Anna Barnes Supplies List

For local classes and Art, Food & Culture Adventures with Anna Barnes overseas as teacher - you will only need a basic sketch kit comprising of:

your favourite sketchbook

a small travel palette with a few watercolour 1/2 pans (yellow, red and blue minimum)

a few watercolour (aquarelle) pencils

a black waterproof pen

a size 4 paintbrush or water brush

small water container with screw top lid

This is what Anna takes overseas when going on a sketching holiday travelling with only “carry on” luggage.

It is the recommended list when learning Travel Sketching with Anna.

-Travelers Notebook - Inserts I like to use; Kraft Paper Insert, and Cream MD Paper Insert OR a good quality A5 sketchbook such as Stillman & Birn Gamma Series with softcover in portrait orientation.

-Albrecht Durer Faber-Castell x 12 colours of your choice (water soluble pencils)

-Prismacolor Premeire Pencils (optional)

-Pencil Sharpener

-Pens - Uni-ball EYE fine (or micro) black waterproof (made in Japan)

-Pentel brush pen (black)

-Posca pen 0.7mm (white)

-Escoda Reserva Travel Brushes size 2 & 6 OR fine and medium sized plastic waterbrushes

-Small Glass Bottle with screw top lid (for water)

-Twsbi Eco Fountain Pen (optional)

-Lamy Safari Fountain Pen (optional)

-Platinum Carbon Ink (optional for fountain pens)

-De Atramentis Document Ink - Urban Sienna, Green Grey (optional for fountain pens-fill the pens and wrap well for travel, I dont take the bottle OS)

-Small Metal Foldable Travel Palette filled with 1/2 pans of your own preferences of Daniel Smith Watercolors squeezed from the tubes: OR a travel watercolour set such as Winsor & Newtown Cotmans Pocket Plus (12 x 1/2 pans)

These are my favourite Daniel Smith Watercolors (optional/you choose your favourite colours - I dont carry tubes, I fill 1/2 pans and put them in my travel palette)

Moonglow

Lunar Blue

Raw Umber Violet

Perylene Green

Green Apatite Genuine

Undersea Green

Deep Sap Green

Sap green 

Buff Titanium

Potter’s Pink 

Opera Pink

Rose of Ultramarine

Permanent Alzarin Crimson

Carbazole Violet

Nickel Azo Yello

New Gamboge

Aussie Red Gold

Van Dyck Brown

Transparent Brown Oxide

Raw Sienna

Cobalt Teal Blue

Manganese Blue Hue

Cerulean Blue Chromium

French Ultramarine

Indigo

This is what Anna uses and talks about in class. It is not what you must bring to class (see above)

• Albrecht Durer Faber-Castell (water soluble pencils) OR Prismacolor Premeire Pencils (a small handful of your choice)

• Faber-Castell Double Barrel Metal Sharpener (any brand will do)

• Pens - Uni-ball EYE fine (or micro) black waterproof (made in Japan)

• Pentel brush pen (black)

• Posca pen 0.7mm (white)

• Escoda Reserva Travel Brushes size 2 & 6

• Small Glass Bottle with screw top lid (for water)

• OR in lieu of brushes and water, bring 2 plastic water brushes (made in Japan, fine/medium size) with the inbuilt water reservoir-not as good, but ok for beginners.

• Twsbi Eco Fountain Pen (optional)

• Lamy Safari Fountain Pen (optional)

• Platinum Carbon Ink from HERE OR De Atramentis Archive Ink - Black

• De Atramentis Document Ink - Urban Sienna, Green Grey (optional)

• Small Metal Foldable Travel Palette filled with 1/2 pans and my own preferences of Daniel Smith Watercolors squeezed from the tubes.

• Favourite Daniel Smith Watercolors:

  Moonglow, Lunar Blue, Green Apatite Genuine, Perylene Green, Undersea Green, Deep Sap Green, Buff Titanium, Rose of Ultramarine, Boreaux, Permanent Alzarin Crimson, Nickel Azo Yello, Hansa Yellow Deep, Aussie Red Gold, Potter’s Pink, Cobalt Teal Blue, Manganese Blue Hue, Cerulean Blue Chromium, French Ultramarine, Indigo, VanDyck brown, Transparent brown Oxide.

• OR in lieu of bringing your own handmade watercolour palette, for beginners bring a travel watercolour kit such as Winsor & Newton Pocket Plus. 12 1/2 pan colours will be enough. Unwrap them and play with them before you arrive!

• Travelers Notebook- Inserts I like to use; Kraft Paper Insert, and Cream MD Paper Insert from HERE

• OR a good quality A5 sketchbook such as STILLMAN & BIRN GAMMA SERIES SOFTCOVER SKETCHBOOK 150gsm 5.5x8.5 Inch PORTRAIT 46 sheets.

• Steadtler Lumocolor® permanent glasochrom 108 20 (white) (optional)

• Liht Lab Single Zip Wide Open Pencil Case (optional - any supplies case/pouch will do)

• Most supplies can be purchased HERE in Australia. Find your own suppliers for other countries.

• Books and Resources HERE

Chairs on a packing list are generally part of the urban sketching supply list. Do you usually carry one with you? Do you urban sketch already? Most urban sketchers like to carry their own chair, they are very small and light and can fit in a backpack. Usually it is a 3 legged stool from camping shops etc. I highly recommend you bring one.

Here is the reason…

There are millions of chairs in Vietnam, and if you like to sit while sketching in the local environment, I suggest you follow me around during the “free time” sketching sessions. In the past I would never take a chair with me OS, however I do like to sit when I sketch. I simply ordered a coffee or a snack from a vendor, so I can use their chair. I do this because it helps me connect with the people. I enter the markets and I sketch inside amongst the colourful energetic atmosphere by using their chairs. Smilling a lot usually secures such a luxury prime spot. Try it!

However….

Not having a chair/stool will reduce your view points and “perfect sketching” angles, because you are restricted by sketching what is near your chair and within your line of sight. So while not having one greatly increases your connection with the local culture, it will over time limit your sketching and ability to grow as an artist. You may find yourself (as I did) sketching your cafe drink over and over, whilst wishing you were in the street challenging yourself with a bigger view. Also when you have a significant amount of time to sketch, but are using a street vendors chair to sketch long after your drink/bowl of noodles are finished, the pressure to hurry up and move on will also affect the quality of your work.

NB: If you are a larger body type, or extra errrr…. “Heavy”, then you may have difficulty with market stools and local cafe chairs in Vietnam. They very very small and plastic, also they can be very low to the ground. I have had guests on previous trips struggle with getting down so low, and also being too heavy for the chairs and feeling like they might break them. If this will be your concern, you will want to find a public street bench or a more upmarket cafe or restaurant designed for foreign tourists to sit in.