Back to Normal: Efficiency is as Important as Compactness

Bicolors: Not as efficient as they seem.

I used my slimmed-down sketch kit for more than a month, and my minimalism challenge was a successful one this year. I needed to make kit revisions only once, and my frustration at not having what I wanted was minor.

A key component was the Caran d’Ache Bicolors, which held so much potential. I wish I could say that these compact watercolor pencils solved all my portable color needs, but as I suspected even before I began the challenge, there’s more to an ideal kit than compactness.

Putting two colors into one pencil seems like a space-efficient solution, but only if they are the right colors. If not, they are a false space economy, at least for me. Halfway through the challenge, I had already swapped out some colors. (Now more than ever, I long for a device like the promising-but-ultimately-unsuccessful Tsunago that would enable me to make my own bicolored pencils.)

In an ultra-compact kit, use efficiency is as important as space efficiency. Because the Cd’A Bicolors are quite a bit harder than my favorite Museum Aquarelles, they didn’t need to be sharpened as often. That was a benefit I hadn’t even anticipated with my tiny walk/sketch fitness program kit, which has no room for a sharpener. But major drawbacks with the harder Bicolors are that they take longer to apply and contain less pigment. Often I skipped color altogether to get done quickly (since I was usually cold). Even at times when I had my full-size, everyday-carry bag and sketched in a comfortable place, I found myself using less color because it would take longer to use.

More than additional hues, what I missed most during the challenge was the softness and heavy pigment of Museum Aquarelles. Both traits make sketching more efficient, and I believe strongly in using sketch materials that facilitate rather than impede sketching. The challenge reinforced that belief.

ArtGraf pencil: Handy at the museum as well as on the street.

The flip side of using less color was that I found myself using graphite more: the ArtGraf water-soluble graphite pencil (the only graphite I carried during the challenge). In fact, the more I used it, the more I loved its 6B softness and its water solubility, which deepened its darkness even further. As a monochrome tool, it makes a huge bang for the space-efficiency buck.

Challenge completed, I put back all the materials I took out of my everyday-carry (below): my usual full palette of colors, a second waterbrush, a second graphite pencil and my spritzer. Other than the Museum Aquarelles, I didn’t miss the other items much, but that’s mainly because they are more seasonal tools. (I use the spritzer on foliage and the second clean waterbrush for blue sky, neither of which I’ve seen much of lately.) Although it’s always an informative exercise to minimize, even temporarily, this year’s challenge made me realize that my kit is always pretty dang trim. Now I appreciate its well-chosen contents even more.

 

Everything back in: I missed those Museum Aquarelles.

As for my ultra-slim walk/sketch kit, which I’ll continue to use indefinitely, I heeded everything I learned from this year’s minimalism challenge and made revisions accordingly. Without increasing the number of tools, I swapped out a few judiciously chosen Museum Aquarelle colors for the Bicolors (below). The ballpoint pen came out, but all the rest – the waterbrush, the Uni Pin brush pen and the ever-useful ArtGraf pencil – served me well and will remain.

1/29/20 8 a.m. update: I guess it’s just as well that the Bicolors ended up not being my ultimate colored pencil: It has been confirmed that the set is a limited edition! Around the holidays, I was poking around on Caran d’Ache’s English-language site, and I noticed that the Bicolors were no longer listed. Likewise on the UK and other European versions of the Cd’A site. After rumors started circulating in the pencil community, I decided to check it out, and it’s true: CW Pencils was notified by its distributor that its current stock was the last of it. So if you want a set, don’t wait – CWP is apparently the only shop on earth with any left, and there will be no more afterwards!

Fitness walking kit: I replaced the Bicolors (at left) with 6 carefully chosen Museum Aquarelle colors.

Winter 2020 Minimalism Challenge Begins

My walk/sketch fitness program materials (from left): Caran d'Ache Bicolor watercolor pencils,
ArtGraf water-soluble graphite pencil, waterbrush, Uni Pin brush pen, Bic ballpoint

My walk/sketch fitness program has motivated me to lighten my load. Let the annual sketch kit minimalism challenge begin!

Before I put my kit on a diet, I reviewed previous years’ attempts to see what went well during this temporary challenge and what didn’t. Last year’s challenge was less successful because I took out too many colors, forcing an extreme palette reduction, and I felt like I never had what I wanted. I was also wishy-washy about which sketchbook to use (the previous year I had stuck with a toned-paper Stillman & Birn Nova, which went much better), so I was constantly switching back and forth. Paper choice always leads the decision on which materials to use, so I kept that in mind this time. I’ve learned that minimalism only works for me if it’s not a radical departure from but more of a simplification of “normal.”

As you might guess, a key component of this winter’s kit is the Caran d’Ache Bicolors water-soluble colored pencil set that made my top products of the year list. Although they don’t have the pigment quality of my favorite Museum Aquarelles, they still have good quality pigment. More important, the bicolor form factor enables me to carry half the number of pencils compared to my usual daily-carry. I carefully selected five pencils (10 colors), so it’s not a drastic change from my usual full palette but a lot less bulk and weight.

In addition to the bicolor pencils, I put in one ArtGraf water-soluble graphite pencil, one compact-size Kuretake waterbrush, one Uni Pin brush pen and one Bic ballpoint pen. For the sketchbook, I’m taking a Field Notes Signature edition notebook. For a while I considered a pocket-size version of a Stillman & Birn Zeta or Beta, but the Signature has a slightly larger page size while being thinner, so it gives me more options. In the same way that the Cd’A Bicolors are a compromise in terms of quality, the Signature’s paper isn’t as good as Stillman & Birn’s, but I enjoy using it with all the media I will be carrying in my minimal kit.

 

Field Notes Signature notebook as sketchbook

These items all fit nicely into the Rickshaw pen case I used last year (below; this prototype design has not been produced and probably never will be at this point). The case has two important functions: It limits the number of tools that will fit comfortably, so it self-enforces my minimizing restrictions to the number of items you see here. (If I put something in, I have to take something else out.) Secondly, it is super-easy to switch materials from the small fitness-walking bag (see below) to my usual daily-carry bag. Nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

 

Everything fits nicely in this Rickshaw pen case.

Mini-size Rickshaw messenger bag with coordinating pen case!

My fitness-walking bag is the waterproof mini-size Rickshaw Zero Messenger Bag (at right) that I use in transit when I travel. It’s actually large enough to accommodate my daily-carry 5½-by-8½-inch S&B, so if I decide the Signature isn’t working out, I can switch books without changing the whole bag. Other than the sketch kit materials, the mini Rickshaw also holds my wallet, glasses, keys and phone.

Total weight of walk/sketch fitness program mini bag:
1 lb., 10 oz. (light as a feather compared to my everyday-carry; see below).

As my daily-carry (my usual small-size Rickshaw Zero Messenger Bag), I take all the same tools from my fitness-walking bag, plus the following (below): my usual softcover Stillman & Birn, a kneadable eraser, a tortillon, one Blackwing pencil, an M+R pencil sharpener, a white Derwent Drawing Pencil, a white Gelly Roll and a red Field Notes.

 

For my usual daily-carry, I added only the items not enclosed in the pen case.

Below are the items I took out: my full palette of watercolor pencils and Tran Portfolio pencil case, a Faber-Castell waterbrush (used only to spread clean water on the page), a full-length Kuretake waterbrush, a soft graphite pencil and my spritzer bottle. I might miss some colors and the ease of use of pigment-rich Museum Aquarelles, but I rarely use the spritzer or the F-C waterbrush in winter when the landscape is so colorless, so I probably won’t miss them at all.

 

These items came out: Tran Portfolio pencil case of my usual palette, 2 waterbrushes, another graphite pencil, water spritzer

The top view of my everyday-carry bag doesn’t look much slimmer, but the difference in weight is a half-pound:

Weight of daily-carry bag before diet: 4 lbs., 2 oz.

Weight of daily-carry bag after diet: 3 lbs., 10 oz.

 

The flap of the pen case stays folded back inside my bag so that everything is always accessible as usual.

As in the past, I intend to stick with this slimmed-down kit until at least the end of January. (I thoroughly enjoyed using a toned book during my minimalism challenge a couple of years ago, so I may make a switch at some point.) Even after I go back to my full kit, I plan to use the minimal kit indefinitely on my walk/sketch program.

Edited 1/29/20: See the results of my minimalism challenge.

Minimizing my kit was so satisfying that I looked at my studio desk and decided it needed to go on a diet, too. Shown below are the “before” and “after” photos (unretouched and without filters! The light through my window shows that that the sun went down while I worked). I put away some pencil sets I wasn’t using as much and weeded out at least a dozen waterbrushes that I had tested and rejected (so many bristled from the top of their mug that they could no longer be shoved in). Less obvious are two mugfuls of miscellaneous pens that kept multiplying, yet most were never used. Again, there were so many that I couldn’t shove them further in. A thorough weeding left the two mugs with only the tools I use regularly, and I can find and grab one easily without the rest falling out.

 

Before . . . 

. . . and after.

Some items that I cleared off the desk went into storage boxes for now. Many others went into the bag where I’m collecting items for the next Urban Sketchers Gab & Grab. One sketcher’s unneeded items are often another sketcher’s treasures.

2021 Minimalism Challenge: Most Extreme Ever

 

Downsized! Here's the sketcher's-eye-view of my extremely slimmed-down sketch kit.

Every winter since 2018 I’ve challenged myself to minimize and simplify my sketch kit (here are reports from other years: 2019, 2020). Not intended as a permanent kit change, the challenge usually lasts about a month during the most colorless time of year. Though it is occasionally frustrating, I enjoy the opportunity to clean out my kit and remove inessentials. With fewer materials to choose from, I look at my sketch opportunities with a fresh eye. Of course, after the end of each challenge, more materials inevitably creep back in, but not without a critical evaluation of whether they would earn their long-term keep in my bag.

This year, because my pandemic edition sketch kit is already smaller and pared down, I was tempted to skip the challenge – how much slimmer could my sketch kit possibly be? But then I looked at it critically one day, and I had to admit that quite a few things kept appearing over the summer and fall during the best color months. The kit could certainly stand to lose a few tools. It was time for a minimalism challenge after all.

A bit over-stuffed.

Before: Everything that was in my daily-carry kit.

And minimal it is – perhaps the most extreme kit ever (below). The kit’s focal point is a new rendition of a very old-school tool: the classic Bic 4-Color ballpoint pen, but with a twist – it comes with a mechanical pencil unit. I’ll be writing a full review of this fun tool soon, but for now, I’ll just say that the addition of the pencil makes it an interesting and functional Swiss army knife of ballpoint ink (red, blue and black) and graphite.

After (from left): Bic 4-Color, Caran d'Ache Bicolor, Uni Pin brush pen, Gelly Roll, Derwent
Drawing Pencil, all contained in Rickshaw Waldo field case.

I thought very carefully about color. Of course, I always want all hues, but which colors would be important in conveying meaning in an otherwise monochrome sketch? In my limited geographic sketching area, the only colors I felt that way about are heavy equipment yellow and traffic cone orange. I judiciously picked out the yellow/orange Caran d’Ache Bicolor pencil and called it good.

The Uni Pin brush-tip marker, white Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen and white Derwent drawing pencil made the final cut because I use them whenever I sketch in a red Sweet Tooth Field Notes, which is still one of my favorite fast-sketch approaches.

Slim and trim.

To keep myself honest, I went through my stash of bag accessories and found a bright pink Rickshaw Bags Waldo field case that I had received as a gift a while back. It’s a slightly smaller version of the one I used all last year in my pandemic kit. There’s a bit of space to spare, but not much, so it will prevent too many tools from sneaking in. (I mostly live in yoga pants these days, but every couple weeks, I put on my jeans to make sure I still can. Same concept.)

A tough but significant decision was to use dry materials only. (The Caran d’Ache Bicolor is water-soluble, but I’m using it dry.) This simplifies the kit significantly: I could eliminate both the waterbrush and the spritzing bottle. This also means paper quality is no longer an issue, so I can use any simple sketchbook or notebook. I took out the pocket-size Stillman & Birn Beta book that had been my daily-carry in the fall and replaced it with a slimmer Field Notes Signature. Although the latter’s paper has let me down with light washes, I enjoy using its slightly larger page size with all dry materials. The red Field Notes is already a daily-carry alternative to any white paper book I carry.

Sketchbooks: two Field Notes options

1/25/21 First sketch with the spartan kit

Too spartan? Probably. But it will be fun to find out how long I last and what I can’t live without. I took my ultra-lite kit out for a trial run the other day. News flash: ballpoint ink doesn’t blend well with colored pencil. And I’d like to get a softer lead for the mechanical pencil. It’s an interesting combo, though. Stay tuned for updates.

Minimal Sketch Kit Challenge Begins

The most minimal sketch kit I've ever used for daily-carry!

For the past month or more, I’ve been thinking about streamlining my sketch kit (at least temporarily). My goal was to begin in January when I was done with festive holiday colors, but I finished filling a signature of my usual DIY sketchbook at Swanson’s last Friday, so I dumped out my bag the next day.  

As I mentioned in last month’s post, I think my sketch kit always begins with the sketchbook, which guides all the other choices. Without much expectation for color in these wet and gray months, it’s a good opportunity to give toned paper the solid trial I have been wanting to give it, so a 5 ½-by-8 ½ inch Stillman & Birn Nova is my sketchbook of choice. A few months ago I gave the gray one a shot for urban sketches, but I really enjoyed using the tan one for life drawing at Drawing Jam a few weeks ago (and more recently at Zoka Coffee). I’m starting this personal challenge with the tan one, but I may switch to gray if I feel like it, just for a change (all other tools would remain the same).

In the past when I’ve experimented with using a S&B softcover sketchbook as my daily-carry, I’ve found it to be bulkier than I like (especially compared to a single signature of paper, which is my usual daily-carry). But with all my colored pencils and other materials taken out, my bag has plenty of room for it.

In addition to a Nova as my primary sketchbook, I’m also carrying a small Field Notes notebook as always. Normally I prefer a red one, but since that’s basically toned paper too, it seems redundant during this challenge. I’m starting with a white one, which would give me different options while using the same tools.

As for those tools, here’s my carefully considered selection (from top):

• My usual Kum portable pencil sharpener.
• Viarco ArtGraf 6B water-soluble graphite pencil. I was tempted to put in a Gekkoso 8B or some other super-soft graphite to go with the Blackwing’s medium softness (the two together are a good pairing for value studies). But since the ArtGraf is water-soluble in addition to being dark and soft, it works double-duty, giving me more bang for the slim sketch kit buck.
• Chinese white Derwent drawing pencil – for soft highlights, especially on skin.
• White Gelly Roll gel pen – for shiny-bright highlights.
• Blackwing graphite pencil with the softest core (ungraded, but about 4B).
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen in a medium warm gray.
• Caran D’Ache Bicolor red/blue combo pencil. This combo pencil is my only color medium during this challenge! With two colors, it’s as compact and streamlined as I can get – and the cores are even water-soluble! While I’ve tried several novelty double-sided colored pencils, none have cores worth using. Intended for editing, this Caran d’Ache, however, contains the same high-quality water-soluble cores as its Supracolor line. (I sure wish Caran d’Ache would come out with a small set of double-sided pencils using Supracolor cores! That would be my colored pencil dream come true! See tomorrow’s post for more dreams.)
• Mini-size Kuretake waterbrush – to use with the water-soluble pencils.
• My favorite Sailor fountain pen with fude nib with water-soluble ink.
• Zebra (non-hairy) brush pen with waterproof ink.

My intention is to stick to this basic set of tools, but as with the sketchbook, I reserve the right to switch out one implement for another if something isn’t working as I had hoped. But I want to avoid thinking about the kit and switching materials every time I go out, because that would defeat my guiding principle of keeping things low-maintenance.

A prototype sketch kit case made by my favorite bag manufacturer.

These specific tools weren’t difficult to choose; most of them appear on my list of 2017 Top Products, so they are already time-tested and trusted. But there’s an important reason why I am committed to sticking with this particular number of tools: It’s exactly the number that fits in this beautiful case, which also has room for a Field Notes notebook or a 3 ½-by-5 ½ inch Stillman & Birn sketchbook. Slim and compact, it fits nicely in my bag. (It’s a prototype case that I’m testing for the manufacturer. It hasn’t been released publicly, so I’m not allowed to talk about it, but I’m really hoping it will eventually go into production.) The case is not just convenient and attractive; it’s also self-enforcing. If I want to put something new in, I must take something else out or it won’t fit. It’s going to keep me honest for this self-challenge.

Although bag weight is not a primary concern or motivator for this challenge, I have had shoulder issues in the past, so I do try to minimize the weight of my daily-carry in general (and especially when I travel). I weighed my bag with all my usual gear, and it came in at just under 4 pounds (1.78 kg). With my slimmed-down kit, my bag now weighs about 3 ¼ pounds (1.49 kg). I’m a bit surprised that it doesn’t weigh even less, but the S&B sketchbook weighs quite a bit more than a single DIY signature. 

That’s it – my super-minimal, daily-carry kit! I am committed to it until the S&B Nova sketchbook is full. And just because I know you’re curious, shown below are all the things I took out of my bag!

Ejected: 25 water-soluble colored pencils, 4 pens, 1 pencil, water spritzer, 4 brushes. The two black cases hold the implements upright inside my bag.

Will I miss all my colors and other materials and regret this challenge? Or will I realize I can do without a lot of stuff permanently? We’ll both find out! Anyone want to join me in this quest for minimalism? (Don’t worry – it’s just temporary. 😉)

Edited 2/19/18: Find out about the results of my two-month minimalism challenge!

Review: June Gold 2mm Colored Leads

 

2/8/21 Northgate neighborhood

We all knew I wouldn’t last long with the few colors I gave myself in my ultra-minimalist kit (in fact, I was impressed that I lasted two weeks). I like the one Caran d’Ache Bicolor, of course, but the blue and red ballpoint inks in the Bic 4-Color 3+1 weren’t getting much use. I was going to stick it out a bit longer, but an idea came to me serendipitously. Someone I follow on Instagram who usually shows only fountain pens had a mechanical pencil with a bright orange lead. It looked more vibrant than most colored leads I’ve tried, so I inquired, and he said it was a June Gold lead. The 2mm leads come in a pack of 36 colors for 7 bucks! Typically, I would stay away from a “bargain” like that, but reviewers seemed to approve.

While I waited for the leads to come, I looked at my 2mm lead holder options and remembered an old toy: The Pentel Multi 8. Purchased early in my urban sketching career when I was enchanted with all things compact (as you can see, not much has changed), it was a promising concept – one body containing slots for eight lead colors. Unfortunately, the leads it came with were terrible.

A few years ago when I reviewed the Koh-i-Noor Drawing Pencils for the Well-Appointed Desk, I liked those 2mm leads much better, so I swapped them in for some colors in the Multi 8. I even noted in my own blog post that those leads in the Multi 8 could be a good solution for a minimalism challenge – then promptly forgot about it.

Now, three years later, I dug it out and filled it with a carefully considered selection of eight urban colors from the June Gold set. For 2mm colored leads, they are softer and more saturated than any I’ve used (well, except for the Caran d’Ache 2mm leads, also reviewed at the Well-Appointed Desk, but they come in only four colors). Certainly not like Prismacolors, Polychromos or any other woodcased favorites; I think it’s not possible for a mechanical lead to compete with a woodcased pencil. Without the structure and support of wood, it must have materials other than binders to keep them from breaking. But for a set of 36 colors that can fit in a tube about the size of the Multi 8, they are pretty darn good. Ideal, actually, for a short-term minimalism challenge.

Pentel Multi 8 and June Gold 2mm leads

The only downside to these compact, budget-minded colors is that the leads are too long to fit in the Multi 8. There’s an easy solution, though: Just snap them in half.

My June Gold urban palette

Compact!

The Caran d’Ache Bicolor has come out of my bag. Although I’m using it only for the graphite component, the Bic 4-Color 3+1 is staying in for now. And June Gold leads contained in my Multi 8 are my only coloring agent. They ought to keep me happy for the duration of the challenge.

Minimalism is Dead; Long Live Color

 

3/11/21 Maple Leaf neighborhood

This year’s minimalism challenge was my most extreme ever, so I wasn’t sure how I would do. More than a month later, I have declared it finished, and I’m pleased to say that I hardly missed anything I took out. Granted, sketching mostly in the neighborhood in the dead of winter isn’t much of a challenge in terms of color. My early addition of the Pentel Multi 8 filled with June Gold leads gave me all I needed.

The Pentel Multi 8 and June Gold leads served well and will stay in for a while longer.

Around the same time, I replaced the Bic 4-Color 3+1 with a woodcased graphite pencil. The Bic multi-pen/pencil seemed like a good idea, but I figured out quickly that ballpoint is too slow on the street. The mechanical pencil unit gave the tool added versatility, but it was mostly a novelty. I still prefer the variable line width of a woodcased pencil.

Those were the only changes I made during the challenge. Ironically, the material I used most was not new; it was a carry-over from my usual kit: the tried-and-true (and highly versatile) Uni Pin brush pen.

Shown below are my usual colors and tools, all returning to my full kit (with the optimistic addition of a couple of pinks for anticipated blossoms). Although I did review each item before putting it back in, the only ones I left out were the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Big Brush Pen, which I rarely use anymore, and a few non-water-soluble colored pencils that I use with a Field Notes Expedition in the rain. For the latter case, I’m keeping the Pentel Multi 8 in my bag for a while longer.

Long live color! (Not shown: water spritzer)

What prompted me to decide that I was done with minimalism? A couple of unseasonably beautiful days last week. I switched out my sketch kit, drove all around Green Lake enjoying the sunshine, and ended up back in my own neighborhood to make the sketch above. As you can see, I still don’t need much color – but it’s important to stay optimistic. Spring is just a few days away.

Fat and happy again.

Back to my original Rickshaw prototype Waldo case.

Fire Station No. 17 (and Thus Minimalism Ends Abruptly)

1/29/19 Fire Station No. 17, University District

After dropping off my car for servicing in the University District, I eagerly walked up Roosevelt Way Northeast to look for something to sketch on this spectacularly sunny and mild afternoon. Near the intersection of 50^th and Roosevelt, I have several classic buildings to choose from, including the Seven Gables Theater (which I sketched in 2017 after it closed suddenly), the Gothic-style Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and the Carnegie-style University Branch Library.

Because the light on it was appealing, I chose Fire Station No. 17, a Seattle Landmark building (and the church’s steeple behind it). It was too small to show in my sketch, but the tower window includes a silhouette of a firefighter. Not shown is a tower on the other side of the station with more silhouettes. The art was added during a renovation a while back.

I was nearly done blocking it in and was starting to think about color when it suddenly hit me: My minimalist sketch kit doesn’t include red! Whoever heard of sketching a fire station without red? Having purple shadows is one thing, but some colors are important symbols that can’t be substituted. (Interestingly, I experienced a similar frustration during last year’s minimalism challenge when I was missing a symbolic color.) Kicking myself and my secondary triad (which I have otherwise loved using), I was saved by my four-color ballpoint pen (which I keep in my bag for notetaking, not sketching).

No blue for the sky!

As for that brilliant blue sky, it’s not exactly a symbol, but after all those weeks of gray and rain, I was eager to color it . . . not. No blue in my bag! I rarely continue working on a sketch after I’ve left the location because I usually lose the impulse and freshness of the moment. But this time I couldn’t stand it; I added the blue sky after I got home (the on-location view is at right).

That does it: January is over, and so is my minimalist challenge. I’m going back to my full color palette. Self-enforced minimalism makes me appreciate more the items I’ve missed. Like last year, though, I’m going to think very carefully before I put things back into my ultra-lightweight bag, which has been liberating to carry. Stay tuned for the post-minimalism sketch kit update.

Minimized and Matchy: Rickshaw Sinclair Model R

 

Matchy, matchy!

For several years, I challenged myself annually for a month or so to slim down my sketch kit to the bare essentials. The purpose of this exercise was to lighten my daily-carry load and see how little I could take with me and still sketch without feeling deprived or frustrated. Readers have told me (and shown me with their page hits) that seeing my minimal sketch kits is one of their favorite things on my blog. Something about attempts at minimizing seems to inspire many sketchers.

When the pandemic hit, I found myself doing most of my urban sketching during neighborhood fitness walks, which meant that I didn’t want to carry my entire, full-size sketch bag. Since my pandemic-edition sketch kit had become my daily-carry, my usual minimal challenge seemed unnecessary. By 2021, I was sketching beyond the neighborhood again, but I continued the habit of sketching during my fitness walks (a habit that continues to this day – one of the best things to come out of the pandemic). Again, I didn’t feel like a minimal challenge was necessary.

The primary triad palettes I used during the summer and now the secondary triads I am using this fall have given me a new twist on minimalism. Even when I’m working with a minimal palette, I  usually still carry the other colors as a security blanket. My bag shakeout a month ago made me commit to the minimal secondary palette and take out the security colors. The kit was slim enough that I could fit everything into my mini Sendak instead of the full-size Sendak I had been using.

My minimal pencil palette fits easily in the outer slash pocket. 

Here’s the next step in my bag diet program: Everything in my current kit fits into my new Rickshaw Bags Sinclair Model R pen case! Launched at the San Francisco Pen Show in August, the Model R was offered for a discounted intro price. A collaboration between Brad Dowdy of the former Nock Co. and Rickshaw, the new Sinclair is a clear improvement over its previous design – cushier interior, a new outer pocket and, most important to me, more fabric choices. I chose the Ink Dots fabric pattern because it includes colors that would coordinate with any of my Rickshaw bags (so far, I have bags in purple, another purple, black, pink, neon pink and red). I just switched from my pink spring/summer bag to my fall/winter waterproof purple bag, which has a bright yellow lining.

Although it most often appears in marketing and social media photos filled with fountain pens (the cushy lining is meant to protect them), the Sinclair Model R is not just for precious fountain pens – it’s a great little sketch kit organizer! That new slash pocket is just right for my minimal pencil palette, and the inner compartments hold the rest of my kit comfortably. With such a small kit, the entire bag is lighter and slimmer.

An essential characteristic of any bag organizer I would use is that the Model R can stand upright inside my bag, giving me immediate, single-handed access to my tools while sketching as I stand. If I’m sketching at the comfort of a café table, I can pull the whole thing out, and it takes up little tabletop space.

Two cushy inner compartments easily contain the rest of my sketch materials and tools, and everything stands upright and accessible in my bag.

A compact kit for a cafe table.

I’m sure it’s not a permanent change. As has always happened in the past, more tools and colors will creep back in over time, and one day I’ll decide it’s time to get out the fat pants again (in this case, that’s one of the Sendaks, which, unlike fat pants, are a welcome pleasure). But for now, my personal minimalism challenge is back on – with my smallest tool organizer yet.