Packing Art Supplies for Provence

'Landscape After Van Gogh'         8x10         pastel         ©Karen Margulis

I am committed to packing light. I promised myself I was going to travel to France with only a carry on suitcase and a backpack. I will not check a bag and drag around a big heavy suitcase. It isn't easy for me. I have done a trial pack three times and tried out 3 suitcases! But I have it down down and I am going light!

This means I had to pare down everything including my art supplies! This trip to Provence isn't really a dedicated painting trip. I am going with one artist friend but the 3 other ladies in our group are not artists. I will have downtime to paint and I will make time to do a small daily painting. This means I only need supplies to do some 5x7 studies.  After much thinking I decided on the set up below. It will fit in my travel backpack. I am also bringing a very compact foldable backpack for day trips.

My Heilman single sketchbox with an assortment of Girault pastels.

I am bringing a selection of precut 5x7 papers in an Itoya portfolio book. My pastels are Girault and Nupastel pieces that fit in my Heilman single sketchbook.

I am also bringing a small sketchbook and watercolor set. I am planning on doing at least a sketch a day to document the trip.

I am bringing a small box of Nupastel pieces I also threw in a tiny box
with some extra purples for the lavender. (not shown)

My Heilman box fits into a bible cover along with my paper and wipes.
The small bag in the front is my watercolor sketchbook kit.
The black bag is a foldable backpack but I found a more compact one.

I hope to blog during the trip! I have prepared some posts from the archives in case I have trouble posting. I will also be posting daily updates on Facebook and Instagram @karenmargulis
I hope you will follow along with my adventure!