St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

Base of central spire of St Pat's in Melbourne. Pen and watercolour wash on small moleskine (8 x 13cm).

Minimal sketching kit

Inspired by those who have made travelling palettes out of altoids tins, I searched high and low for one of these tins, but couldn't find anything similar in Melbourne. Instead I used the plastic case from a Mini DV digital video cassette box.

This is definitely low technology. I simply squeezed each of the four colours into the corners of the box and let them dry (overnight and there was a hard skin on them). I've always preferred tubes to pans when it comes to watercolour. I leave them in the palette to harden up and they can be cleaned by running under the tap.

I chose the pigments after spending far too long browsing through the colours at the excellent handprint.com - I chose pigments (PV19, PB15, PG7 and PY150).

I also stuck some white labels on the outside so I could see the colours better as they are mixed. When combined with a waterbrush and a single waterproof pen this is a very compact sketching kit.

Column - Parliament House

Pen and ink on very small moleskine.