Ever since I started drawing, I've carried around a shoulder bag of some kind or another with at least a sketchbook, pencils, pens, and hand sharpener in it. I used them all the time. When I was in my earlier teen years, it was an army surplus canvas bag, and often as not, I also carried an old fishing tackle box with crayons, charcoal sticks, kneaded erasers, and other stuff that made me feel like I was an artist. It didn't matter much when I was out in the fields behind our house, but it must have looked geeky as hell when I was walking around in public. When I visited my grandfather in Japan for the first time as a sixteen year old, I bought a larger vivid dark olive green bag with imitation leather straps and a front pocket, and used it until I was most of the way through my first stint in college. Then came a succession of day packs, and they followed me through later sporadic episodes in design and architecture school, as well as serving as my substitute for a briefcase when I was Director of Design for a Lancaster county cabinet manufacturer. That one was a neat black ballistic nylon bag with some really cool compartments, stowable straps, and a zippered flap sleeve. When the zippers failed and I started feeling like I'd stretched the college kid image as far into my thirties as I could, I finally broke down and took a trip to an upscale leather shop with my son Gabe, who was four years old at the time. He still remembers the occasion, twelve years later. I paid an outrageous $400 for a supple black leather shoulder bag from Coach with a front flap compartment and a single large zippered cavity with a few leather pockets sewn into it. It was a real extravagance - elegant and sophisticated, and meant to be pampered. But I didn't do that. I beat the daylights out of it, never once used any of the leather conditioner, and it has gradually worn into a pleasantly battered state of appearance. For years, I used it to tote a laptop computer that barely would fit, but now I have a more purpose built bag for that. Since it has been retired from daily business duty though, I once again keep a sketchbook, pencils, a nifty hand sharpener from Staedler, and a pipe or two inside it. I think it's happier this way. And once again, I'm back to using that sketchbook all the time.
my old black bag with a Rad Davis zulu, 11 9/16 x 8 1/4, 9B graphite and watercolor pencils
