Sketch of Cricut Tools Received at Christmas

Not very colorful considering these are all white tools but wanted to record in my journal.  My two younger sons gifted me these tools at Christmas.  In error, they were sent two sets and they decided one can't have too many tools so gave me both.

I have a Scan n Cut machine but these will work beautifully even though a different brand. 

Stillman and Birn Beta 9 x 12 sketchbook / Lamy AlStar with Urban Grey ink

Trying to Regain Motivation to Sketch and Paint

It's been a trying month for family so haven't had much motivation to do a great deal of sketching or painting.  This post basically catches me up with what I've managed to do in the last few days.  I'm trying to push forward even though my heart's still not quite into it yet.

After several weeks and finally getting the inks and fountain pens I wanted to fill with my new inks, I worked this page in the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook.  I figured stippling was a good way to start back into sketching.

 This is of a flycatcher I've seen for the first time outside our living room window.  He and a female showed up the end of May and continue showing up in our palm and our feeders.  Worked in the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook with a .7 mechanical pencil.

Testing out the new inks and making a more formal chart in the Strathmore Visual WC journal.

Color coordinating color of inks to color of pen barrels the best I could.  Ended up getting four Lamy Vistas with the clear bodies for some of he colors plus one Al Astar for the gray ink.

This is finally getting my May Challenge completed that a friend of mine and I set for each other each month.  May was tools of some kind.  Worked in the Stillman & Birn Beta journal.

New Toy - The Pocket Palette by Expeditionary Art

Just received this in the mail and am so excited!!!!  I couldn't believe how fast the order was filled and sent out to me.

Now I just need to figure out the layout I want and the colors I want to put into it.

I ordered the basic pocket palette and then one package each of the different size pans you can place in the case.  It's magnetic base so it's super easy to add or remove the pans.

A business card is included just to show how big (or little) this palette actually is.

UPDATED IMAGE - showing size relationship to full and half pans:

If the mixing area is not enough (which for me never is with any palette I use), I just use a white piece of plexiglass I often carry with me in my sketch kit.

This will be perfect for quick sketching / slap color over ink sketching :-)

Expeditionary Art - Art Tool Kit

Revisit to Sketching Supplies and Kits

I think part of the love of sketching is not just filling sketchbooks and journals but also collecting various supplies and putting together a variety of kits one can use for going out sketching and painting.  It's almost like an addiction for me and I'm always surfing the net for new ideas..........lol.

I have several related posts under the key word (sketch kits) 

1)  This first photo shows only a sampler of the various sketchbooks and journals I use.  From back to forward and left to right.......

Sennelier Accordion sketchbook / Stillman and Birn spiral Beta; Sewn Hardback Delta; spiral Epsilon; and Sewn Hardback Alpha / Strathmore Tinted Sketchbooks; Global Handbook; Moleskine; Handmade Leather Journal / Itoya Presentation Folders with clear sleeves to slide your work down into / Langton Spiral Watercolor Pad; Handmade Journal; Visual Journal by Strathmore / Handsewn Hardback Journal; Spiral Handmade Journal; Handmade Accordion Journal

2)  Traveling Kit using a passport neck carrier.  Perfect for a small sketchbook, small palette, pens, pencil, eraser, tissue tucked down inside, putty eraser, and a waterbrush.

3)  Accruasee Strap- On Sketch Caddie:  Small palette, waterbrush, pens/pencils, putty eraser, tissue.  This sketch caddie has an elastic strap that wraps around the front cover of a sketchbook.

4)  Collection of pre-made palettes and those customized using old children's paint kits, crayon tins, and Altoid tin boxes.  With the pre-made palettes, I often customize them as well using empty half and full pans if the cases do not have molded pan inserts (like the Winsor & Newton Pocket Palette).

5)  One of my favorites - Lihit Lab Pen Case:  Left inside carries my pens and pencils.  The middle flap where you can add additional pens, I use to hang a small portrait Stillman and Birn journal, and behind the middle flap, I have tissue, q-tips, and a paper stump on the left and palette, travel brushes and putty eraser on the right.

6)  One of my day to day handbags (current link as of 07/25/2022) I carry everywhere (my purse).  I always have pens, pencil, eraser, small tissue, waterbrush, customized thin palette and small journal with me at all times.  Inside the zippered compartment I can fit a 5 x 7 journal, small wallet, bottle of IB, and other small items I might need.  The back is where I carry my cell phone.

Keys and camera are attached to the outside with carabiner hooks......accessible at all times.

7)  Another favorite is this canvas tool bag purchased from Harbor Freight for about $10.  I take this one if I don't have a long distance walk ahead of me (I prefer something with a shoulder strap for any walking I might have to do).  I carry the green Lihit Lab Pen case full of sketching gear (as shown above), coffee and water on either side, large Journal, heavy duty cardboard with clips I can use for a mini lap table, white plexiglass sheet (about 8 x 10) I use as a mixing surface, collapsible water bowl, smaller journal on outside pocket, nylon bag with pens and brushes, a larger folding palette, folded paper towels, tissue, hand cleaner, small mister bottle........and still have plenty of room for more stuff if needed.

When You Can't Decide on What to Sketch...

............sketch your painting gear.

7.5 x 12 Stillman & Birn Beta journal

Hero 578 Bent Nib Fountain Pen

Lexy Gray Ink

Christmas Gift from Santa Clare

This is a post I forgot to include for 2017.

The day after Christmas I received a gift from my friend and sister who resides in the UK.  It's called the Cuttlelola which is a motorized stippling pen run off of rechargeable batteries.

My dear friend, Clare, challenged me to work a sketch using this pen before the end of the year.  In selecting a subject, I chose to do some zen doodling but with the stippling technique instead of marker pens.  I had so much fun that I ended up doing two right away.

Then she challenged me to do another but adding color to it.

There are two speeds to the pen and I found I had better control and felt less vibration in my hand using the slower speed.  What would take hours to complete doing this by hand didn't take long at all with this pen.  I love stippling anyways as I find it relaxing and this pen just makes it plain fun.......lol

Ahhh The Beauty of Digital

With the last post I shared the digital drawing I did of my newest hand crafted pen, which is a ballpoint.  The coloring was showing as more of a copper tone where it should look more like antique gold.

I was able to go into the Procreate file, duplicate the color layer (I work everything in layers), and decrease red and increase green to give a color that's more like the real deal. 

My Newest Toy - Hand Crafted Ballpoint Pen

My newest pen (top in photo) was specifically made for me by Steve Kondo as a Christmas gift from Terry.  This makes two I now have that Mr. Kondo has created.  I'm waiting on one more which will be a dip pen holder :-)

And here is the sketch or drawing I've already done using Procreate to draw it.  My coloring is off as it looks more copper here but then the scan shows it more yellow than it should be too (particularly at the tip)........LOL.  It should be an antique gold coloring which I may be able to change fairly easily.  But regardless of the color, I feel pretty stoked over how it turned out.  I believe the name of this style is "The Professor" using a clockworks blank to create the barrel.

Crazy/Busy Time but Still Sketching

Between preparing for family to come, LAL Christmas party, sketchcrawls, creating name tags for several of the LAL Sketchers and OSF ladies, sketching schedule for January and February...........and one gift exchange already, I'm still trying to get in what sketching I can or feel up to.

This first is using Procreate with a brush tool called "Artist Crayon" I though had a really neat texture to.  I was just messing around with the tool and ended up with the figure you see far left, second down.  It took on the form of a person so I ended up doing this sheet or screen of figures.

During our first Christmas exchange, Santa Terry gifted me with this beautiful glass dip pen.  It comes in a set with three ink bottles, a porcelain water cup, and glass rest for the pen.

Here's a quick sketch using the glass dip pen and testing to see how the ink behaves with a damp brush.  The ink is very strong and goes a long way when wet.............it's almost like it explodes across the paper.  It's hard to control...........something very much like I find with a Rotring F cartridge pen.

Sketch using Fabriano 140lb Cold Press in hand sewn journal.

My normal ink sketch with watercolor.  This is using the hand crafted fountain pen Terry got me for my birthday.

This next sketch is using a new ballpoint pen hand crafted for me.  A pen I'll share more about in a separate post.  Santa Terry had it made for me for Christmas.

I was testing to see how this pen with a Parker refill would behave.  Will it blob like many other ballpoints do?  Plus I was trying my hand at this reflection that I thought was cool.  It's the glass pen rest that goes with the glass dip pen above.  Worked in the Beta journal.

Almost forgot about this one.  Just messing around one evening taking peaks around my computer screen at Terry so he wouldn't know I was sketching him.  Worked in my small Beta journal.

He left to take Miya out for her walk so I sketched the chair again plus the lamp post behind it.

New Toy - Custom Fountain Pen

Saturday before last, my husband and I checked out a store near us that specializes in miniatures called In a Nutshell Miniatures & More.  We went in to see what they might have to go along with my miniature bears I love using as sketching models.

While in the shop, we discovered they also offer custom made pens, razors, and other items where wood and/or acrylic is turned making the barrels or handles to various objects.

I had been inquiring if anyone knew of a person who made custom pens for some time.  I even started getting a catalog that offers the materials and tools to create them hoping my oldest son would take an interest as he loves working with wood and also creates various things out of plastic.  I'm sure if he had time, he'd jump on it but his job, family, and car restoration pretty much takes up all his time.

Anyways.........totally unexpected, I walk into a shop that offers exactly what I was hoping for.

Terry and I returned to the shop this past Saturday to meet Steve Kondo (In a Nutshell Pens and Turnings, Tavares, FL), who makes these pens.  He brought several in for me to see to include extra fine nibs I prefer to use when sketching.  Once I chose a pen style I liked, Mr. Kondo put in an extra fine nib in place of the one that came with it and I really liked how it tested out on paper at the shop.

This pen is different in the way the cap fits on either end.  The cap is magnetic and I loved the pattern on the pen barrel.  What's really nice is that no two pens are alike when turning the blanks for the finished bodies.  You definitely end up with a pen that is truly unique.

The pen comes with a plunger style converter I've never seen before.  All of my converters are twist piston converters.  I thought that was unique.  Plus the pen will take ink cartridges as well.  The nib I chose is a #5 EF two toned steel nib which is from a German company.

Once I got home, I took the pen on a trial run sketching in my Stillman & Birn Beta journal.  The nib feels good on paper but may need some time "breaking in" if there is such a thing.  I didn't clean the nib before using it so it might just be oils on the nib when manufactured.  For someone like me who uses a light pressure when sketching, this nib's ink flow is hit and miss but with any pressure the ink flows nicely.  I might need to change to a lubricating ink but for right now I'll continue with the ink I like most which is the Noodler's Lexington Gray ink.

As a sketcher, the hit and miss ink flow is truly not a bad thing.  I have a tendency to forget to use lost and found lines and a nib that does it for me can only be a plus........LOL  It definitely worked to my advantage when sketching the conure head :-)

Color version using Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils dry and wet brush to blend the colors.

I've already told my husband I'd like to have a custom made ballpoint pen as I enjoy sketching in ballpoint as well.  Plus I learned today that Mr. Kondo also makes dip pen holders.  Can't wait to get these various sketching tools and show off to my sketching pals !!!!

75 Day Challenge - Days 47, 48, and 49

All sketched in the Cartridge Paper sketchbook from the UK.

Day 47 - Decided to sketch one of Terry's fishing lures he recently purchased for his and Travis's fishing/kayaking outing yesterday.  Used the Platinum Carbon desk pen

Day 48 - Pencil/Pen caddie sitting on my desk  The Pilot Prera with F nib used for this one.

Day 49 - Just doodling odds and ends around my desk.  TWSBI w/Lexy Gray ink used this time.

75 Day Challenge - Day 44

Was an all nighter where I couldn't sleep..........so I sketched.

While watching TV I paused this scene and sketched the house.  Worked with my Platinum Carbon Desk Pen / Lexy Gray ink in my hand sewn journal with Fabriano 140 Cold Press.

Also did this little illustration of a quick fix to keep a single ink vial in place without fear of tipping over when dipping a pen into the ink.

Always Test Company Claims - Uniball Pens

One of the things I've learned the hard way is to test the claims companies make about their pens / inks being water resistance or waterproof.

Perfect example is the Uniball Vision Elite roller pens saying the ink is water resistant.  Well with that term I would pretty much count on some bleed.  Only one color of the five I have stood up ok to a quick swish of water applied.  See left page.

The Uniball Vision Needle is what really gets me.  Right on the barrel of each pen is stamped WaterPROOF.  Now tell me...........what does the example below on the right page say to you?

ALWAYS test your pens and inks on papers you normally use before doing any serious work......especially if you plan to use washes with your ink drawings.

On a positive note.........these pens would be ok if after a wash effect........except maybe the red pigments?

Mini Folding Palette - Jackson Art's Supply

Anytime I set up a palette, I like working pages in my journal that I can refer back to on what colors I've chosen.  I have been adding pages like this to a dedicated Journal so I can easily look up the charts.  Before that I had them in random journals and could never remember which one.

This palette is similar to the Whisky Palette but they were out of stock and I found this through Amazon which is very similar.

Closed it's only 5" x 2.75" and open it is 5" x 8"

I took the metal tray with rails that hold the 1/2 pans out of the palette so I could fit more 1/2 pans if I wanted or replace with whole pans at some point (or a combination of both).  Plus have room for my mini waterbrush and a sponge.

With this palette, I decided to start out with W&N watercolors although I do prefer Daniel Smith.  But I have several small travel palettes already set up with DS pigments.

Stillman & Birn Beta
Micron 03
W&N watercolors