Best of the Year Part II --- Products New on the Market

I've tried a lot of new products this year. Some I loved, some I hated, and some were okay but probably won't become staples in my studio. A few I know I'll be using for many years to come. These are my favorite items new to the art market this past year. You can click the images to see larger, clearer photos.

Stillman & Birn Beta Hardbound Sketchbooks (two sizes)

Stillman & Birn new Zeta paper (soon to be available in books)

I have adored the new, extra heavyweight sketchbooks that Stillman and Birn manufactured. The 180 lb. paper takes everything I've thrown at it. These sketchbooks go everywhere with me and I can have confidence that no matter what medium I decide to use in my travels, it will work on this surface! It's such a joy to be able to work across the spread  (since the books open completely flat) and on both side of the page with no show-through or buckling. I can travel with a book half the size, and in using the full spread, I have double the space. They're amazing.

Stillman & Birn has also made a new paper called Zeta. It should be available in hardbound and wirebound books very soon. I've been able to test drive some loose sheets of the new paper, and I am chomping at the bit to get my paws on a book of it! Since I love fountain pens, the very smooth, plate-like surface of Zeta is perfect for my pen and ink work. Nothing shows through this 180 lb. paper to the other side, and the heavy weight and abundant sizing enable it to handle wet media too.

Speaking of pen and ink, here is another favorite product: the long-anticipated TWSBI Mini fountain pen:

I've always loved my larger TWSBI, but it's a bit heavy in my hand. I got a fine point TWSBI Mini when they came out a month or two ago, and it's the smoothest fine point I've ever written with. If you have a large hand, you may find the Mini a bit small, even when the cap is posted on the barrel of the pen. But for me, it's absolutely perfect. I couldn't be happier. It goes everywhere with me. I find it comfortable in my hand, it writes like a dream, and holds a ton of ink. It is currently loaded with Private Reserve Copper Burst.

I hope you'll give some of these new products a try. Many new items hit the art supply market every year, and it's hard to get around to sampling everything, but I do feel the new Stillman & Birn products and the TWSBI Mini are worthy of rave reviews from among the large number of new materials I sampled during the year.

In the past year or so, I've also been working with a lot of products that are not new to the market, but are new to me. Some of them have become favorite painting, drawing and sketching materials. I'll be featuring those in the last installment of my "Best of the Year" series, so stay tuned.

You can see "Best of the Year Part I" on this link.

Kaaterskill Falls from the Top

8.5x11" across a two page spread of a 5.5x8.5"

Stillman & Birn Beta Hardbound Sketchbook

Ink and Watercolor

On the way back from the Inspiration Point hike that I posted about yesterday, we detoured to the top of Kaaterskill Falls, where you can sit alongside Lake Creek just where it plunges over the 270 foot waterfall. There are dramatic distant vistas of the mountains from up there, plus beautiful rock outcroppings and intimate cascades. It was one of the favorite spots of the Hudson River School artists, and it's one of my favorites as well! They have done quite a bit of trail work there recently and the footing is vastly improved from the top of the mountain down to the top of the falls.

Hike to Inspiration Point

8.5x11" across a two page spread in a 5.5x8.5"

Stillman & Birn Beta hardbound sketchbook

Ink and Watercolor

I went to Inspiration Point several times this past summer and fall. For some reason, it has beckoned me this year! The twisted birch tree on the left seems to end up being my sketching subject on the trips more often than not. I love the contrast in the trunk, and the way the backlit leaves light up against the mass of Kaaterskill High Peak behind them. The ink and watercolor were done on location. Once home, I added the border and lettering with a Pitt Big Brush Pen

From a hike to Palenville Overlook

Stillman & Birn Beta hardbound sketchbook

Watercolor

Noodler's Luxury Blue Ink

Lamy Safari with EF nib

Sketched during our lunch break on a hike to Palenville Overlook with friends.

Hunter Mountain Fire Tower

Stillman & Birn 5.5x8.5" hardbound Beta sketchbook

Watercolors

Lamy Safari with EF nib and Noodler's Luxury Blue

Pitt Big Brush Pen (for page border only)

Text:
We took the easier route to the fire tower by riding the chair lift up to the Colonel's Chair, and then hiking the two miles uphill to the tower from there. The views from the tower were spectacular, though beter for experiencing than for painting. We were grateful for having made the decision to bring sweatshirts along! They were certainly needed on the chair lift ride up in the morning, as well as up on the tower, where the wind was brisk and chilly.

Once back down on firm ground, we sat on some rocks by the ranger's cabin and had peanut butter sandwiches, and I pulled out my paints to sketch the scene. The top of the tower was blocked off. We couldn't figure out why they would do that, but perhaps they were trying to discourage people from spending the night up there or making a mess.

As usual, the trip down was a lot easier than it was going up!

Helderberg Escarpment at Thacher Park

Golden Airbrush Paints

(painted with a regular synthetic brush)

Stillman & Birn Beta Hardbound Sketchbook

This sketch was done from one of the overlooks from the Helderberg Escarpment at Thacher Park. It's truly an amazing place, with a path along the escarpment's edge that runs for about two miles. There are many cleared vistas along the way, complete with rock outcroppings, beautiful foreground foliage, and views that span several states. 

I love painting with these Golden Airbrush Paints. They are very versatile, but a bit cumbersome to travel with. I have some ideas brewing to make cleanup on location go a bit smoother and faster. 

Siuslaw Forest Preserve -- Golden Airbrush Acrylics and Silverpoint Ground

Golden Airbrush Acrylics

Golden Silverpoint Ground

Stillman & Birn 8.5x11" Beta 180lb Hardbound sketchbook

I've still got so many August sketches to post. My vacation is now over, and although I didn't get any oil paintings done in my wanderings with my husband, I did take a sketchbook and some sort of paints/pens everywhere with me. Now I need to start photographing the more recent ones, which have been patiently waiting for my new camera to arrive. I got a Samsung NX1000 while on my break time. That was a good time to get a new camera, since I had some down time to actually go out and take photos and get through a chunk of the manual. I'm hoping it will result in improved accuracy, better color, and crisper detail in reproducing my sketches and paintings.

Golden Airbrush Paints and Silverpoint Ground --- Who knew!

Golden Airbrush Acrylics on Silverpoint Ground
8.5x11 across a two page spread in a Stillman & Birn Beta (180 lb) hardbound sketchbook

A few weeks ago I went to the Golden Artist Colors factory for the day. In addition to other things, I was able to spend a few hours with tech staff to discuss some things I've been trying to achieve with acrylic paints, and possible alternative solutions to my mission. One of the things I was able to play with that day were the Golden Airbrush Paints and Silverpoint Ground. When one thinks of painting with brushes, Golden Airbrush Paints are not what come to mind! (Neither does painting on Silverpoint Ground, or using Silverpoint Ground to reclaim whites in a painting.)

Well, I was smitten with the possibilities of these paints! First of all, they are very highly pigmented, yet already in an ink-like consistency. This gives me an ideal solution to achieve watercolor-like pigmentation without the pigment disappearing on me. Furthermore, the Airbrush Paints have something that the Golden Fluids do not: retarder! Yep, the retarder is already added to the paint, so it stays workable longer on the paper, and can be lifted before it sets if you work quickly.

The down side to working with these has been finding an easy way to use them on location while out hiking. I've been experimenting with a few different ideas as I've carted them around. This sketch of Kaaterskill Falls was done on location in about 40 minutes. The pages were prepared in advance with Golden Silverpoint Ground. I applied two coats, drying with a hair dryer in between. The idea was that by sealing the surface, it would be easier for me to make use of the lifting capabilities of the Airbrush Paints. On location, I coated the entire sketch area with Transparent Red Oxide mixed with some Airbrush Medium. Then I used a piece of paper towel, sometimes dipped in water, to pull out my lights, as if I were doing an underpainting in oils. I continued to work transparently for awhile, adding darks and pulling out lights, then used more opaque paint toward the end. I used a little Silverpoint Ground for some highlights and light, opaque color mixtures. It has a very heavy Titanium Dioxide content and worked great! I'd put about 5ml into a small empty vial from an ink sample.

Transporting paints in a watery consistency has issues for sure. For one thing, I can't use the same palette that I can for oils or acrylics, nor any flat or disposable palette, for that matter. I ended up using two small, rectangular watercolor palettes that I taped together on one end so it could fold in half. I put velcro on the outside to affix it to my lap board with the sketchbook. That's worked out pretty well so far. I bring several of the small airbrush bottles of color with me, and pour them into the palette on location. Cleanup is a serious mess, and remains the biggest problem for me to resolve when out on location.

Here's a photo of the scene with my sketch. Unfortunately the sketch was in shadow and the scene in light, so it's a bit hard to see the sketch.

Experimenting with Grounds --- Watercolor on varnished paper

Watercolor on varnished paper
Stillman & Birn 5.5x8.5" Hardbound Sketchbook (180lb paper!)

I decided to use one of the brand new Stillman & Birn extra heavy weight Beta hardbound sketchbooks to experiment with various grounds and mediums. The size makes it easy to travel with, so I've prepared a bunch of pages in advance and I take the book out hiking with me. Since I have very little time to sketch on the hike outings, they serve double duty by allowing me to do my media experiments simultaneously.

For this page spread, I used two coats of Golden Polymer  UVLS Varnish  (Gloss), rubbing it in with a paper towel to make as smooth a surface as possible, and drying the paper between coats with a hair dryer. Then, off to Olana I went to do a rather monochromatic, tonal sketch of a sunset overlooking the Hudson River. I used four tubes of watercolor: Winsor Newton Burnt Sienna, Daniel Smith Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet, Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold, and Holbein Permanent White (gouache). The idea was to use the watercolor the way I'd use oil paint, since the varnished surface would allow me to pull out my lights right down to the paper, and enable me to use the paints in both transparent and opaque ways. Landscape painter David Dunlop sketches this way a lot and does it very effectively!

It turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be. The paint had to be used full strength because any water added caused it to bead up on the surface. It dried very quickly and was hard to lift without adding water, yet when the water was added, it all beaded up and came off immediately, right down to the white of the paper. I think this will have great potential for me as a sketching method --- it was fast to work with, and not having to carry solvents nor worry about the paint drying out on the brushes makes it ideal for travel. It also lets me use the same techniques I use in oils. However, I'm going to have to try to find some kind of medium that can thin the paints yet doesn't bead up. I'm open to suggestions! It also has to be able to dry quickly enough so that I can close the book and put it back into my backpack without worrying about sticking. I'm looking forward to experimenting more with this idea.

Summertime at the Beach

11x17" across a two page spread of a Stillman & Birn Beta Hardbound sketchbook

Golden Fluid Acrylics

I think this is one of the busiest summers I've ever had. In addition to lots of painting and taking a one week workshop, I've been having such a great time with my husband while he's been on vacation that it's been hard for me to keep up with photographing images and writing posts. I've been sketching like a madwoman, so I've got a lot of catching up to do!

This was sketched on location at North Lake Beach while out painting with my friend Nancy. Sometimes I just don't want the pressure of feeling like I need to turn out a "finished painting", so I relax and play in my sketchbook. This was one of those occasions when in spite of wanting to work larger, I knew I wouldn't have time to complete a large painting. I couldn't stand the thought of yet another large, unfinished painting hanging around in my studio, and I didn't want to work small. It was just what the doctor ordered for this summer day by the water. I'm liking this scene a lot and will probably go back and do a painting from here sometime soon.

I'm loving working in these Stillman & Birn Beta Hardbound sketchbooks. The 180 pound paper doesn't buckle at all, and it's possible to experiment with all sorts of grounds and surface preparation, as well as any medium. I have an 8.5x11", and also recently started a 5.5x8.5" version for when I'm out hiking and can't carry such a large book with me.