"Sketches from Paris" Rick Steves, Paris in seven Days, travelogue by Robin Weiss

Paris Sketch Book 2019

Sketching in Paris

In my last blog post I introduced our European adventure and I have been thinking a lot about how to organize and condense the trip. There were several segments to it and the first was the Rick Steves, Paris in Seven Days Tour. A great way to immerse into Paris life and culture!

We decided to fly Iceland Air because, at the time, the fares were about half the price of some other major airlines. I had heard some negative things about IA so was a little nervous about using them. Some of those concerns were realized right off the bat when they changed our departure times about two weeks before we left!

It turned out okay in the long run because after long negotiations on the phone, Ann re-booked the flight and we arrived in Paris two days earlier than we originally planned. That gave us a couple extra days in Paris! We spent one day walking around the city, mostly in the Eiffel Tower area and also connecting with a facebook friend living in Paris.  We enjoyed one of the city's favorite pastimes of people watching while having coffee in one of the many cafes. I , of course wanted to sketch everything!!


As I explained in the last post, I took two bags on this trip. My check on bag with travel easel and oil painting supplies and my smaller carry on bag with sketch book and watercolor supplies.

watercolor palette

Travel Sketch Tips Part One

This is my small watercolor palette that folds up and has a little thumb hole for holding while painting. I put a little water in the bottle cap and set it right on the palette..That worked pretty good!

A tip about your paint;  If you are using tubes of watercolor to fill your palette...Fill them ahead of time long enough for the paint in the trays to thoroughly dry before you pack for your trip. I didn't do this and had some gooey paint to work with when I was on location.

Wrap your palette in layers of paper towels and put it in a zip lock bag with a tube of white gouache and a small round sable brush.

 BTW , I love M Graham watercolors!   I use their oil paint too! Check out the artist spotlight they did on me a few years back HERE

My main work horse brush for watercolor when sketching, is this "water brush". You can fill the handle with water and squeeze it out as needed while you are painting. I have used it that way and it does work okay, but I have found on this trip, that it works very good with out filling the handle. It has a good grip and will float inside the half sized water bottle!  That's a good thing!!  You can keep this brush stored in your water bottle when not in use!!

When you are done sketching just pop the brush in your sketch water bottle, brush side down. The handle will float the brush and help keep the brush hairs from bending over .....And then it is right there and handy for the next sketch session! Voila!

Back side of the Musee de l'Orangerie

In Paris our amazing guide, Veronique, took us to tour the Louvre and then we spent time in the Tuileries Gardens. It's an inspiring place for a sketch artist to hang out!  I picked out a spot under the shade of a London Plane tree to do this color sketch of the Musee de L'Orangerie where we saw the inspiring, epic, large water lily paintings by Monet, done in his last years.

Ann viewing the Water Lilies