Art Play Activity Guide Week Three: It's MINI Week!

Are you looking for some inspiration and direction in your studio? This week I am sharing my third installment of my Art Play Activity Guide. Even if one idea gives you a spark and gets you painting it is worth it! I know having suggested painting starters has helped me take my mind off the world events and I hope these ideas do the same for you!

download link to PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W9petCJNE2tTw7LD791MofISMHjPM99d/view?usp=sharing

I am calling this week Mini Week and it is more than just painting small artist trading card paintings. If you follow along I promise you will be well on your way to starting a helpful daily painting habit! Scroll down for some tips on getting started!

Here is some information on putting together your own mini pastel kit!

I'm calling it the Mini Mini. It is the smallest pastel kit I have ever put together. Everything I need to paint fits in a zippered pouch measuring just 8 inches long by 4 1/2 inches tall. I wasn't going to bring pastels at all on my upcoming adventure. (more on this trip in my next post!)  

I was trying to pack light. I was only planning on bringing a small sketchbook. No pastels. The more I thought about it the more I started to panic. No pastels for 2 weeks! What if I had free time and really wanted to paint and not just sketch? Would I regret not having any pastels? 

If you have followed me then you know I always bring pastels on a trip and I have downsized and have a great compact set up. (link here to see this set up)  But frankly I didn't want to deal with even that set up on a long haul trip. But in the end I was feeling pressure to bring some pastels. 

Introducing the Mini Mini! I wanted a very small pouch that I could fit into my daypack or even my purse. I will only be painting mini pastels 2.5x3.5 so even the paper fits in the pouch.  Have a look att the photo above to see what I have in the kit.

• Pastels: I started with the Cretacolor starts set of 12 pastels. These pastels look like Nupastels but they actually are a bit softer. I planned to use the basic colors in this set and modify with black and white. It would require some thoughtful layering to create new optical blends. After testing I decided to break a few of the pastels and substitute my gavotte Nupastels. See photo below. Basically I added a duller version of some of the bright colors and my favorite Price Blue 305. (I thought about putting a bunch of Nupastels in a small container but everything was too thick for my zippered pouch!)
• A pencil
• A drawing board. I am using a thin hard board by Ampersand meant for oil or acrylic. It is hard, the perfect size and rigid. It won't bend like a piece of foam core would. I am using tiny binder clips to attach my paper to the board. This eliminates the need for tape. 
• Paper: I cut some sanded paper scraps into 2.5x3.5 pieces. I put them in a plastic snack baggie. I love this size baggie that I get at Target. 
• A business card size watercolor set. This set is tiny but mighty! With such a limited pastel palette I thought I would extend my possibilities with a watercolor underpainting! A friend gifted this set to me but I have seen them on Etsy.
• A Water brush. This brush from Caran d'ache is hollow so you can fill it with water for the watercolor underpainting on the go. I also have a tiny jar lid from room service jam jar that I can use for water if needed. 
• Clear Bags from www.clearbags.com to use for the finished paintings. 
• A tiny pack of wipes. This pack only has 10 tips but I can save , wash and reuse them if needed.