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Reply to @ben@mastodon.art
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
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Ben Bittner@ben@mastodon.art (2026-09-30 03:02:53)
@Tini For this hike I brought a "SEMLEART small watercolor sketchbook 3.9*3.9" 4.6oz, and I taped the edges of several pages before the hike.
A lot of people recommend aquabrushes for backpacking, but I find I don't like the lack of water control I get with those, so I bring 1 or 2 smallish Chinese calligraphy brushes. The brushes can take some abuse, in a backpack so I leave the expensive kolinsky sables at home.4/8
Tini@Tini@mastoart.social (2026-09-30 21:09:10)
@ben For this year’s hike, I treated myself to a “ZigZagBook” from Hahnemühle with 18 pages for painting (300gsm). (132g / 15x 15cm)
It was perfect. The cover provides a sturdy base, the size is ideal, and it looks great when folded up. They're also available in 5x5 cm
I like to use A5 landscape-format sketchbooks made of 100% cotton, 300gsm, when I’m just going out for some urban sketching (and the weight doesn’t matter).
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