No Class - Too Heavy

I'm restricted to picking up/carrying 10 pounds. No more.

The bag I carry to and from watercolor class looks like this:

The description is:

Roomy 14x18x11” Pittman palette and field bag with zippered interior section that holds a tremendous assortment of gear and supplies and a separated bottom compartment with built in stiffener that securely holds a combination of any covered watercolor palette, drawing pad, canvas or watercolor block up to 14x16” in size! Features 7, 2-1/2” wide x 5-1/2” high outside pockets on one side for holding brushes, pencils, pens and other gear and a 18” wide x 4-1/2” high zippered compartment on the other side. Special dual use handles may be used as shoulder straps as well.

Well, as much as I stuff into this bag, it better be ok to use the straps as shoulder straps! It weighs a ton at times, depending on how much extra I put in there for special projects - like misket fluid and a whole roll of paper towels and scissors and tracing paper and graphite paper and...well, you get the idea! Plus I seem to need to take lots of paint tubes with me that I don't need because I have my John Pike palette in the bottom of the thing.

So...time to consolidate and think about weight.

I have to minimize what I can take with me so I can go next Tuesday. To tell the truth, I really didn't feel up to going today but maybe by next week I'll be ready to go - and will have a smaller bag and less stuff then.

Here's the bag I'm taking after putting in a smaller travel palette and sorting through the paint tubes and leaving half out.

The description is:

The DANIEL SMITH Natural Canvas Artist's Tote with leather trim and a detachable, adjustable shoulder strap puts the pockets on the outside, where you really need them. There are 3 large and 6 small pockets on either side, 1 large and 2 small pockets on either end. The interior is completely open to accommodate bulkier supplies. It’s made of heavy-duty cotton canvas with suede-reinforced handles and a top flap that secures with Velcro. The boxy shape stands up even when empty. Measures 9"h (plus handles) x 14"w x 8"d.

Much more compact and lighter in weight (now that I minimized the stuff I carry back and forth). I used this system to travel to Florida to take a Janet Rogers workshop and it worked fine - I also took one butcher tray for mixing larger amounts (Janet likes you to make big juicy puddles).

And now I want to paint!!! Wah wah wah....but I know not to overdo it today just because I'm feeling better. So I think I'll go play Scrabble with George. He's pretty good but he doesn't have a really big vocabulary...