urban sketching kit

My Current Urban Sketching Kit – Etchr Slate Mini-Satchel

My Etchr Mini-Satchel

Recently the NYC Urban Sketchers hosted a workshop at the Belvedere Castle in Central Park, NYC. It was See The Lines: Shape and Sharpen New York City with Alán Ramiro. This will be a monochrome workshop using  primarily a water brush filled with diluted ink and a Fude nib fountain pen. Monochrome sketching requires you to focus on essential elements. 

Fortunately, there was a list of materials to bring, and description of what we’d be sketching. I had several small cases for my pencils, pens, and clips to hold the paper in my sketchbook steady. They also suggested that we bring a stool. Since I hadn’t done a workshop like this that involved traveling from the Hudson Valley, I decided to bring the things I had, and see what other sketchers were using. I was taking the bus, then the NYC subway and walking, so everything had to be compact.

At the workshop, one thing really caught my eye. One of the other sketchers was using what he later told me was an Etchr Slate Mini-Satchel. You carry it with a strap over your shoulder, and can place the straps in a way where it makes a sort of easel that you can sketch directly on. Very compact. With the Mini-Satchel, you can sketch standing up or sitting down. I love it, and the more I use it, the more I like it. It’s a good size, and you can carry a wallet and phone in it, too. So it’s my one bag for the sketching day.