UPDATE 8/6/13: I have a new favorite paint. It’s Reeves (I got this set). I found that the Loew Cornell paints got too hard, but the Reeves paints seem to stay a bit more workable in my palette – and there are more pre-mixed paints in that set. I found that I just couldn’t mix the right blue for my damselfly, so I started searching for a few new blues and ended up buying a whole new set. I thought I was taught that you can mix any color from just the main primary colors, but I found that was NOT the case. I also have a new favorite palette. Even though I really liked the one with the circles (shown below), I wanted more area for mixing. Now I’m using a plastic lid from a “to go” container (from a restaurant – no idea which one) shown HERE. I bought a palette with a lid on Amazon, but I just really like this lid because it fits in my plastic case where I keep my brushes and other stuff. I also purchased a clip-on cup (pictured HERE), which is an improvement over holding my cup in my lap, but still not ideal because my book isn’t always flat and if it moved or gets bumped then water spills on my book. If you paint “en plein air” please share what works for you in the comments!

I want to be clear up front that I am not an artist or an expert. I made my very first nature study painting at the Charlotte Mason Conference less than one month ago. So, this is advice from a true newbie, for whatever that’s worth =) I am writing this post because I bought a very nice watercolor kit that seemed like it would be perfect for our nature study walks, but I ended up liking my homemade kit a lot better. So, I thought you might like to see what I am using in case you are purchasing supplies to get ready for some awesome summer nature walks.

Here’s the kit I bought and didn’t love as much as I thought I would. It’s called Field Plus.

It has a little water bottle and two water cups that clip on to the side. So cute and perfect for painting outside. But, and this is true for all the little travel kits I’ve come across, the paints are separate from the mixing trays. That means you have to get your wet brush and massage it into the paint and then transfer some paint over to your mixing tray. I found this painfully slow and just frustrating. Maybe there’s a trick to it, but I like my original setup a lot better. Never fear, all is not lost, I gave this set to Adele for her very own and she’s thrilled! She’s four, so her favorite part is the pouring into the little cups. =) And she does love to paint, so it gives me a chance to do some painting of my own. Also, the little bottle leaks! So, do you want to see what I like better?

A few years ago, we went on a cruise with my Mom (Mimi), my grandmother (Mammaw), and Kent’s parents (Grammy and Grandy). My Mom and I took a watercolor class on the cruise and this is the paint kit that came with that class. I have no idea if these paints are good quality or not, but they seem to work fine for me. And they must be pretty inexpensive because I bought them in a class kit with a few brushes and a plastic palette and the whole thing was about $15. I’ve seen just one small tube of watercolor paint for more than $20. The white tube is missing, but I’ll explain that later.

I leave this box with the tubes at home, but I just wanted to show the brand and the little tubes.

This is the little tote box I bring along with a bottle of water (which doesn’t leak – yay!) and one or two tiny little plastic cups (from yogurt I think) for water along with my notebook (or you could just bring some loose watercolor paper). The plastic case is something extra I had lying around in the craft room (extra components from my thread storage setup) – it’s called Snapware and it comes with a few more pieces that all click together.

My favorite thing (and the reason for this post) about my paint “kit” is the plastic palette with the circles in it. I think it came with the paints from the class on the cruise. I like to put my paint (which will harden and need to be pushed with a wet brush to use for mixing or painting) on the upper edge of the circle. Then, I can get paint with a wet brush or if I want to mix, I can put some water in the bottom of the circle and swirl my brush around to get the paint. And, when I’m done nothing is wasted because once it dries it’s still paint.  I use the other little plastic “palette” (I think it’s a lid from something) for making a wash (lots of water) or just some auxiliary mixing. I also put in a little jar of water with an eyedropper in the lid. If I’m adding a lot of water, I like to be able to add it with the dropper – it’s a lot easier than using a brush (IMHO).

Here’s my setup all together. Ignore that blue pen – I have no idea why that’s there. I like to bring the white tube (which I recently learned isn’t watercolor at all, but gouache) to use for detail at the end. I know, you are supposed to leave white areas with no paint, but I’m not that good! Eyes need that teensy little sparkle of white or they don’t look real. I’m all about the mixed media!

I bought a few things to add to my kit that I am happy with. The first thing I bought was that Cotman brush; it was less than $4 and it’s very nice. I had a few brush sets in the craft room, but I didn’t have a brush that was thin with longish bristles like that; it’s my main brush for nature study now. I also bought the set of Micron pens. They are waterproof (i.e. the ink won’t run if it gets wet); I like to use them for writing and adding fine detail. The fat brush came with my watercolor class on the cruise, but I read that you shouldn’t give kids doing nature study any fat brushes like that. They do really well with teeny tiny brushes only. They will automatically go to a big brush first, and then their work won’t look as nice. But, this is my box and Adele has her own, so it’s OK (and I haven’t used it yet anyway).

I had a clipboard lying around, so I threw that in the nature study bag too. Here’s my practice rabbit. I don’t think you are supposed to do pencil first (I read that is a PNEU article I think), but I really like my nature notebook and I wanted to make sure that I could make something that sort of resembled a rabbit before I put it in my fancy notebook.  

Here are the field guides we bring along to identify species and also to look at for details in painting (for example if the bird already flew away).

Our sweet friends from church gave Adele this lovely zippered set for Everett’s birthday (I know! she is so loved!) and she likes to have this as another option if she doesn’t feel like painting).

And these little notebooks with the elastic band are great for pressing leaves and flowers!

Want to see what I’ve been working on with all this gear? It’s not finished yet – I’d still like to add the kitten, but I just love doing nature study!!!!