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Reply to @Tini@mastoart.social
Ben Bittner@ben@mastodon.art (2026-09-30 03:00:18)
@Tini Thank you! Oh no! You have asked me about gear! Long #artSupplies ramble follows.
I find it very hard on to make time for painting on a LASH or thru, so sometimes I only bring a sketchbook and pencil.
The lightest sketchbook I ever brought is a Travelers 013 refill, cut in half. The paper is very thin and smooth, but it doesn't bleed or feather, and you get 128 pages for 1.5 ounces. Add in some teeny tiny colored pencils, A bic plastic mechanical pencil, and the weight is about 2oz. 1/8
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Ben Bittner@ben@mastodon.art (2026-09-30 03:01:47)
@Tini The paper buckles, and it's hard to do drybrush. In my regular life, I've used various 5" by 8" journal-style sketchbooks for years. They all weigh around 8 oz but cut them in half and it's 4. For short hikes, the best/lightest solution is probably to just bring unbound sheets of watercolor paper and be careful with it. I haven't done it yet, but I'm interested in making field notes-style sketchbooks in the manner of this howto vid: https://youtu.be/zYn8PBWR2lg 2/8
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Ben Bittner@ben@mastodon.art (2026-09-30 03:02:15)
@Tini Lately, my thinking is that having a tiny, cute little square sketchbook will make me more likely to want to stop hiking a paint, and after some false starts, I learned that searching for "tiny 100% cotton watercolor paper sketchbook" on Amazon brings up some good candidates from random chinese vendors for not much money. The same thing would probably work on Aliexpress. The paper is not Arches, but it's still servicable. 3/8