The Ultimate Minimalist Set-Up?

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Sketching outside is wonderful, at least in theory. But it does come with downsides.

In today's post I'll be taking you on a journey to Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds where I had the pleasure to sketch the wonderful old watermill.

For me, too often I end up with my Etchr bag over one shoulder, another bag with pens and water, and then even a rucksack filled with filming equipment and other supplies... you know... 'just in case'.

When I was sketching in Bath one of the wonderful sketchers (hello to Ella!) had these beautiful and clever little palettes. I had the chance to try it out on the last day, and that really got me thinking that perhaps it was something I should explore a little more.

Watch the full experience here

The New Palette

As an Etsy seller, I do try to support local Etsy sellers, but sadly I couldn't find a UK (or EU) based maker. However, I did find THIS version that could be shipped from China.

Whilst not ideal in terms of air miles, it seemed to fit the bill as a product. And came with a little water tub.

The Other Equipment

I really like painting on a watercolour block, so I used a Meeden 10x7 inch block to paint on which I've previously been gifted and filled me palette with Daniel Smith colours and took my usual brushes.

The colours were:

• Hansa Yellow Medium

• Organic Vermillion

• Jadeite Genuine

• Cobalt Blue

• Cobalt Green

• Cobalt Deep Violet

• Sugilite Genuine

• Rhodonite Genuine

• Sodalite Genuine

• Amethyst Genuine

• Quinacridone Sienna

My brushes were:

• Escoda Ultimo - Size 10

• Black Velvet by Silver Brush - Size 6

And of course, a trusty 0.5mm UniPin fineliner.

So how did this all go?

The scene chose itself - the watermill is a stunning feature in this village and I really wanted to capture my own version of it, instead of sat in front of someone else's photo.

The light weight set up, firstly, worked great - I realise that I had the water cup in the wrong place (oops) which would have made things a little easier, but the weight of the palette is practically non existent, so capturing the simple shapes of the scene was easy.

I'd encourage anyone sketching outside to take this loose approach. Notice how I started by focussing textures on the lower left, the water wheel, which is where the contrast and interest is in the scene. The perspective and proportions are pretty good, not perfect, but certainly the framework is there. Where lines are wonky I have strongly avoided overcorrecting them ... we can see what needs doing later!

I then added more contrast, texture and detail, again focussing my efforts where the contrast in the reference is. The rain started falling too - which really got me shifting on here!

Next were the loose colours.

I found in this experimental palette some rather lovely mixes - the rhodonite genuine with a little cobalt blue and quinacridone sienna made for a varied warm brick tone. Whilst the hansa yellow mixed well with some of the earthy tones as well.

The cobalt green is a beautiful colour that has only left my normal palette because it's toxic (cobalt is a heavy metal) whilst jadeite green is a rich almost Hooker's green.

The challenge outdoors, is not painting a literal version of the scene - here I focussed on holding back and leaving plenty of space on the page.

A few richer tones layered really nicely here creating a lot more depth. The sodalite genuine is rather a revelation, it's something I've been meaning to try as a Moonglow alternative for quite a while and it may well find itself in my palette replacing graphite grey.

I had to unclip the watercup to finish my painting (oops) and avoid leaving a large weird space at the top. But I think the finishing touches did plenty to give this sketch a little more direction. I just focussed on the same mixes, using a smaller brush and being more specific in how I applied the colours.

And like that they sketch was done!