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.

Review of the New 2012 Noodlers #41 Brown Ink

As many of you may know, Nathan (owner of Noodler's Ink Company) has been unable to continue making his popular #41 Brown. Artists, calligraphers, and fountain pen aficionados have all been wondering how they're going to continue to satisfy their addictions for a favorite color. Nathan reformulated the ink with different ingredients, and it is now available, bottled as Noodlers #41 (2012). I just received a sample of it, and did some comparisons with the new and old #41s on different types of papers.

It would certainly have been more scientific to test them in the same type of pen, but all my pens were inked up already. I had my old #41 in a Lamy Safari with an Extra Fine nib. The new Noodlers #41 went into a Sheaffer 100 with a Fine nib. Still, I think I found out everything I need to know except for how the new one will do on lightfastness tests, and that will take awhile.

Let's take a look at the images, and I'll explain some of the things I did. You should be able to click them to view larger sizes. Since inks react differently on different papers, I tested them on three different types of paper today. This first test was done on an Ampad Quad Ruled Steno Book. I dried the page with a hair dryer on high heat, then scrubbed the left side of the cross-hatched section of each sample with a clean waterbrush. (That's the kind of brush that has the water right in the barrel of the brush.)

As you can see above, the new formulation hardly bled at all, even when scrubbing with the wet brush. The old formulation displayed the one characteristic that has always bugged me about this ink, and ran enough to easily contaminate watercolors used in conjunction with an ink drawing. Before I started jumping for joy and thinking I'd finally found a true waterproof brown ink to use with watercolors, I figured I'd better test drive it on some paper I might actually use for journal art.

Below are samples of #41 New and #41 Old in a Stillman and Birn Epsilon book, made specifically for pen and ink. I let both samples sit for a few minutes, then scrubbed with the waterbrush on the left side of the crosshatched sections. Then I dried them with a hair dryer on high heat, let it cool, and tested the waterbrush on the right sides of the samples. As you can see below, both the old and new versions ran on this sized paper with the wet brush. However, the new #41 bled much less than it's older counterpart.Plus, the color that did wash out was much more neutral, rather than the more orange hue from the old version.

I don't usually scrub so hard when working with watercolor over ink. Generally it's just one or two passes with the brush. I decided to try on one more paper and see what happened with just a single pass over the dried ink with the brush, as well as with scrubbing. For this I used a Stillman and Birn Alpha book, to see how they would act on a slightly more textured, sized paper. The ink was dried with a hair dryer before using a wet brush on it. I ran the wet brush down the left side of each of the crosshatched sections and also the more densely colored squares. Then I scrubbed with it on the right sides of each.

Again, the new Noodler's #41 Brown outperformed the old. In fact, the single pass with the waterbrush on the crosshatched sample of the new ink didn't bleed at all. Are the two inks exactly the same color? No. When viewed side by side, you can see differences, but you probably wouldn't notice those color shifts without the direct comparison.

In closing, congratulations to Nathan for not only formulating a replacement, but for improving upon the original as well! I think I see a bottle of the new #41 in my near future. (Anybody interested in a swap for a bottle of the old, now unavailable #41 ink? ;) )

Tomorrow: Some comparisons of "waterproof" blacks!

More Ink Lightfastness Test Results

A sheet of sample swabs of various popular fountain pen inks has been in my studio window since March 10. The samples I tested in that round are:

• Noodler's Kiowa Pecan
• Noodler's Nightshade
• Private Reserve Chocolat
• Private Reserve Avocado
• Private Reserve Velvet Black
• Noodler's Whaleman's Sepia
• Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng
• Noodler's Baystate Blue
• J. Herbin Rouge Hematite
• Diamine Red Dragon
• Noodler's Sequoia
• Noodler's Navy
• Noodler's Walnut

One month later, I posted the changes that occurred in that short time period. Today I took down the sheets and photographed them again. It's seven and a half months that they've been in the window, and a couple of the results I  found surprising. Here's what the sheets look like now:

You can click that image to see a larger version. The left side was in my south-facing studio window. The right side was kept inside a box in a cabinet, to avoid light exposure completely. The biggest surprise was that Noodler's Baystate Blue completely disappeared! Well, okay, there are a few greenish bits barely visible here and there, but I'll bet within a month, those will be gone too.

The other big surprise is actually a good thing; Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng, one of my favorite inks to work with, has stayed exactly the same as far as I can tell. That doesn't mean I'd do fine art with it to hang on my wall, but it does mean I feel totally comfortable with using it in my sketchbooks and for other purposes too. All the rest of these colors either faded dramatically, had large color shifts, or both.

It's a well known fact that fountain pen inks should not be used for fine art. They are dye-based, rather than being pigment-based like paints, and those dyes are fugitive and not meant to withstand the long term effects of ultraviolet light. Still, some hold up much better than others. Even for use in my sketchbooks, I like to know where they stand. It is worth noting that the sheets on the right, which were kept in darkness, have had no problem with retaining vivid colors, so please don't get nervous if you've been using these inks inside a book. They should be absolutely fine! These tests only reveal what happens when an ink is exposed to sunlight. If the inks you've used are not exposed to light, then these results are irrelevant.

In April, I started another round of tests with 26 more colors. It's hard to find the time to post them all at once, so I will be posting those results tomorrow and the next day. Tomorrow I'll be posting the results of::

• Noodler's Bulletproof Black
• Parker Quink Black
• Private Reserve Gray Flannel
• Diamine Graphite
• Diamine Grey
• Noodler's Lexington Gray
• J. Herbin Gris Nuage
• Iroshizuku Kiri-same
• Omas Grey
• Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogen
• Iroshizuku Yama-guri
• J. Herbin Cacao du Brasil
• Diamine Damson
• Caran D'Ache Storm
• J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune

On Thursday I will share results from testing these colors:

• Noodler's Brown #41 (old version)
• Noodler's Golden Brown
• Diamine Chocolate Brown
• Diamine Saddle Brown
• Caran D'Ache Grand Canyon
• Noodler's Brown
• J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir
• Diamine Marine
• Diamine Majestic Purple
• Noodler's Navajo Turquoise
• Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses

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!

Barns at Riga Farm

Riga Farm Paintout
Once again, LHVPAP member Melissa Fischer hosted a paintout at her parents' beautiful farm in Millerton, New York. There is always so much to paint here. Vic is on vacation and also joined us with his camera. I didn't know how long we'd end up staying and wanted to capture as many scenes as I could, so I decided to just do sketches today. I also wanted to test drive my new sketching setup in the field. (It worked out great.)

This sketch is pen and ink with watercolors. The ink in the sketch is Noodler's Lexington Gray in a Lamy Safari "F" fountain pen. The ink used for the writing is Noodler's Purple Wampum (a fabulous muted, very dark violet) in a Platinum Preppy 0.5 fountain pen. Watercolors were Winsor Newton and Holbein.

Have I Found My Ultimate Sketching Setup?

I've been test driving this new setup for a couple of days now, and it has solved many of my "too many things to hold" problems! Finally I can use my great Escoda travel brushes again, instead of just a waterbrush! It was impossible to hold the sketchbook, palette, water cup, sponge, and brush, all at the same time, but those difficult days are over. This very lightweight setup holds the book open for me as well as enabling me to hold everything on my lap or supported with one hand, leaving the other hand free for my brush.

Here's what you need to make this hold-everything, light-weight sketch board:

• 9x16" piece of Coroplast (available at http://beacongraphics.com. Go to Sign Making Supplies --> Blanks and Banners --> Coroplast)
• 5x8" to 6x9" stitch-bound sketchbook
• A few strips of Velcro
• Watercolor pan set
• Plastic oil painter's palette cup or double cups
• A few extra-large metal binder clips
• small piece of sponge

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of Coroplast to 9x16", so that it will fit into your backpack. (If you've got one of those extra-tall backpacks, you can go to 9x18".)
2. Open the sketchbook to the next available page, and clip the open book to the left side of the Coroplast. (If you're left-handed, clip the book to the right side.)
3. Position the open watercolor pan set on the upper right, allowing it to extend past the Coroplast if necessary. (Upper left if you're left-handed.)
4. Using Industrial Strength Velcro cut to size, fasten the palette to that spot on the Coroplast. I fastened mine both on the lid and on the bottom of the palette.
5. Clip an oil painter's plastic palette cup onto the free bottom corner of the Coroplast. If you like separating clean and dirty water, you can use the double cups.
6. If you have room left over, clip on a piece of sponge to wipe your brush.

That's it! The photo below shows the setup with a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2" Stillman & Birn sketchbook, which allows for a little more room to hold the other things than the 6x9" books.

Of course, this idea can be adapted and the size reconfigured for whatever your preferred sketchbook may be. It is also equally effective for gouache as it is for watercolor.

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. 

The Half Moon --- Replica of Henry Hudson's Ship

Today I went to paint the replica of Henry Hudson's ship, the Half Moon, but there was no good vantage point for an oil painting of the full ship. So, I painted something else, and then did this little sketch of the stern portion of the ship.

If you're interested, you can see the oil painting I did here.

Materials:
Noodler's Lexington Gray in a Lamy Safari fountain pen
Winsor Newton and Holbein watercolors
Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook

Eurasian Eagle Owl and Emu at Discovery Zoo

This two page spread features "Hoot", the Eurasian Eagle Owl, and "Freddy" the Emu. I never saw such huge feet on a bird as that emu has! I guess if you can run 31 mph, you need big feet to do it! This is my favorite border so far, done with red and gold acrylic paint. The birds were sketched with ink and wash, and some watercolor added after that for a bit of color. 

Great Day at the Discovery Zoo

Life as an artist is sometimes too much fun to be legal. I had such a great time at the Bronx Zoo a couple of weeks ago that I started wondering if perhaps there was a smaller zoo closer to me. It turns out that there's one only four miles away from my house upstate! So, today I went with Gretchen to check out the Discovery Zoo in Catskill, New York. We brought our sketching stuff and bug spray and hoped for the best!

The zoo actually exceeded our expectations. It is small and they don't have a lot of animals, but one can only sketch so many beasts in a single day! The people were friendly, the habitats were inviting, and we were able to set up to sketch wherever we wanted. There were lots of nice, shady spots, and the owner went out of his way for us, telling us about the history of the little zoo and the names of all his "pets"!

These two camels are named Christopher and Serena. They are among the few animals who came to this zoo from the old Catskill Game Farm, which closed five or six years ago.  I did a bunch of sketches and got some great photos too. In fact, I had such a good time there that I got a season pass! I figured with it being less than 10 minutes away, I'd surely get there a few more times before the year is out.

Sketch: Sakura Koi 24-color watercolor set with waterbrush, 0.5 Platinum Preppy loaded with J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta 6x8"
Writing: Noodler's Purple Wampum in a 0.5 Preppy
Borders: Golden Fluid Acrylics and F&W Acrylic Inks

Giraffes from the Bronx Zoo

Watercolor and ink across a two-page spread in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook. These were sketched at the Bronx Zoo, with the page borders prepared in advance using acrylic inks.

Giraffes are so graceful and fun to sketch. The Bronx Zoo has a nice habitat for them with a shady spot to sit and enjoy their company. While we were sketching them, a peacock came along from the habitat next to them, and they all started following the peacock in a long line, as if playing Follow the Leader.

Flamingos at the Bronx Zoo

Last week I went to the Bronx Zoo with a group of artists. What a great place for a sketching trip! I even took out a membership so that I can go back for free. There is a cafeteria called the Dancing Crane Cafe, which overlooks a pond with beautiful Flamingos. Here are two that were begging to be sketched.

I knew I'd be sketching on the run for the most part, so I prepared some sketchbook pages in advance. This two page spread was done with acrylic ink. I painted the borders with brown, then sprayed it with water while the ink was still wet, and blotted it with a paper towel to further texturize the surface.

This is a Stillman & Birn 6x8" Delta Series sketchbook. I've done several multi-media pages in it of this type, and it's handled all the abuse spectacularly well. It's very heavy paper with a heavy layer of sizing, and not too much texture, so my fountain pens seem to like it as well.

The Sketchbook Project 2012

This is my first sketch for the The Sketchbook Project 2012! If you haven't heard about this annual, ongoing venture, you can check it out here.  For $25, artists can register for the project and select one of 40 themes for their book. They each receive a sketchbook in the mail, which must be returned by February 1, 2012 in order to participate. The sketchbooks become part of the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Museum, and go on a world tour. I really wanted to do it last year, but didn't find out about it in time to have a chance at completing a book. So, I'm jumping on it early this year! My chosen theme is "Travel With Me", and my sketches will depict my travels up and down the Hudson River Valley.

Today I went to Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, New York. It's always hard to start a new sketchbook, but I figured today was as good a time as any! The paper's quite thin for watercolor work. Many artists are changing the paper in the books for something better than what they're sending us, but I'm going to try to work with what they sent. It'll be a bit wrinkly for sure.

Review of the Nomadic Wise-Walker Messenger Bag

I have been dreaming of getting this Nomadic messenger bag for sketching materials ever since I saw it on the internet. The messenger bag I'd been using for sketching supplies was a bit larger than what I needed, and had a couple of serious drawbacks that the Nomadic bag addressed. My husband got it for me as a Mother's Day gift, and it is just perfect for my needs! I unpacked my old bag last night and loaded up the new one.

Here's the front of the bag. I selected the blue color, and it's a nice dark, neutral navy. It has a zippered pocket right on the front where you can keep identification, money, or anything you might need to get to quickly without having to open up the whole bag. As you can see, it easily stands upright, which is an important factor for me, since I keep lots of fountain pens inside it.

One thing this bag has that my other lacked is this wide, long shoulder pad. Since the strap adjusts from both sides, I finally have a bag that allows me to shorten the strap enough while keeping the shoulder pad centered. This is an excellent feature that more bags and straps should employ.

On each side, there is a mesh compartment for a water bottle. This particular bottle is oversized at 20 oz, yet still fits in there. A regular 16 oz. bottle would fit better. Not having to carry the water inside the bag is a great feature. It makes it much easier to take a sip while walking without having to open up the bag, or to pour extra water into a palette cup for painting. My old bag didn't have these water holders on the sides.

The bag is divided into two main sides. I set up one for sketching materials, and one for painting. Usually I do one and then the other, so it helps to have my materials organized this way. Here's a peek at the sketching side:

As you can see, there's room straight across the bag for loads of pens, pencils, waterbrushes and markers. A pocket in the front of that compartment can hold my sketchbook. There is another large pocket behind the pens that runs the length of the bag. I keep some tissues, erasers, a ruler, viewfinder, and other sketching supplies in there.

One really neat feature is these mesh pockets because they are translucent. I label all my pens so I can tell what ink is in which pen. I used to have to remove them from the pockets of my old messenger bag to read the labels and find the pen I needed, but now I can store them with the labels facing outward, and I can see what every color is! This is a huge advantage for me and a timesaver.

Turning the bag around and lifting the big flap, you can see into the main compartment of the bag:

If you carry a 9x12" spiral sketchbook, this is where you'll probably be keeping it, and it will fit easily. In front of that large, open area there is a zippered compartment where I keep my watercolor sets:

There are also pockets in front for brushes, waterbrushes, pens, and other supplies. You wouldn't believe how much this side of the bag can hold, even though the bag is not that large. I emptied out this  side to show you (below).

• Viewfinder
• Sunglasses
• Reading glasses
• Extra clips
• Palette cup
• Lots of waterbrushes and travel brushes
• Correction fluid
• Two watercolor sets
• Hand wipes
• Small sketchbook
• Insect repellent
• Sponges
• Date stamp
• Masking tape
• 7x10 watercolor block
• Drawing board
• Tissues
• Paper towels
• Viewfinder
• Small water bottle
• Garbage bag

There's actually plenty of room left for my camera, binoculars, and sun visor. I don't necessarily carry this much when I go out sketching, but it's nice to know that it will all fit when I go off on a trip; then I can leave whatever I won't be needing in the car, or wherever I'm staying if I'm traveling. There are a few more compartments in this bag that I haven't detailed in this post because I'm not even using them yet! I'm sure that as I get out there and start painting and sketching with it, I'll reorganize it a bit and shift some of these items into those other pockets.

If you think you'd like a Nomadic Wise-Walker too, you can find them at Jetpens in black, blue or gray. You can see lots more photos of the bag there as well.