Review of Schmincke Reichgold Dry Gouache --- Glittery Glimmery Glam!

(Image is clickable if you'd like to see it larger and sharper.)

When I got home from Adams the other day after doing this sketch, I did the writing with the same pens and inks that I used on the sketch posted yesterday. But it seemed a little stark to me. It needed just a touch of something glittery for some extra holiday cheer. I was going to add some gold touches with the Krylon 18K Gold Leafing Pen, but then I got another idea...

A few weeks ago, I was in the Jerrys Artarama store in Norwalk, and I stumbled upon a bottle of Schmincke Reichgold Dry Gouache. It's metallic gold with a gouache binder in powdered form that you mix up as needed. I had to try it! It's been sitting in my studio ever since. I pulled it out and using a small palette knife, set some out on a piece of glass. I took a couple of drops of water and mixed it up with the palette knife on the glass surface, then painted some bits onto the wreath. I know you might only be able to make out a few dabs of it on the wreath; it's hard to see in photos, just like the iridescent paint, but I absolutely love this stuff! I wish you could all see it in person. It mixes up very easily and has a more textural look to it than the pen. When you mix it, you can understand why it is sold in a dry, powdered form. The metal particles separate easily from the water and binder once it's mixed up, so liquifying it as needed is definitely the way to go with this product.

Here's what the bottle and powder look like:

The photo makes the bottle look huge, but it's only 20ml. Very small. The mix remains soluble in water. I left  some to dry on the glass, then went back with a wet brush and it sprang right back to life. The small quantity I'd put out was just begging to be all used up and it reconstituted so easily that I went ahead and added it to some other sketches too. Some does come off after it's dry if you rub a finger across a painted area, so it doesn't set as permanently as the gold pen or gold acrylic paint.

The fact that the gold gouache remains soluble is a big factor, because that means it won't destroy my brush if I'm out on location and can't wash the brush right away. Although the gold leafing pen is easier to carry around and use, the gouache has some advantages. I can use more water and less powder to add a little shimmer to a colored area, or  instead paint something solid gold with very little dilution of the product. This makes it more versatile in its application. Apparently it can also be mixed into paints, though I haven't tried that...yet! 

The Life of an Amaryllis Part I

You can click the image for a larger, clearer view.

A few weeks ago, I prepared two, two-page spreads with pastel ground. I just wanted to experiment with the Golden Acrylic Ground for Pastels to see what it was like. I used one for a pastel sketch that is still evolving, and I thought I'd use Wolff's Carbon Pencils for this second one. What I really like about the Wolff's pencils is that:

1. they give beautiful, rich darks, and
2. they wash with a wet brush.

This means I can play both wet and dry, and layer to my heart's content. They are a blend of graphite and charcoal that merges the smoothness of graphite with the depth of charcoal. I used only a 6B here, drawing first, then washing a bit. I went back and forth that way, then dove in for the kill with the dark accents. I should have stopped there. But I liked the rich darks so much that I started doing more and more, and well, you know how that goes. It passed that delicious al dente stage and became a bit overcooked.

Pastel ground is not friendly to fountain pens. They write fine on it, but the ground has a fine texture to it that will destroy nibs, so I did the writing with a Pilot Plumix on Borden & Riley 108 lb. Pen and Ink paper, and glued it onto the adjacent page. The purple writing was a Sharpie felt tip calligraphy pen, so I really didn't care what would happen to that one! I used that directly on the pastel ground.

I'm excited about this amaryllis series! It will be fun to explore the changes and have the chance to observe it more closely as I sketch, and it gives me something interesting to draw inside from life, for those times when I can't get out on location. I really hate working from photos.

My Favorite Potter, Marilyn Price

You can click on the image above to enlarge it and read the text.

This sketch was done in my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. The page was first colored using diluted Golden Fluid Acrylics (standard colors and iridescent) and F&W Acrylic Inks, and the border painted. The sketch was then done on location, using a Kaweco Sport fountain pen with an extra-fine nib, filled with Noodler's Midnight Blue ink. Shadow areas were washed in using a waterbrush, followed by the inclusion of watercolor to finish it off. The title was written using a Brause italic dip pen, and for the smaller text, I used a smaller-nibbed italic pen (Pilot Plumix). Both were loaded with Noodler's Luxury Blue ink --- a really nice midtone blue.

People are always asking me what materials I go out sketching with. I'll have to post another peek into my current messenger bag soon. The contents do change from time to time, depending on where I'm going, what I want to work with, whether I'll be standing or sitting, and how far I'll have to walk.

RiverWinds Gallery is loaded with work by this favorite potter of mine, Marilyn Price, at very reasonable prices. I especially love using her gorgeous pitchers as flower vases. They also have quite a few of my paintings there, and other fine art, jewelry, and handmade gift items. Definitely worth a trip for holiday shopping!

Sketching at RiverWinds Gallery

RiverWinds Gallery is located in Beacon, New York. They carry a lot of my paintings as well as work by other artists. They also have fabulous handmade pottery and jewelry, framed photographs, and other handmade gift items. This varied assortment of art is beautifully set up on shelves and cases around the gallery. If you're still out there looking for holiday gifts and close enough to Beacon to make the drive, it's a great place to do holiday shopping.

Our sketching group was invited to sketch there this past week. Having sketched there before, I was very excited about another opportunity. Four of us fell in love with this setup of sunflowers and yarn bowls (by potter Marilyn Price). We pulled up chairs around it and got to work with whatever mediums we had on hand.

I selected this page spread in my sketchbook that I'd previously prepared with lavender, pink, and blue shiny iridescent acrylics, and started out by sketching with a fountain pen filled with Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses. I used a waterbrush to create an ink and wash, and then splashed on some color near the end of the process. The writing was done with the same ink, which tied the color harmony together quite nicely.

Rain, Rain

 

It was pouring rain on Tuesday night and Wednesday. Rainy days are the perfect times to pull out those little antique shop items, paint flowers, clean the studio, or make some progress on a large painting. Since I was waiting for company to arrive, the little antique shop items won out. I picked up these three charming, cobalt blue vases over the summer and have been looking forward to their sketchbook debut ever since! Although they are actually blue, I didn't happen to have a blue pen inked up at the time, so these were sketched with Noodler's Purple Wampum, one of my favorite washable inks. I used a waterbrush over the ink lines to create the washes.

This was done in a 6x9" Fabriano Venezia journal across the two page spread. I only have two pages left in this journal --- the first and the last. Finishing up those pages will close a pretty big chapter in my life, since I started this book on February 1, 2011. I left the first page blank to title it when I was done. It's time for me to start thinking of a title!

The Wedding Day

My sister made these charming favors herself for her wedding guests. There was one at each place setting, with delicious chocolates and almonds inside. She let me bring home all the empty pots that guests left on the tables, so I can use them to hold paint and water in the studio! I really like having this memory of her special day, and every time I fill up a little pot with water, I think of her.

After the luncheon reception, my husband and I were able to go for a four mile walk on the beach and catch the sunset over the Gulf, before meeting up with everybody for a late dinner. There were tons of shells, and I collected an assortment to sketch in our hotel room. These are a few of the ones we picked up that day.

A Special Gift

This statue has waited a long time to make it into my sketchbook! I really enjoyed using a monochromatic approach. It seemed to suit the subject and my mood at the time!

The Many Sides of Mr Lute

11x17" across a two page spread in a 8.5x11" Stillman & Birn Epsilon book
Noodler's Zhivago in a Lamy Safari B nib
Private Reserve Chocolat mixed 1:1 with Private Reserve Velvet Black in an 05 Platinum Preppy
Noodler's Wampum in an 05 Platinum Preppy
Cacao du Bresil in an 03 Platinum Preppy
Noodler's Midnight Blue in a 6mm Pilot Parallel

I found this porcelain lute player in a post holiday sale at Christmas Tree Shoppe one year. He makes an occasional appearance in my sketches and doodles. I thought several sketches of him on the page would present good drawing challenges and a unified theme. I jumped right in with ink, and a Niji Waterbrush was used to do the washes.

I love the blend of the Private Reserve Chocolat and Private Reserve Velvet Black. It tones down the red of the Chocolat washes just enough, and amplifies the value range. Furthermore, after sitting in a Preppy fountain pen for a few months without being used, it started up immediately when I turned it over to draw!

Soup 'N Sketch --- an illustrated recipe

11x17", across a two-page spread in a Stillman & Birn 8.5x11" Epsilon hardbound sketchbook
Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
Waterbrush filled with J. Herbin Gris Nuage
Noodler's Bulletproof Black in an Eversharp Symphony (fine nib) Flex pen
Watercolor (added later)

I decided that last night was "no excuses" night for sketching, even if it was rushed, so while making chicken soup for dinner, I stopped between bouts of chopping and dicing to do this recipe page of my ingredients. I used a black Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, and a waterbrush filled with J. Herbin's Gris Nuage, and did the sketches in monochrome. My intention was to leave it as a black and white sketch, but the longer I looked at it, the more it screamed, "COLOR ME!!!" I fought bravely against the color junkie within me, but in the end, I couldn't resist. While the soup simmered, I added the watercolor splashes.

The soup came out great. It's almost more stew than soup, but that's how we like our chicken soup around here. We had some with dinner, and I put a huge container of it into the freezer for some cold day when I don't feel like cooking.

I'm really loving working these big spreads. There's so much space to draw, write and play with design, and leftover areas for it to all be able to breathe a bit too.

Bits 'N Pieces

(Click image for a larger view of the sketch.)
A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were out exploring at our place up in the Catskills. Buried under the leaves in the dirt, we found fragments of old cups and plates. They were so interesting, and some so beautiful, that I brought in some of the pieces to see if I could trace their origins. Today I pulled out one of the large plate pieces to sketch. I used Prismacolor pencils, which turned out to be a great choice in this 5.5x8.5" Stillman & Birn Epsilon book. The smooth surface proved perfect for colored pencil work.

Well, y'all know me by now, and it wasn't long before I was noticing that I had both old Berol Prismacolors and new Sanford Prismas. I had to do some color swatch tests too while I was at it to see if they were really the same. It turned out that of the ones I sampled, only the Marine Green was significantly different, with the Sanford having a more yellow-green appearance when compared to the more muted green of the Berol. I compared them dry as well as washed with a bit of Turpenoid on a Q tip.

The green ink is Noodler's Sequoia --- one of my favorites for ink and wash. "Bits 'N Pieces" was written with Noodler's Bulletproof Black in an Eversharp Symphony Flex fountain pen with a Fine nib.

Here's a photo of the piece of the plate, along with the sketch and some of the newer and older Prismacolors. (This one is also clickable to enlarge.)

Breaking Out the Candles

I know I promised some comparisons of black inks, but I've faced some unforeseen circumstances with this snowstorm in the Northeastern US. The images of the results from those tests are on my desktop computer, so I'll have to wait until our house has power back before I can post them. We really got pounded!

I did the sketch above when I pulled out the candles today. You can click to read the text; it should enlarge enough to be fairly easy to read.

I test drove some new things in this sketch, like the new Noodler's #41 Brown (2012) that I reviewed the other day. In using it with watercolors, it didn't run at all on this Stillman & Birn Alpha paper, even though on the test I was able to get it to move a bit with hard scrubbing.

I also used one of my new Eversharp Symphony flex pens (this one with a B nib). After much practice by candlelight last night, I was finally able to better understand how to use these things. The title "Breaking Out the Candles" was written with that pen, using Noodler's Midnight ink.

I also have to say, this Stillman and Birn Alpha book totally rocks! I will give more of a full scale review once I've done some more work in it. Initially I thought the paper wasn't opaque enough for me, but today I realized the silver lining of that feature; I can slip a piece of lined paper behind the sketch to keep my writing straight! I'm also loving this 8.5x11" size. Usually I'm sketching out on location and don't want to bring along such a large book, but having that 11x17" space to spread out across two pages is a wonderful thing. It opens fairly flat, so it's quite easy to work across the gutter, which can be a challenge in some stitchbound/hardbound sketchbooks.

The journal writing on the page was done with Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng, one of my favorite writing inks, and it's completely waterproof to boot.

Finders Keepers

Every so often, I find a little something special when out walking. These glass bottles and turkey feather I found while walking the dog. The bottles will make nice wildflower vases come spring. The wide-mouthed one will serve as a brush holder in the meantime. I have an old pitcher that I've been filling with turkey feathers whenever I find a nice one. This particular feather is very downy --- as if it belonged to a young bird.

These were all painted with watercolors and Escoda round sable brushes sizes 10 and 2.  The writing was done with Noodler's La Reine Mauve (in their "Eternal Inks") line, using a Platinum Preppy eyedropper-converted fountain pen. 

My Favorite Dessert Recipe

RiverWinds Gallery is putting together a cookbook of favorite desserts by their artists and the gallery owners. I contributed a recipe and did this sketch of ingredients for the book. The book should be out in a couple of months, and then you'll all be able to make my favorite recipe! Stay tuned....

Every once in awhile I start to feel like I just might be getting the hang of this watercolor thing! This was so much fun to paint, and I love the brilliance of the colors.

Notice how much straighter my writing is, now that I have those journaling templates? Those were a great find!

Remnants and Review of Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng Ink

I picked these flowers from around my property before the Hurricane Irene hit, and painted them out on the patio after the storm departed. Even the mug is a remnant from a former time; it was left in a cabinet by previous owners of the house!

I got a delivery of some new inks last week, and used this opportunity to break out my brand new bottle of Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng. I used it for both the journal writing and the sketch above. For awhile, I was most interested in inks that would wash for my ink and wash sketches. But lately I've been yearning for more colors that will stay put. They are more useful in combination with watercolors, since they don't bleed and dirty the color. I've also been thinking that if I were to ever spill water on one of my journals by accident, all the text would bleed if the ink wasn't waterproof. I tried a small sample of Kung Te-Cheng six months or so ago, and loved the color, which is midway between blue and violet, and muted enough to not be overpowering. Perhaps the biggest surprise came when I did lightfastness tests of 13 inks. Many of them faded a lot within just a few weeks, but Kung Te-Cheng hung tough and easily outperformed all the others in terms of lightfastness. So, I knew it was just a matter of time before I treated myself to a bottle! It's only available in a 4.5oz size, but comes with an eyedropper-converted Platinum Preppy fountain pen and a brush pen to use with the ink! You can get it from one of my favorite suppliers, Goulet Pen Company. If you don't want to order this huge bottle without trying it first, you can order a sample of it. More ink reviews are on the way in the very near future!

North South Lake Hike and Karen's Dahlias

Text:

Hiking around North South Lake
Vic stopped to make a phone call, so I did this two minute sketch while waiting. (upper left) The campsites all have these nice stone fireplace-grills, and some have beautiful views of the lake. We've heard there are a lot of bear issues this year, and that they're even climbing into cars at the campsites if visitors leave their car windows open. Everybody is being told to keep all food in a closed cooler inside their locked vehicles!


Karen's Dahlias
Karen brought me these beautiful dahlias from her garden when she and her husband came over for dinner last night. She said she knew it was going to rain and I'd be looking for something to paint indoors. She was right, and these are the perfect subject for a gloomy day!

Chairs with a Modified Cinquain poem

In case you thought I fell off the face of the earth due to my lack of painting and sketching posts, fear not! My husband is on vacation for the month of August, and we've been having a great time visiting all sorts of places that I plan to go back to with paints! Some things I'm just behind on photographing and posting, due to being busy having so much fun.....Like this one!

You can click this sketch for a larger, clearer view. These are a few favorite chairs sketched from life one evening at home. I did something a little different for me this time; I painted directly with watercolor (no line work), then went back and drew with a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. I did this for two reasons. First of all, I didn't want the ink to run when I did the watercolor work, and the ink in this pen is not waterproof. Secondly, I didn't want to "paint inside the lines", so doing the line work after I thought would allow for a looser and more interesting look. I'm not quite sure how it worked out, but I think I'll be experimenting more with this approach.

The Modified Cinquain form has five lines that follow the following guidelines:
Line 1 contains a one word subject, which is also the title of the poem
Line 2 contains two adjectives
Line 3 contains three -ing words or other words conveying action
Line 4 contains four words that express feelings or emotion
Line 5 contains a one word summary of the subject

So, my poem (in case you can't read it in the photo) is all about...

Chairs.
Cushioned, comfy,
Supporting, rocking, enveloping.
Encourage our silent musings.
Confidants.

Initially I was thinking of doing this series of "Poetic Sketches" in a single sketchbook. However, with all this work in different books, I am feeling scattered and I'm afraid I will never finish any of them! So, I am returning to working mostly in one book at a time, with the goal of finishing up this Fabriano Venezia book that I started last February.