My Essential Travel-Light Art Kit - Sketching impressions of Wollongong

Packing Light for Art Adventures: An Artist’s Guide to Traveling with Creative Freedom

Wollongong stole my heart back in 2009 when I first visited, and I love going back to take in the sights as an artist! I recently spent a few days there sketching and taking in the feeling of the place as I visited family and friends. The coastal views, the dramatic cliffs, the morning light as it catches the waves at North Beach, with the Illawarra escarpment rising dramatically behind the city - its and artists paradise. These short trips are a great lesson in what to pack (and what to leave behind) for a successful art travel adventure. I have added a list of the items I took with at the end of this blog and also included product links to make it easy for you to get more information on my recommendations. 

Why Less Is More

I’ve learned the hard way that dragging a full studio’s worth of supplies kills the spontaneity that makes travel sketching special. You want to wander down to the harbor, climb up to the Sublime Point lookout, or duck into a café when the rain starts—all without feeling like a pack mule.

The solution? A carefully curated kit that packs neatly into your carryon luggage and fits in a small backpack when you are on location. 

Your Sketchbook Is More Than Pictures

Here’s something I wish someone had told me earlier: your sketchbook isn’t just for drawings. It’s your sensory diary.

When you’re sitting at a café on Keira Street watching the world go by, jot down what the place felt like. Was the breeze salty? Did the coffee taste burnt or perfect? What were people talking about? Were there any seagulls with clever antics? 

I fill margins with colour swatches matched to what I’m seeing—the exact shade of rust on the old fishing boat, the purple-grey of storm clouds rolling in. I note down the temperature, the sounds, even the smells. “Fish and chips grease mixed with sunscreen” tells a story that a perfect drawing sometimes can’t.

These notes become gold when you’re back home trying to recapture the essence of a place. They’re the difference between a generic beach scene and a painting that makes viewers feel like they’ve been to Wollongong themselves.

The Critical Role of Photos

Take. So. Many. Photos.

I know, I know—we’re artists, we sketch from life. But photos are research tools, not cheating. Your memory is unreliable, and you can’t be everywhere at once.

I photograph everything: wide establishing shots, details of textures, lighting conditions at different times of day, colour reference shots. When that perfect golden hour light hits the Sea Cliff Bridge for exactly ten minutes, you might only have time for a quick gesture sketch. Your photos will help you develop it into something complete later.

Pay special attention to:

∙ Light and shadow patterns

∙ Architectural details you can’t fully sketch in the moment

∙ Colour relationships

∙ Atmospheric conditions

∙ People, seagulls and movement (for adding life to scenes later)

These references become invaluable weeks or months later when you’re working on a series based on your trip.

Staying Creative On The Road

The beautiful truth about traveling as an artist is that creativity doesn’t take effort—it’s effortless. You’re already in observation mode, already noticing things tourists miss, already making visual connections.

Give yourself permission to work loosely. Not every sketch needs to be portfolio-worthy. Infact, my Wollongong works are just notes for me, to jog my memories when I return to my studio. Some of my favourite travel pages are messy, half-finished, with coffee stains and notes. They’re authentic.

Wollongong makes this especially easy. There’s inspiration everywhere: the heritage buildings downtown, the industrial port contrasting with pristine beaches, the morning dog walkers along North Beach, the way the lighthouse stands against dramatic skies.

Sketch while waiting for your flat white. Capture colour studies during sunrise. Get a sketch in while waiting for a friend to arrive. Five minutes here, ten minutes there—it all adds up to a rich visual diary you’ll treasure.

 

My Essential Travel Art Kit

Sketching at locations like Hill 60 and North Wollongong Beach taught me that less really is more. When you're not weighed down by equipment, you're free to explore, move locations easily, and focus on capturing the moment rather than managing your gear.

Here’s what I took on my short trip:

• Paint Set Tin 
  • Here is the link to this product if you want more information or want to give it a try for yourself  https://amzn.to/48TV8WU                                                        
  • I wanted to find an all in one paint and sketch tin that is robust and offering a good array of warm and cool colours. I wanted the luxury of not having to mix colours on trips, and just jotting down little colour glimpses without getting all technical. This tin has 48 colours ready to go.
  • What I really liked about this product is I could just open it up and my paints, brushes, and even a fine tip marker where neatly laid out for me ready to use.
  • It has a water brush so I didn't need a water container, and if I did decide to mix colours, there is a neat mixing palette all within the tin.
  • The colours are not professional grade, but for making my own notes and recording my experiences this kit is perfect. 

• Small Water Colour Travel Journal 
  • Here is the link to this product if you want more information or want to give it a try for yourself https://amzn.to/45hRYd9                                                     
  • A5 is a great travel size and this little journal has stitched binding and will lay flat if I want to sketch across 2 sheets. The pages are very absorbent and its 200GSM holds water well, but it performs equally well with dry medias.  The hard cover means I have a sturdy surface wherever I am, and the elastic wrap means I can steady any page from the wind as well as protect my pages and memories safely in my bag. Hard-bound versions survive the beating of travel better.
  • These little journals are so good, I actually attach project labels to the front of these and keep all of my project ideas I am working on in separate journals. They are very affordable, so I treat them like diary idea folders so I can work across several portfolios neatly at a time. Once you try these, they will become part of your go-to kit too!                                                                                                    
• Mechanical Pencils
  • Simple, reliable, no sharpening required 

  • Here is a link to this product if you want more information or want to give it a try for yourself   https://amzn.to/4qafNMN  

  • I like to have 3 grades of mechanical pencils to sketch with, a 2B, HB, and 2H. This set is perfect as it has all 3, as well as having a several fine point HB clutch pencils, and  plenty of refills and erasers too. 
  • For my trip I just took the thicker 2B, HB, 2H, a fine HB clutch and an eraser from the set. This set is such good value to purchase, I will never buy a single clutch pencil or its refills again! 
  • Clutch pencils are great when travelling as they can go onboard aeroplanes and they do not need a sharpener (which would be confiscated). 

• Small Rechargeable Digital Camera 
  • a small easy to carry camera, with a  good battery life, and a zoom function 
  • If you don't already have a camera, I would suggest a small Kodak at around $200. Its packed with features and gets a very good rating from thousands of users.  You can check them out via the link: 

    https://amzn.to/3L8ugcx

• Light Foldable Backpack
  • a foldable backpack is such and asset in the travelling artist kit. Weighs next to nothing and neatly folds into your luggage for any journey. 
  • It easily fits your paint kit, sunscreen, a bottle of water, hat and umbrella. 
  • If you are looking to purchase a foldable backpack, here is the link to one that is under $25 and will complete your painting travel kit : 

    https://amzn.to/4s865vs

Please note these items have affiliate links to Amazon AU which is where I purchased most of these items. Clicking the links are safe, it will take you out of this blog and onto Amazon AU; if you make any purchase you are not charged any extra for the product, but Amazon AU might reward my efforts in some instances with a small % payment.

Bringing It All Home

By the time you leave Wollongong, you’ll have a sketchbook bursting with raw material: sketches, colour notes, impressions, ticket stubs, perhaps a pressed leaf or two. You’ll have hundreds of photos. You’ll have memories now anchored to specific marks on paper.

This is where the real work begins and where your light packing pays off even more. You haven’t exhausted yourself hauling equipment around, so you return home energized rather than depleted. All that collected inspiration becomes fuel for weeks or months of studio work.

The paintings, illustrations, or prints you create afterward won’t just show what Wollongong looks like—they’ll capture what it felt like to be there. And that’s the real magic of traveling as an artist.

So pack light, observe deeply, and let Wollongong’s coastal beauty fill your creative well. The city is waiting to be captured in your unique visual language.

JudithRose.art