Create a Mobile Art Studio with Scaled Down Supplies

It's almost effortless for us as artists, beginners or experienced, to begin to collect art supplies that we never end up using, forget we have, or hold onto "just in case." I am often guilty of indulging myself with art supplies, which may make my art studio appear impressive but quickly turns into something overwhelming when it comes time to try and find something or clean up.

When my son was born, I lost my studio space to make room for the new addition to our family, and while I have no complaints there, that meant I had so many supplies with very little space to put them. I had to ask myself, "How can I still create art without having my entire studio in storage?"

The question I asked myself forced me to take a long look at what I thought defined an art "studio" and whether or not I truly needed my own space. At the time, my son was 18 months old, and I admit that I was never genuinely great at organizing, and it was more difficult now with my son here, but I needed to learn how to purge myself of the too-long list of requirements I thought I needed to make art. But how?

People say that one of the most complex skills to learn and put into practice is understanding how to keep things simple, but I hear that it's also one of the most rewarding once conquered. I loved the idea of being able to carry an entire art studio wherever I chose to paint, but that didn't sound so simple at first.

I recalled that many master watercolor artists tend to create the basis of their paintings with watercolor instead of carrying a set of pencils about, and that seemed like a good place to start for less baggage. I knew I needed to fit my new "mobile art studio" into as tiny of a space as possible, and I wanted something I could tuck into my car door, possibly my pocket, or on a table next to my favorite chair.

I began with my favorite American Journey Voyager set. However, as I carried that around, I occasionally found it to be a bit too much. Later, when I studied my Voyager set, I noticed that I hit some specific color pans more than others: red, yellow, blue, flesh tone, quinacridone gold, and black. Since I typically used just these six colors most often, and since the Voyager set was three-quarters of a pound, I realized I was carrying around a lot of extra weight that wasn't even being used. So the next question I posed to myself was: "Can I make my palette even smaller?" With this question in mind and the goal of de-cluttering and reducing the scale of my everyday art supplies, I found that I could! I only truly needed a few items to have the perfect assortment of uncluttered art supplies for a portable studio.

What I Ended Up Keeping for my Scaled Down Portable Art Studio

Smaller Palettes and Empty Watercolor Pans
I purchased and began using Cheap Joe's American Journey Nomad Tins. These tins are great for creating your own palette. Depending on the pans, you can fit up to 3 empty American Journey full pans or six empty American Journey half pans, which was perfect for me. You could also buy magnetic strips to use with the recommended American Journey Nomad or Voyager tins. Using the half pans allowed me to fill the empty compartments with the colors I use most and carry the palette virtually anywhere.

Magnetic Tape
In addition to the small Nomad Tin, I made sure to get some magnetic tape. Magnetic tape allows me to switch out my palette in seconds with any other color I might want to take with me.

Travel Sized Tools
I have a single travel-sized pencil for sketching and a single travel-sized watercolor brush in my preferred size.

All together, everything in my new mobile art studio could be placed in a briefcase or carried in one hand wherever I needed to go—and I still had the same art supplies I reached for as if I were in my old studio at home. If you find yourself overwhelmed with the cycle of too many supplies and no space, I hope my findings and suggestions help give you peace of mind on your journey to de-clutter.