Art Supplies For On The Trail
You require a lot less than you might think for a colorful day on the trails (or at home, when being outside is not possible)! I hope this video and the list of my go-to favorite art supplies helps take the guess work out of what to bring on your next adventure.
📍 Updated: September 2025
A small sketchbook and/or our Trailbound Sketches Trail Tiles (pictured above)!
If I were a dragon, I would not hoard gold; I would hoard paper. I am mostly looking for something little enough to take anywhere and durable enough to survive the trip when it comes to sketchbooks/watercolor paper products. I have been really impressed with my present kit; it has survived to freeze at -40f, being bounced down mountains, being plunged (with me) into rivers, getting lost in the snow, buried by scree avalanches, being carried in my mouth, and lightly being burnt.
📍NOTE: I primarily paint on Hahnemuhle 100% cotton cold press paper and sketchbooks of varying degrees of weight (thickness). Please, however, don’t allow accessibility to the exact brand of paper or sketchbook I personally use to prevent you from playing with watercolor! My late grandmother Lu did virtually all of her watercolor sketching on Strathmore sketchbooks, which are readily found at most craft/art supply stores (including the craft section of Walmart in some locations).
Travel Palettes.
I used to think palettes had to be colossal teardrop wooden shields you carried, but modern palettes are portable enough that I rarely leave the house without one. It is something so simple, but having color at your fingertips is pure magic. My go-to travel palettes are produced by Art ToolKit. In fact, they still have, while supplies last a Trailbound X Art Toolkit sketcher palette!
Watercolor Paints/Pigments: burnt sienna, burnt umber, cerulean blue, indigo, red, yellow, sap green, a nice medium purple.
📍NOTE: Please don’t allow the brand of paint to prevent you from painting alongside me in any one of my online or live tutorials.
Paint brushes.
When I have time and space I love my NEW set of travel brushes (by Rosemary & Co). I have a small, medium and large; which help like gears on a bike. But most of my painting is done with my water brush (medium). I can use it on its own if I am going super light, or if I have time and space for a water jar I can use it just like you would at home.
📍NOTE: Another kind reminder to embrace whatever paint brushes you have access to.
A simple pen.
A fine point Sharpie or something waterproof works fine. I am not too picky.
A pencil.
Right now I am having a lot of fun with this natural feeling retractable pencil from a company that had a clever name — with. I personally use their 36 set of colorful and interchangeable leads. It’s the most compact set of colored pencils I have ever used!
Music.
It might seem like a strange tool, but I often get petrified when trying to make the first stroke on a bright white piece of paper. Some pump up music in my ears is usually all I need to work up the bravery to start.
Confession 🫣…
