When I need to commute into the city I need to carry a bag with me. Just like everybody else I have to carry stuff. Mostly it’s food, water, an iPad, two cameras, and art supplies. I don’t like to think about food during my commuting work day so I always eat the same thing. I have a banana, two pieces of bread, a bag of carrots and cucumber slices, two granola bars, and a small bag of nuts. That’s what I’ve settled on over the years,
I also have a small bag of art supplies in my carry bag. It’s only about six by eight inches and contains various pens, a 5×7 inch pad of paper, some small art card pieces of paper, and some markers. I used to carry a second larger bag of art supplies too but I didn’t use it much so I’ve stopped packing that one. I also used to have a commuting schedule with more down time in it to draw but not anymore. So I don’t need the extra bag of supplies.
I don’t like backpacks. I prefer sling bags or messenger style bags. I like the bag to be over a shoulder but I don’t like it on both shoulders. The only explanation I have for that is that I find it clumsy to put on a backpack. I find it easier to put on a one strap messenger bag.
Last spring (2024) I started to have a problem. I started to have a little bit of pain in the back muscles of my shoulder. It wasn’t tremendous pain or anything like that but it still hurt. In the past I’ve had different shoulder pain and it was always related to my work posture. Usually my work posture when working at the computer. Even more specifically I can think of two cases of shoulder pain where I got new equipment that changed the way I stood at the computer and I eventually had to adjust my posture to make the pain go away. This time the pain came when there was no new equipment.
Eventually my Spring semester ended and I didn’t have to commute for the summer. The pain subsided. It usually came and went anyway. But then I decided to head down into NYC to take some street photos. Soon after I put the bag over my shoulder the pain came back. Now I knew what was causing it. I almost always carried the bag over my right shoulder. For years and years. There was my problem.
The bag I had been carrying was a backpack style bag with only one strap. I had to unhook the strap on the bottom and move it to the other side so that I could carry it on my left shoulder. As soon as I did this the pain went away and I was okay for the rest of the day.
I started to think I needed a new bag and it would have to be a backpack so that the weight would be on both shoulders. I looked online at various backpacks and bookmarked a couple of them but never bought one. I just didn’t really like any of them because I don’t like backpacks. I was thinking about keeping on using the one I had and just switching shoulders but I was kind of done with it. Then I thought of switching back to my old art bag.
My old art bag is one specifically designed for artists. It’s a big messenger style bag but it’s a little bit larger than a regular messenger bag so that you can carry 11×17 inch pieces of paper. I always liked this bag but it was wearing out. Years ago I had to sew one of the sides of the shoulder strap on since it tore off. I was afraid other parts of the bag would wear out soon so I switched off it. It was also an expensive bag. I think I got it for half price a long time ago but I see it now listed for about $150. That’s a lot.
While looking online for a new bag I saw one at an art site that seemed like my old art bag. It was on sale at a big discount too. Instead of around $75 it was $25 ($35 with shipping). I decided to take a chance on it. My gamble didn’t pay off. Win I got the bag it was clearly inferior to my old one. But it wasn’t terrible. All my other bags have a pocket on the side of the bag that could hold a water bottle. That’s essential to me. The pocket this one had on the side was too narrow to hold even the smallest water bottle. It had various pockets on the front under the front flap and it took me a moment to figure out that one of those could fit a water bottle and the side one was for an umbrella. Whew.
I packed this new bag and carried it for the first day but then I bailed on it. The real deal breaker turned out to be to be that it had no handle on the top. That’s something I always look for but didn’t on this bag. Besides carrying a bag over my shoulder I also like a handle on the top so I can carry it like a briefcase with my hand. This bag only had the shoulder strap. Maybe I can figure out how to sew a handle on top but until then I just didn’t like carrying this one. Too many times I reached for the handle and it wasn’t there.
I ended up switching back to the 11×17 inch art bag with the sewn on strap. I just couldn’t go back to the one that hurt my shoulder and I wanted that 11×17 inch size again. Sometimes I have to carry paper that big and that’s when I used to either switch back to this bag or strap another 11×17 inch bag to my pack. I got tired of doing that.
So that is the story of my everyday carry bag. I will probably stick with my worn down art bag for a while until it wears out completely. Then I might have to save up and buy a new one. Or sew a handle onto my other new one. But that’s a problem for another day.