Friday

Traveling to Florida

My sister got married last weekend in Florida, so my husband and I flew down for the wedding. I didn't get much of a chance to sketch this trip, but managed a few pages. This one was on the way down, when I grabbed a few minutes while waiting for the bus to take us to the airport, and again in the waiting area before boarding the plane. We took off 20 minutes early, so that waiting period was a lot shorter than I thought it would be!

Thursday

Some pretty cool Daniel Smith watercolors


I received a Daniel Smith catalog in the mail the other day, and inside was a card with five colors that had interesting properties. The colors were:
  • Quinacridone Purple
  • Iridescent Gold
  • Duochrome Desert Bronze
  • Pearlescent White
  • Interference Lilac

It's especially interesting to see how the Duochrome Desert Bronze and Interference Lilac shift color as the light changes. I've been experimenting with colors with different shimmering properties lately, so these were right up my alley! Although the Quinacridone Purple has no sparkle to it, the strength of the color is enough by itself! I used the purple and gold to make the page border. You can see a bit of the sparkle where there's some glare on the page. I like having reference pages like this in my journal so that I can always refer back to see what a color looks like that I test drove.

Tuesday

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!

Monday

Kaaterskill High Peak from Across the Beaver Pond


This is my second-to-last sketch in my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project 2012. It's a view from across the beaver pond behind my house, with Kaaterskill High Peak in the background, and the fall foliage reflecting in the water. There is a high bank there, shaped like a peninsula, with a beautiful grove of pine trees. Walking on the several inches of pine needles that have been accumulating for who knows how many hundreds of years, and smelling the pine smell, is really a magical experience.  This was painted on location with gouache. It is 7x10" across the two page spread in the sketchbook. I didn't date stamp or write on this entry yet, but I'll do so before sending in the book. All sketchbooks for this project will go on a world tour, and then be housed permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library in New York City.

Saturday

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!

Friday

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.

Thursday

Review of Some Waterproof Black Inks

Those of us who use inks in our journals need to know which ones will be waterproof for use with watercolors, or dissolve with a brush for ink and wash techniques. This post will examine some of the black inks that I like to use with watercolors, which claim to be waterproof. That's actually a relative term, because much depends on the amount of ink applied, as well as the sizing of the paper it's applied to. I'll be discussing:


  • Noodler's Bulletproof Black in a Noodler's Flex pen
  • Platinum Carbon Black in a Platinum Preppy 03 (fine)
  • Noodler's Lexington Gray in a Lamy Safari F
  • Uniball Vision Black

These are all fountain pen inks, except for the Uniball Vision. That's a rollerball pen available in most office supply stores. I'm including it here because there are times when it's just not convenient to travel with fountain pens, and that's been my main waterproof pen in those instances.

Although Lexington Gray is not quite as dark as black, I often prefer it to black when working with watercolor. Black can be a bit overpowering at times, and the Lexington Gray takes the edge off. Because I use it so much, I wanted to include it in the tests.

Like with the browns, I tested the inks on three different papers, to take the sizing variations into account.

The samples above were done on an Ampad Quad Ruled book. You can click to enlarge the image. I dried all the samples with a hair dryer, then ran a clean waterbrush over them several times. They all sat tight. Good news! Then I went to sized paper.


The swatches above were done in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon book made specifically for ink, then dried with a hair dryer, and washed over on the right sides with a clean waterbrush. Pens write like a dream on this surface, and the sizing lets the ink sit up on top of the page in the most beautiful way! But that same sizing enabled the Noodler's Bulletproof Black to move around a lot more than the other black inks shown.


Above are the same four inks, this time in a Stillman & Birn Alpha book. Results are about the same as with their Epsilon book, which isn't surprising as it's probably a similar sizing process.

Each ink definitely has its own character, and how waterproof it proves to be is just one of the factors when selecting an ink.

Noodler's Bulletproof Black was the darkest of the fountain pen blacks in this test. It also runs extremely well in my pens, never clogging and rarely even needing any kind of "jump start" after sitting for long periods of time. It continues to be my favorite of the true black inks.

Platinum Carbon Black was the most waterproof of the two true black fountain pen inks. That is my choice for use with watercolor if I want a true black ink, and plan to use it on paper that would cause the Noodlers to run. But it does clog up some of my pens. I've found it works well in the Platinum Preppy I used on this test, needing just an occasional nudge to get it going again, but it didn't perform well in my Noodler's Flex pen over time. I had to switch that pen over to the Noodler's Bulletproof Black, and it works great with the other ink. So, if you use this ink, you'll have to be a bit particular about which pen it resides in.


Noodler's Lexington Gray is almost dark enough to pass for black, and often that's exactly what I want. At times when black would be overly contrasty, heavy, or draw too much attention to itself, the Lexington Gray is the perfect solution. It has great waterproofing characteristics and good flow in all of my pens. I love it to bits! In fact, if I had to choose only one fountain pen ink to own, I think this would be it. I get lots of use out of this ink for all purposes from check writing to journal writing to ink and watercolor.

The Uniball Vision Black rollerball pen was not only the darkest of them all, but the most waterproof as well. Before I started using fountain pens, this was all I used. I bought them by the case and they went everywhere with me. I still take them along on trips when I need to fly somewhere, and keep one in the bottom of my purse, where I don't have to worry about leakage. So, why not just use that? Well, you fountain pen aficionados will totally understand.....It's a tactile thing. I just love the flow of the ink out of a fountain pen nib, the variations in the line with the speed, and the varieties of italic nibs or flex nibs that make writing or drawing with fountain pens so very enjoyable.

So, which one to choose? I say get them all! I use all of them all the time, and I'd rather not give any of them up. Each one has pluses and minuses, and each fulfills a need in my sketching kit. My main sketching bag has about 15 pens in it with various inks. These four are always in there, and often in more than one pen!

Wednesday

What if you were stranded somewhere without a sketchbook?



Here's a sketchbook that can be made on the fly with a single sheet of paper, no matter where you are! (You may have to pause the video if I'm flipping the pages too fast.) Instructions for making it are in Alisa Golden's book, Making Handmade Books. It's a little tricky to get the hang of it, but I made a few with scrap paper, and now I'm sure I can do it on the fly with whatever is at hand! A much larger book can be made by simply increasing the size of the sheet of paper. (This one was made with a piece of copy paper.)

Monday

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.)




Sunday

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.

Friday

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!

Thursday

Eleven More Lightfastness Results Revealed

These are the last sheets of my lightfastness tests for now. I'll be putting these back into the window to see how they fare over the next six months, and will give you an update then. I'll also be setting up testing for an additional 30 or so colors, which I will add to the window next week. Pretty soon, I won't be able to see out of my window! LOL I should have some preliminary results from those in a month or so. It amazes me that fountain pen ink can begin to fade in such a short time, but it does!

Here is the list for the colors tested in this post.
  • 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 (#1 on second test sheet)
  • Diamine Marine (#2 on second test sheet)
  • Diamine Majestic Purple (#3 on second test sheet)
  • Noodler's Navajo Turquoise (#4 on second test sheet)
  • Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses (#5 on second test sheet)
You can click the images to see larger versions. The left sides were exposed to sunlight in my window since last April. The right sides were kept inside a box in a cabinet.


I was surprised that the browns above didn't fade and/or shift more than they did. However, they all changed enough to avoid awarding gold stars to any of them. I still plan to use my favorites (like Caran D'Ache Grand Canyon) in my sketchbooks.

But check these out! J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir (#1), Diamine Marine (#2), and Diamine Majestic Purple (#3) vanished so quickly that they should be in a magic show!

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.

If you'd like to see the previous lightfastness tests, click here. You'll always be able to find them easily by clicking on the "Lightfastness Tests" category on the left sidebar.

I have a bunch of wonderful new pens and new inks to review coming up in the next few days, along with a new drawing project I'm starting. So much to sketch, so much to sketch with, so much to photograph and share, and so little time!

Wednesday

Lightfastness Results of Fifteen More Ink Samples

As promised, here are the results of my lightfastness testing to date of the following inks:
  • 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
The left halves of these test sheets were in my south-facing studio window since April. The right halves were kept in a closed box in a cabinet.  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.


Test sheet 2:




Test sheet 3:
You can click them to see larger, clearer images. I'm sorry that I'm not a better photographer, but even so, individual results are pretty clear. Most colors experienced fading, color shifting or both, but I feel the following inks had very little, if any, change:

  • Noodler's Bulletproof Black
  • Diamine Gray
  • J. Herbin Gris Nuage


Noodler's Bulletproof Black and J. Herbin Gris Nuage are both real workhorses for me, so I was delighted to see them perform so well. Some inks had so little change that I wouldn't worry at all about using them, though I still wouldn't be comfortable with exposure to UV light:

  • Omas Grey
  • J. Herbin Cacao du Brasil
  • J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune


I found it interesting that so many of the greenish grays lost some of their blue component, resulting in a yellowish-olive/umber tone, like Parker Quink Black, Private Reserve Gray Flannel, and Noodler's Lexington Gray. Diamine Graphite turned from a greenish gray to a more neutral gray. Iroshizuku Yama-guri (one of my personal favorite inks)  lost some of the cool color, transitioning to a much pinker color, whereas Diamine Damson lost some of its rosy glow and turned to a bluer, cooler violet. And who would have guessed that Caran D'Ache Storm would bleach out to pale orange?

Stay tuned for more lightfastness results tomorrow on 11 additional colors. To see previous lightfastness test results, click here. You'll always be able to find them easily by clicking "Lightfastness tests" on the left sidebar.


Tuesday

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



Monday

Sketching the Lynx at the Newburgh NY Waterfront


Today I went to sketch with my friend Virginia along the Hudson River at the Newburgh Waterfront. My plan was to sketch the cafes along the boardwalk and views of the Hudson Highlands. I was pleasantly surprised to find this gorgeous ship, Lynx, docked there to model for me. The angle of the masts is really striking. As usual, I didn't remember to get a photo while at my sketching location, but I got this one later from closer to my car, so the angle is a bit different. Still, you can get an idea of the beautiful scene there. I thought probably nobody would believe the angle of the masts without a photo! It's amazing how slanted they are.

The sketch of the ship and docks was done directly with ink and a black Sakura brush pen. Then I used Noodler's Lexington Gray in a Lami Safari "F" for the rigging, and a Platinum Preppy 0.5 filled with J. Herbin Gris Nuage for the mountains in the background. Even when working in monochrome, it's nice to have some value options at your disposal! I was especially glad to have the Gris Nuage along for those soft mountains in the distance, made even softer today by the atmospheric conditions. Using the light gray ink for the mountains allowed the ship stand out in the foreground, while providing a nice backdrop shape.


Sunday

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. 

Friday

My new watercolor palette and layout


I got this beautiful, new Schminke watercolor palette! It folds up nice and small, and is pretty easy to travel with. I decided that I wanted a setup with more colors that was still easy to cart around. It's a little larger than the palette I was using before, and I had to make a new sketchboard to accommodate the extra width. It came as a three row palette, but my husband trimmed a bit off the metal plate base so I could slide it up and squeeze in an additional row of half pans.

I also changed my color layout. It looks a little haphazard, but there is a method to my madness! In the top two rows, I put the opaque colors on the left, the transparents in the middle, and the earth colors over to the right. It's really helped to avoid mistakes between colors that look similar in the pans, but have completely different properties. The bottom row contains seasonal colors that will rotate, or exotic hues that I only use occasionally, colors I'm test driving, or colors that are easily mistaken for something else. (Quinacridone Gold is in that row because when it was in the yellow row, it looked so similar to Winsor Newton Raw Umber in the pans that I kept diving into it at the worst possible moments!)

The painted color chart was done so that I'd be able to remember what was in the set in terms of both color and brand. Some colors are completely different in different brands. That seems to be especially true with Raw Sienna and Raw Umber! I realized that if I wanted my mixes to be consistent, I'd have to be consistent in brands too, or at least test drive mixes in advance when trying new brands, so I can avoid some surprises when out painting on location.

Saturday

Study of an Old Maple Tree Trunk


This was done out in my yard, using a 6B pencil in my Fabriano Venezia book. This old Maple has so much character from every angle. I did another drawing of it on Stonehenge, using a light and a dark on a colored ground. You can see that on this post on my Hudson Valley Painter website. Yesterday, I did yet another sketch of it from a different angle in watercolor. I'll be posting that one tomorrow on http://hudsonvalleypainter.com

Thursday

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!

Tuesday

Reviews of La Reine Mauve ink and Journaling Templates


I got some great new art supplies to add to my journaling arsenal last week! I found this set of journaling templates by Karen Foster Designs that are going to enable me to finally write straight! They come held together by a key chain and offer a couple of different line width options. The widest is about 4", and I do wish there was a 5" and a 6" also, but I can just slide the template over to extend the lines.

In addition to Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng ink, which I reviewed yesterday, I also got their La Reine Mauve, Zhivago, and a couple of sample bottles of the new Blue Nose Bear. The brush pen and fountain pen shown above came with the Kung Te-Cheng ink --- a little bonus for having to purchase such a large bottle of it. I'm glad I love that one so much, because I don't think I'm ever going to run out of it!

The purple writing and drawing on this page was done with La Reine Mauve. How much do I love this ink? Let me count the ways! I purchased this to be a more vibrant purple version of the Kung Te-Cheng, and it does not disappoint! The ink has nice flow properties, and vibrant as it is, once down, it stays put. This is in the Noodler's line of bulletproof, eternal inks, so I don't have to worry about water spills or using watercolors over a drawing. And what a great color! La Reine Mauve only comes in a 1 oz bottle, so it's a bit on the pricey side, but worth every penny for its high performance and beauty.

More ink reviews coming soon! If you'd like these posts delivered to your email, you can just enter your email address in the box on the right sidebar.

Monday

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!

Sunday

Hiking to North Point


I'm still trying to catch up on photographing sketches and paintings and getting them posted! It's been hard to get that done on vacation, but it's quickly approaching "Back to Work" time! This watercolor sketch was done on a hike to North Point in the Catskill Mountains. North Point offers 270 degree views facing south, east, and north. This is the south-facing view, which overlooks North South Lake and the old Catskill Mountain House site. We were hoping for better visibility, but it was quite overcast that day. The trail was wet, rocky and slippery almost the entire way. Next time I'll definitely go when the trail is dry, but of course we were rewarded by the fabulous location at the top.

Friday

Main House at Riga Farm and an Earthquake!


Another sketch from Riga Farm
Vic and I got here a bit late, so by the time I finished this second sketch, everybody was breaking for lunch. We all sat under a shady tree with our friend's dogs. Suddenly, I felt my chair shake. I figured one of the dogs was nudging the back of my chair, but when I turned around to look, there was no dog in sight. It turned out to be a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia. Most of us felt it, even from so far away!

Sketch done with Winsor Newton and Holbein watercolors, and a Lamy Safari "F" nib fountain pen with Noodler's Lexington Gray ink. Writing was done with Noodler's Purple Wampum in a Platinum Preppy 0.5.

Thursday

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.

Wednesday

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.

Tuesday

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!

Monday

Falls at Moore's Bridge


When you drive on Route 23a as it starts to wind through Kaaterskill Clove, you never suspect that hidden underneath the second bridge is this beautiful waterfall. You can see a tiny bit of the bridge structure at the top right of the photo above. Kaaterskill Creek runs along colorful red sandstone ledges here, churning and spraying as it tumbles down the rocks and forms transparent pools at the bottom.


Sunday

Falls along Kaaterskill Creek


My husband and I went exploring along Kaaterskill Creek. I brought watercolors and my Fabriano Venezia sketchbook. We came upon a very popular swimming spot along the creek with some small waterfalls and striking rock formations. It was a great place to spend a little time. I found an ideal place to sit on a rock and take in the scene.

Here is the sketch after I got it home and did the date stamp and writing:

Thursday

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. 

Tuesday

Boulder Rock and Kaaterskill High Peak in the Catskill Mountains


This sketch for The Sketchbook Project 2012 features Boulder Rock, with a view of Kaaterskill High Peak across the clove in the distance. I hiked there yesterday with my husband, but the weather turned and I didn't have a chance to paint the scene on location. Fortunately, I took a photo before the light got bad, and painted it from the picture. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics, and I do like the way they are working on this paper! I only have two, two-page spreads left before this sketchbook is finished. I'm really happy to be able to share so many views of the beautiful Hudson River Valley and Catskill Mountains when the book goes on the world tour next year!

Monday

Chatham Falls in Acrylic


Can you believe that I did it yet AGAIN, painting this sketch of Chatham Falls upside down in my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012? I can't!

I tried acrylics in the book this time and was surprised at how easily the paint took to the paper, so I just might finish up the book with acrylics. The text in the lower right is a little hard to read against the dark paint. It says, "A day at Chatham Falls --- always time well spent. Painted on location with Golden Fluid Acrylics."

Saturday

Birch Trees at North Lake


There are beautiful birch trees around North South Lake, though many have been claimed by the beavers in the past couple of years! I sketched this clump of them the other day while resting in the picnic area. I used my Kuretake fountain brush pen for the first time, and oh my gosh, I love this thing to bits! I used the black cartridge that came with the pen, which is washable ink. I think I'd actually prefer an ink that stays put. Along with it, I used a waterbrush filled with J. Herbin Gris Nuage to give me midtone greys, plus a waterbrush that I used to wash a bit of the black ink. Together they gave me quite a range. This was done in my Stillman & Birn Beta book, which is very rapidly becoming my favorite for pen and wash work.

Friday

View from the Catskill Mountain House Site


Before 1965, the Catskill Mountain House sat upon this rock ledge overlooking 60 miles of the Hudson River and the valley floor below, all the way to the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Visitors to the Mountain House would journey up the Hudson River by steamboat in the 1800s, and disembark in Catskill for the ride up to the mountains by horse-drawn carriage, and later by train. As modern transportation enabled vacationers to go further from the cities, the Catskill Mountain House fell into disrepair, and was taken down and burned by New York State in 1965, after they acquired the property. It remains one of the most dramatic views in the Hudson Valley, and I felt my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012 tour wouldn't be complete without it! It's brutally hot up on that ledge in the summer, but we had a relatively cool day and took advantage of the opportunity to paint there.

Wednesday

The Hudson River from Cold Spring

This is one of my favorite spots in the world to paint. It's in Cold Spring-on-Hudson, New York. There is a point on the river facing north where you can see Storm King Mountain (left), Little Stony Point (center) and Breakneck Ridge (Right), and paint under the shade of the trees. It was a brutally hot day when I was here painting with some friends, but a cool breeze off the river kept us comfortable. This is one of those famous Hudson River vistas that I really wanted to get into my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012, so that when the book goes on tour, others can enjoy the view as much as I do.

Sunday

Blazing Fields and Glowing Sunset from Olana


I spent a couple of days painting at Olana, mostly from this old carriage road called "Ridge Road". In Frederic Church's time, it was one of the main roads on the property, and he did many paintings from this location. Some sections are very overgrown, and we no longer have all of the magnificent Hudson River vistas from Church's days, but some areas have been cleared to let us see how it used to be. This is one of those cleared areas overlooking the Hudson, with the Catskill skyline and glorious colors in the sunset. Frederic Church did a famous painting very close to this spot, but that view is now closed off by foliage.

Figure Drawing


Today I went to open studio figure drawing for the first time in over a year! Every year, I attend regularly during the winter months when it's freezing cold out and I don't enjoy plein air painting. There's nothing like drawing from a model to sharpen drawing skills. But this past winter there just didn't seem to be a session around that fit conveniently with my schedule. The one I went to this morning was in Hudson, at the Opera House. I don't think I'll be able to do this on a regular basis there, but it sure was fun to be back in the figure studio again. Poses ranged from 1 to 25 minutes. This one was a 15 minute pose.

Wednesday

Constitution Marsh, West Point, and the Hudson River from Boscobel


7x10", Gouache
Sketch for The Sketchbook Project 2012, Brooklyn Art Library and World Tour

No sketchbook of the Hudson Valley would be complete without including the amazing overview from Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, New York. The vista showcases the Hudson River as it winds through the mountains of the Hudson Highlands, with Constitution Marsh in the foreground, and the massive buildings of West Point Military Academy along the opposite shore. A nice tugboat and barge even came by just as I was finishing up, so I was able to include some river traffic in the sketch.

Like last time, I got so involved in composing the scene and painting that I forgot to orient the sketchbook before I started. I ended up with another upside down sketch! I think my viewers will be dizzy by the time they arrive at the back cover of my sketchbook!

Saturday

Late Day Light at North South Lake


I can't believe I made such a dumb mistake, but I painted this upside down into my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012. So when my sketchbook goes off on its world tour, you'll all be able to arrive at this page of an upside down painting! I thought it best to at least post it right side up, so I'll save you the trouble of turning your computers over to view it the way it is in the book!

This was painted in gouache at the NYS DEC Campground at North South Lake, in Haines Falls, NY. The land shapes are broad and simple, which contrast with the complexity of the water movement, reflections, changing values, and pond scum in the water. Overall it's a very challenging scene that I have revisited many times.

Thursday

Sketching at Plum Point


The Hudson River from Plum Point through the Hudson Highlands. Painted on a moody day for The Sketchbook Project 2012.  To see my oil painting from here, visit my website, Hudson Valley Painter.

Monday

The Hudson River from the Vanderbilt Mansion


This sketch was painted on location behind the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York. It is watercolor and gouache, done in the sketchbook provided for The Sketchbook Project 2012, so it will be part of my book that will go on tour and reside in the Brooklyn Art Library.

The Vanderbilt Mansion sits high above the shoreline, overlooking the Hudson River, and is a favorite painting location for many artists in the Hudson Valley. After doing this sketch, I went down to the riverfront to do an oil painting. You can see that painting here