as long as they were smaller than a certain size, but the last thing I needed was to find that the rules had changed and I had to hand over my treasured art items for deposit, and display, in the big glass box of shamefully sharp items.
I’d previously taken some watercolours on a flight and I ended up having to explain what they were and get them swabbed at every security point, so I knew not to take anything like that. I carefully packed all the liquid things ( in multiple plastic bags in case of leaks) and all things that could be classed as weapons into my big case, even though I’m sure you could do some serious damage with a Bic biro if you had the mind to!
So What Does My Flight-Safe Sketching Kit Consist Of?
Well of course there was the main sketchbook (with its beautiful cover illustration of a ‘Ganges Buttworm’ that Trevor created with ChatGPT for me), a pocket notebook for useful notes and a small zip bag of essential sketching materials including my favourite Muji gel pen in black (I LOVE these pens SO much!). It’s not quite waterproof so you can get some nice smudged lines with it before it dries completely. I also took a Pitt pen in a narrow nib for drawings that I might want to add watercolour to later. I added two half sized pencils (because weight saving is everything), a paper stub for smudging, a rubber and my handy Muji sharpener with inbuilt sharpening collector. I also threw in an Inktense pencil, which is water soluble because you can always paint with your fingers dipped in gin / water/ tea/ spit, or whatever is at hand. The last item is a nail file as I’m always breaking my nails.
As usual, at the beginning of a trip, the creative juices flow sluggishly like cold honey and it takes a while to get back into the swing of drawing from life. Despite taking the other items, I mainly used my go to Muji pen to do some sketches on the flight, but as we were near the front, I couldn’t see many people. To be honest, I also spent a lot of time looking out the window at the glorious clouds and mountains to be seen on this rare, clear and sunny day.
Here’s a little snap shop from the dirty plane window, and I ask, can you blame me for snapping like crazy? What a rare treat for the eyes!
