Small Watercolor kit for travel

It’s almost time to pack art supplies for the summer travel season.  Where are you going this summer?  Where is your favorite place to paint? What sort of kit do you pack?

I’m excited to be traveling to the Provence area of France with a group of artists.  At first I thought I’d pack clothes in one suitcase and painting supplies in another.   I imagined I’d walk to locations near the villa, spend the day painting en plein air come back with several completed pieces.   Ha!  What a silly fantasy!  The others in the group are interested in tourist activities.  Then we started talking about having to schlep luggage from plane to train to tiny car and realized we should take only one carryon each.  So I’ve been trying to skinny my kit down to a minimum.

I remembered a journaling workshop taught by Margaret Hoybach who suggested carrying a watercolor book and a small watercolor kit.   The idea is to make a quick, simple drawing to capture an image along with color notes.  Add color and details at the next stop.   Try to get as much as possible before someone yells “back on the bus!”.

So I’ve collected the small kit you see here.  It has a book with watercolor paper, watercolor paint box, small bushes, pencils, kneaded eraser, water, white gouache, wax crayon, brown ink pen, black markers, Kleenex or paper towels, pencil sharpener, sea sponge, plastic bag, water bottle, spray bottle., camera, viewfinder, and glue stick.  Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be testing it to see how much more I can leave at home and still call my self an artist.  I think I can do without the glue stick.  How much weight will that save?

Do you have any advice for me?  What is the minimum you need to do art on the road?