So I just came home from a 9 day trip with my family, to Osaka and Kyoto in Japan… And it’s the first major overseas trip we had in a while, as well as the first trip that I took my art supplies on a plane with me.
Did I use my art supplies? Yes. But did I bring too much? Absolutely yes.
Let’s see what I brought. I brought my etchr everyday sketch book, in square, 6×6 inch format. I brought my etchr field case, with my typical watercolor set up and materials… But I added in my newly inked fude nib fountain pen, and some water brushes loaded up with black ink for monochrome paintings. In there I had my 10×10 cm, 100% cotton, potentate sketchbook. Then I had FOMO and brought also some 6 shiny half pan of paints from blue pine arts in a small tin that I kept outside the field case (because the field case is too full!) Then I had my pen sketch stuff. My 3 pilot coleto pens filled with fancy refills. A uniball air. And a cheap fineliner from M+G, together with the 8×8 cm, 100% cellulose sketchbook. AKA the one I’ve been using for my quick human sketches.
What did I use? I did ONE sketch (one sided) of a random neighbourhood shop in Kyoto, when I wandered out of the airbnb one morning. I used my watercolors that one time.
I did two ink sketches, one with the uniball air, and one with the fude fountain pen, in Arashiyama. That was done in the 10x10cm sketchbook. I just stood by the street and did the quick sketches… While mum and sister were shopping. I didn’t have much time at all. Oh, and I totally did not check on my fountain pens after landing and all… It leaked a little, and wouldn’t have been a problem at all if I’d been cautious. But I just forgot about the air travel being a problem and got ink all over my fingers because I didn’t even check if it leaked. Turns out it did, just a little. But enough to stain my fingers. No ink pouring out or anything dramatic though. Spent as much time cleaning the ink as I did the single sketch… Lol.
Speaking of fountain pens. I still have not checked on the pilot SEF falcon I brought there. It’s still in my etchr field case. I didn’t use it in Japan, and I haven’t used it back in Sg. Lol.
On a side note, I also did bring my very expensive monoc nib, schon dsgn fountain pen over to Japan. It didn’t leak one bit and I used it to journal everyday. The seal on that pen is just that good… I guess that was why I was so relaxed with the fude perhaps. That and I’ve travelled with FPs so many times already and it has never been too much of a problem. Oh yes. I basically finished the ink in that fountain pen… It was getting dry on the last day… Which was just as well. I didn’t bring any extra ink so it worked out perfectly. (Not that I was really worried, I brought so many other pens there, and I also bought stationery and pens in Japan.)
So… How about my pen sketching set? Turns out that was very widely used. I used the uniball air and the m+g fineliner (that fineliner just feels so good on paper, and it’s soooo cheap too, like 2 for less than 3 bucks, and it came with a free white ink pen too for highlights.) And I just did my usual quick human sketches on the trains and subways and buses in Japan… It was fun drawing something different – everyone was obviously in winter clothing. And I think I did a pretty good job of sketching the puffy winter jackets if I can say so myself. I was pleased to find that the skills were transferable. And boy did I sketch lots. I used up just over half of my sketchbook in Japan. And I only started sketching a few days into the trip, and not always. It’s like you have to google maps the location, make sure the whole family knows when to get off etc… So I just didn’t have the spare capacity the first few days… Only later on when everyone was much more used to traveling there.
There were more days in Kyoto where we left the house really late, so I totally could have gone out to sketch in the morning. But what did I do? I just went back to sleep… Yeah… I was tired. And as fun as urban sketching is… I decided to just, rest more and have more energy for the day ahead. Age is catching up to me lol. The mornings would have been the time to get those watercolor sketches in… Yeah. Maybe next time.
Other than that… It’s just too crowded really. Especially at places like the kinkakuji. Would have been nice to paint the golden temple, but it’s also just impossible with the crowd. Oh wells. That said, I took tons of photos, and also bought a goshuin book and got it stamped… And I plan to sketch/paint in the rest of the blank page. And there’s a ton of blank pages. The next time I go to Japan? I’ll just buy another pretty goshuin book. No biggie. Fill up this goshuin book is gonna take a while though… I need more space on my desk, gotta plan it more nicely etc…. And it’ll be the first time I use an accordion book for anything.
So in reality… I could have just gone there with my 8x8cm sketchbook (so convenient when you can just keep it in your pocket moments before you are due to get off the train!), and a uniball air and the fineliner. Oh I did try to use the pilot coleto once while we were waiting for the food. I did change a few colors. Then the food came and I never finished the sketch. Oh wells. But now I know. Just some monotone sketches will do. And then if I’m really worried I can bring a new sketchbook of the same as a spare I guess. Or maybe the slightly bigger one… But unless it’s a trip explicitly for doing art… If not there’s no time really…
I did take plenty of photos of course, and I will definitely use some of those as references in the future. And the trees… I did look at them quite carefully as well as take plenty of tree photos. Now that I’ve dabbled in drawing humans, next up is drawing trees I guess?
So that’s it for the art side of my Japan trip. Till the next holiday trip I guess?