This month on Muddy colors I thought I’d post my EDC (also know as Everyday Carry). This is a list of the tools and general implements that I take with me when I’m going to be out of the studio for a few hours. These are the most basic tools that I like to have on hand as, basically, my security blanket.

 

It starts with the Mini Sendak Roll made by a company called Peg and Awl. I really want to get everything from their site, but I digress…

Its a small pen and pencil wrap that is very well made and it comes with a hard plastic sheet that can be inserted if it needs to remain more rigid. 

Here it is above filled (and there’s room for more!)^

 

What I keep in it:

1)Kum long point pencil sharpener

2) Blackwing long point pencil sharpener 

3) A modified pencil extender from our fellow artist friend Scott Bakal (I’ve also made a few of these myself)

4) A small Opinel folding blade, also for sharpening and light utility

5) Kneaded erasers (who doesn’t carry kneaded erasers??)

6) A rechargeable led light from Ott called the daylight (shown below), sometimes used as a drawing light, other times as a directed light source if I photograph something small. This light has three settings and has been with me for so long it is really a “must” for my EDC. 

7) 2 Signo gel pens for sketching (.28 and .38 sizes)

8) A Pentel brush pen

9) A few 6b Tombow Mono pro pencils

10) A couple of the softer Blackwing pencils

11) A white sign gel pen

12) A sepia pen

13) A Faber and Castell perfect pencil extender(also has a sharpener in the cap)

14) A small bag for pencil shavings (leave no trace)

15) and I usually keep that blue microfiber lens cloth in my pocket as well

 

The bigger picture:

I’ll usually carry a small USB charged portable light and a USB battery (usually used for phones) to keep it powered but these do not fit in the Sendak.

I like to carry all this and a sketchbook of random origins in a leather messenger back that I’ve had for a long time now.

 

This is the big list if I’m going somewhere and likely to be there all day.

Sometimes I just take my moleskine (storyboard format) and a pen if I’m in the mood to keep it simple.

My strategy behind my EDC is not so much carry everything that I need but to train myself to only need what I carry, in that context.

My go to place for many of my pencils and pens is JetPens.com. Vicki has often warned me about my possibility of her banning from the site for a few months. 😬 (I have been spared so far. 😉)

Stephanie Law and I drawing at Friday Nights at The Oakland Museum of CA some years ago.

So get an EDC, your Everyday Carry, put together for yourself so that when you are out and about you too can feel happy and secure in that your go to supplies will be with you.

Enjoy sketching, drawing and painting while you are out and about.

A~