Last week, I shared with you some thoughts and photos of recent sketches that I did while traveling in Spain and France. While the drawings and what I drew them in are likely the most important aspects of this endeavor, if not for the bag that I carried it all, I would have nothing to show.
To start things off, the bag shown here is NOT the one I left with on the trip. Leading up to the trip, I researched, got personal testimony, and went with a bag from a company that I heard good things about. I bought a bag many weeks before our trip, stocked it, tested it around the house, and took it on our trip. That bag may have lasted 3-4 hours the first day of our journey before shredding into an unusable mess. After a few hours of use, this highly rated bag from a company that I had heard nothing but good things about was nothing but a lump of useless fabric.
In a pinch, we ducked into a store with everything from luggage to wallets and found something better and more useful. This cross-body bag does everything that the other bag could do - and couldn't do. This new bag is what I've been looking for and served me very well on the trip, and appears to be ready for more. At a cafe, shortly after buying this new bag, I switched my belongings to it and never looked back. It is funny how I had to have the bad bag to find the good bag I was looking for. Let's have a closer look at the bag.
This cross-body bag features a long strap that can be adjusted to the preferred length and three zippered pouches on the front. Everything I was actively using went into one of these pouches.
The back of the bag features a fourth zippered pouch. This was for items I needed to carry but didn't need quick access to, for things like a cool rock I might find.
The smallest front porch was used for coins and a small external phone battery. The middle pouch was used for my drawing supplies. These supplies included my glasses, markers, pens, pencils, eraser, and a pencil sharpener. I usually work in greys and blacks in my sketchbook with the occasional inclusion of some white pencil. I prefer to work directly in ink as it dries quickly, is permanent, and forces me to make drawing decisions and then to stick to them. Once you make that mark in ink, it is there forever.
The large porch on the front has enough room for my sketchbook, but I could also carry my wallet, a large external battery with cables, and sunglasses. It could get a little tight in there, but this bag has enough room for everything I need to draw anywhere I might find myself. You might notice I keep a pen with the sketchbook so that I can just remove one item from the bag and be ready to start working.
Lastly, there is a fifth secret pouch in the back of the large front pouch.
I have looked for the right sketchbook, styluses, and bag for a long time. Nothing I have had so far really hit the nail on the head until now. Will this combo work for others? Maybe, but I had to solve three problems separately while concidering the other two. Perhaps I have been too picky, or maybe I need some very specific needs met. No matter, I think I am finally there and can't wait to do more sketching in the wild.
That's all for another exciting Monday on the blog. I will be away the rest of the week, so I will see you back here next Monday! Until then...
