Blue truck
Posted: March 24, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized 35 CommentsI liked Backman’s pier in South Carolina so much that I went back a second time to paint. This time instead of driving right up to the pier I parked a little further back, so I could see the blue truck and the rusty tanks.
Last year when I travelled on spring break, I lost my luggage for about ten days. It was a bit of an adventure. This year I travelled with only a carry-on bag and a minimal kit of art supplies. It was an experiment to see how I would manage with only my small palette. I know this palette is fine when I use a small sketchbook but I also brought along a pad of 10″ x 14″ Arches paper and some bigger brushes. I was worried that the small palette wouldn’t afford me enough mixing area but it was actually quite adequate — the wells in the palette are big enough to mix up enough paint for a big sky wash. And if you can get enough paint for half the sheet of paper, you can pretty much manage anything else. Of course you need to bring along the big brushes too, but they don’t take up too much space. Travelling with a carry-on also means that you can’t bring along extra tubes of paint, but I filled the wells before leaving and there was more than enough pigment for a solid week of painting. This bodes well for future travels.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Loving those road shadows!
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Thanks Dee. I think the shadows are what attracted me to this scene.
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Apparently practice does make perfect!!!! You never miss! Love all your paintings.
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Thanks Ellen!
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Wonderful sketch. Dreamlike and so real.
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Love the blue truck and shadows that fall across the dirt road! It’s a beautiful rendition.
Thanks for sharing.
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And thank you for writing Bernadette.
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Love the sketch (as always!) and really pleased no lost baggage this time. Good to hear about the travel palette …. but how do you find space to take your telegraph poles and power lines with you?
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Tony, I telescoped all the telegraph poles in my bag and wound the power lines around them. If you have the right kind of carry-on bag all of that can fit too. But after I installed them all at Backman Seafood I decided to leave them there for when I go back. Good idea, right?
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Respect Shari! Wish I could think that smart.
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The instructions are on the poles. I just followed them.
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Oh! So aww lovely. It’s like being there. Here is a song for you.
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Wonderful! A song. I love it. Tell me more about the singers Stephanie.
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Love the blue truck and sandy Lowcountry backroad! You may already know this, since you’ve been to the Charleston area before, but there is a very nice art supply store on Calhoun. It’s called Artist and Craftsman Supply Charleston–just in case you ever do need an extra tube of paint. It’s dark and filled to the brim with all kinds of interesting supplies. I love to poke around in there.
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Someone else also told me about this place after I returned home. Now that you mention that it was on Calhoun, I did go there because we parked just off Calhoun on our first day. What a great store!! Exactly as you describe it.
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I’m so intrigued about your minimalist travel kit. . . I live on a trawler, presently in Florida, but following the butter (when it gets soft, we go north, when it gets hard, we go south). I have VERY LITTLE SPACE for storage of art supplies, especially if I want to have them accessible. Thanks for sharing this aspect of your Low Country journey!
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Follow the butter. That is a great one that I will remember. You really don’t need to carry much if you use a small palette. Here is another great small one: https://expeditionaryart.com/shop/art-toolkit/
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Oooouuuu! What an evocative painting. The foreground treatment is perfect for this moody and mysterious scene. The colours are perfect!
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Thanks Alison. It was my kind of place. Fully of mystery.
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Really nice painting-captures the salt marshes perfectly and 11×14 is a nice size.
How big is your little travel palette????
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Thanks Holly. My travel palette is around 4″ x 6″.
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yes! I have a little flip open one like that and love it.
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Very nice scene. Great shadow. The way you paint it seems to have simply fallen together; so serene.
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Thanks Carolyn!
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Another beauty! Looks like your palette was a good size for this. I usually just travel with a carry-on and have found a small palette to be good enough for quite a lot of painting.
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Yes, surprisingly it was the perfect size.
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Shari, yup, that’s a good one. Lighting is perfect. Looks like a photograph. It always amazes me how you do that. Tim
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Tim, thank you. This was a very special place. Glad you like it!
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Great painting as always. What travel palette do you like? I have tried several and still not satisfied. What colors do you like in it if so limited? Thanks.
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HI Judy. Click on the link in my post. It will take you to the description of my travel palette as well as the colours I use.
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Thanks. I have found that half pans were tricky to use when placed side by side. I always get the colors sloshed into the other. But with the separation of these pans, it may be easier.
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Hi Shari – such lovely sketches from your trip. Thank you for posting and sharing them. 🙂
I have a question about the travel palette, too, as I am getting ready for a trip myself and want to go as minimal as possible. Did you feel like you had enough yellow? I seem to use more yellow than any other color. How many 1/2 pans of yellow did you take and which ones?
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Been using my travel palette for awhile because of an illness….now that I’m better I can’t seem to give it up for that big palette. I find a do a lot of 8x10s. Hopefully will redo these larger paintings.
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Excellent post. I so admire you motivation, creativity and how you see the world around you….and capture it so will. Thank you for sharing your drawings and your stories. Now I need to get back to sketching my surroundings. Have neglected this enriching practice for many years. You have inspired me to start again. 🙂
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Hi there. Thanks so much for writing. I am always so happy to hear that someone might be happy to get back to drawing or painting, either from watching my videos or reading the blog. I was in your situation about 5 years ago. That’s when I decided to start sketching every day. It has so enriched my life too. Thanks!
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