New Brush Set by MyArtscape

Always looking for new travel sketching toys, I came across this brush set on Amazon, manufactured by MyArtscape (aka Pegasus Guild).

What I liked about this set are the ultra short brush handles and the nice travel case they come in.  The brushes themselves are about 5 3/4" from tip of brush to bottom of handle.

Click on each picture and you can see a larger image.......

 

Upon receipt of this set, I discovered one little issue and that was the ferrules on five out of the seven brushes felt loose and "rocked" a bit on the handles.  Initially I was rather disappointed but it's an easy fix adding a bit of glue to secure those loose ferrules and the brush hairs really appear to be of a good quality.............and honestly speaking, the price is very reasonable.

With the discovery of the loose ferrules, I submitted a review on Amazon about my disappointment and to my surprise I received a response (soon after the review went live) on Amazon as well as an email from the manufacturer reaching out to me about what I had written about.

MyArtscape's customer service is superb!  It's not every day a company writes to the customer.........normally it's the other way around when a problem arises.  Quality control and customer satisfaction is very important to this company and I find that to be an extreme positive attribute!  They were quick to want to make things right for me and said their production and quality of these brushes would be followed up on.

One of the biggest pluses (to me) with this set is the case itself....especially the size.  Because I'm always looking for new ideas for small sketching travel kits, it took no time to come up with this idea.

One can lay a small moleskine watercolor sketchbook inside between brush area and the flap that folds over and closes with the magnetic closure (which I love).  Close that up and then slide a thin watercolor palette (in my case a converted NeoColor II tin) and pull the string tight to secure the palette in place.  Perfect little glove box or grab and go sketching kit.

As for the brushes, one might find they prefer to carry other sketching tools in addition to a couple or instead of the brushes that come with the set.  In my case, I chose to include the small flat and liner brush that came with the set and replaced the other brushes with tortillion, Micron pen, Waterbrush, Platinum Carbon Pen (cut down to size), and mechanical pencil.

Am I happy with my purchase???  YES, I am!  I even made a few marks on paper with each of the brushes and liked my initial feel of how they performed.  The flats have nice flat and crisp edges and the rounds are nicely pointed.  Of course I'll know more after I've used them a few to several times if they maintain the nice edges and points.  :-)

Note:  The set includes a 1/2" rake brush (believe that's what it's called).

Example page worked in the Strathmore Watercolor Journal.

What I've Been Up To Lately

The last several weeks have been interesting to say the least with a few various challenges and changes for the family.  One change -adapting to new daily routines.  Youngest son obtained a Presidential Scholarshop for HVAC schooling out of the clear blue and left for six weeks in Texas.  It happened within just a few days and he was gone.  Daughter in law and oldest son obtained jobs needing us to keep the granddaughters after school (oldest early in the morning as well).  And dealing with another aging dog and issues that come with that.

With all the changes, I haven't exactly been in the art mode so as a change of pace (or escape), I've been playing Pokemon.  Yes at almost 60 I like the Pokemon games.  My youngest son, husband, nephews and I all play these games.

Almost two years ago I started Omega Ruby finishing the main game and collecting all the game's pokemon to fill the region pokedex.  Then I concentrated on completing the National Pokedex that has over 700 pokemon (a collection from all the games to date).

Note:  One of the primary reasons I was determined to fill the pokedexes was to obtain what is called a Shiny Charm in order to make shiny hunting odds a little more favorable should I decide to attempt that (more about this below).

When I learned that Sun and Moon would be coming out this Holiday season marking the 20th anniversary of Pokemon, I decided to get Alpha Sapphire and work it.............also completing the game pokedex and the National on it.  To complete the National, I needed to go back and finish my Pokemon X game and worked through Pokemon Y until I reached the area for a legendary I needed and traded with family for the rest.  I still needed about eight legendaries total and most were provided to me by my youngest Nephew.

I had heard about and read so much about shiny hunting that I decided to try my hand at catching the rare shiny pokemon.  One needs a lot of patience to continuously search for particular sprites until a shiny shows up.  Shinies are nothing more than different color pokemon from the normal colors (what might be a normal brown pokemon might be all green, etc.)  No special abilities or anything.  But because they are rare, people find it exciting to hunt and actually come across one.

Although I haven't been much into the art mode, I did record my achievements in my Paperblank journal.  As you can see, I've been quite successful.

It started out I just wanted to catch one to say I'd caught one.  In the first day, I caught three.  After that when I didn't have anything better to do, I'd pick the game up and hunt for others.  As of today, I have nine.  It can be addicting :-)

Summary Sheet I put together from my journal pages and other notes I had scribbled while hunting.  

SL stands for Search Level or how many encounters it took for me to finally get a shiny of a particular pokemon (you decide on a particular pokemon and then repeatedly perform a search for it.).  As you can see, a few took awhile and a lot of patience/perseverance.  :-O  

House Finch Farmington

Although we get a few species of song birds here in Florida, we saw the most variety when living in Farmington, WV.  During our time there, I took loads of photos of the birds at our feeders.  The feeders were placed right outside my window where I spent most of my time.  It was always a joy to watch!

This watercolor sketch is from one of my many photos.

Handbook, waterbrush, mixed brands of watercolors in portable palette made from a water crayon tin.

Gone Fishing

Two of my sons were planning to go fishing and while my youngest was prepping his new tackle box, I started sketching a few fishing lures from my own stash.

All these lures are those I have in my own arsenal; however, I never use them.  I have yet to really master how to use them so instead I stick with my old standby, the rubber worm.  Maybe one day I'll learn to use the other things I have but for now they make nice sketching material :-)

Strathmore Visual Journal (watercolor) / Micron 01 / Zig Watercolor Brush Markers / Daniel Smith Watercolor

I chose to use the Zig brush markers due to their vibrant colors and only a little watercolor mainly for the shadows.

Frequent Winged Visitor

It took awhile to see this fellow before I could identify what kind of bird it was.  Learned he's a Northern Mockingbird.

He comes to our Mushroom Water Fountain to drink.......a couple to few times a day.  I've seen other birds bath in the middle mushroom but this guy only drinks from the fountain.

Handbook / Micron 01

Florida Eye Candy

Although I've always loved the mountains, I have to say that Florida is my favorite with surrounding natural sights.  Love the landscape, the lakes, the various different birds, etc. we don't see up north.

Handbook / Daniel Smith watercolors / Micron 01

More Facial Feature Practice for Granddaughter

I forgot to share this from last week.  Started out as just a visual on eyes for my granddaughter but then took it further.  Looks strange, I'm sure with the top of the head.........LOL.  Worked using a mirror.....hair pulled back.

The following are just a few more pages practicing nose and mouth.  Both pages using the stillman and birn Zeta journal.

I'm turned ever so slightly when viewing in the mirror.

Filling an area on another page in the S&B Zeta.

Back to Facial Feature Practice

Although Travis wasn't thrilled at having his picture taken, he allowed me to take a profile photo of him last night for me to practice from.

There is definite room for improvement but overall I really think it looks like him.  The chin should be protruding out a bit more than I have it and a few other slight tweaks (like the eyebrow area) I could do.  But I've decided to leave it as is for my personal learning example.

Even with what I personally see as areas to be improved upon, I am rather thrilled by the results.

Maybe after I feel more comfortable with faces, I won't feel so intimidated when working people into sketches, feeling the need to leave them faceless.  But then again, those figures are so small that it would be difficult to do anything except suggest features anyways.  At least my goal is to eliminate or face that fear factor I experience working with people.

This was worked in the handbook with a rougher surface.  Although blending wasn't as nice as I'd achieve on the Zeta paper surface, this roughness to me gives an interesting look and feel to the finished results.

2H, 2B, and 6B pencils

Change of Pace

Although I'm still practicing with facial features, I took a break to do something else.

This first is using primarily the side edge of a 6B pencil capturing this tree I see every day looking out the Florida room door.  Worked on the last page in my Stillman & Birn Zeta journal.

Can't emphasis enough how much I love the Zeta paper for graphite work.....especially when blending.

This next is worked in the Handbook using W&N watercolors and a Micron 01 pen

My Son, Travis

This started out simply practicing the eyes with face tilted.  I kinda got carried away and went as far as you see here.

Stillman & Birn Zeta; Mechanical Pencil; 2B Pencil; Paper Stump

Travis will soon be 28 years old and  almost three years later is filled out a bit more in the face.  In 2013 he was quite thin.  The results look more like he is today being older.

It's far from perfect and seeing on screen I see areas I need to work on..........but.........I think it definitely resembles him and quite happy with the results.

I actually took a ruler and measured for placement of his features.  I definitely had to do that with the tilt of his face to get it to look right.

More Facial Feature Practice

I'm still working on facial features to include trying to position everything right.......at least based on general guidelines.

No models used........just adding features as I go along from imagination.  Next I'll work from an actual photo of one of my sons.

Stillman & Birn Zeta; mechanical pencil; paper stump for blending.

Face Challenge

After struggling and feeling like I botched the porcelain doll's face yesterday, I decided to challenge myself with an actual face...............me as the model.

I am one who avoids having my pictures taken.  And taking selfie pictures is just not my thing.  In fact when I took this selfie, I felt really stupid and the expression here definitely portrays that.........LOL  But I wanted to challenge myself so I took the selfie.........hair pulled back and all messed up...............me in the raw :-)

All in all I didn't do too bad of a job.  In fact everyone who's seen this definitely says it's me.  But there's still room for improvement and I may make this an ongoing challenge until I feel more confident in what I'm doing.

Stillman & Birn Zeta  /  2H and 2B pencils

An Absolute Gorgeous Day!

The page pretty much says it all :-)

Stillman & Birn Zeta, 2H and 2B pencils, W&N Watercolors, 005 Micron

Gold Dipped and Enamel Roses

Like many women, I love roses but so disappointed in the fact fresh roses don't last.  If given a preference, I'd rather have other type flowers like mums and daisies that last several days (if not longer).  My husband knowing how I felt, wanting to give me roses but knowing how I felt about fresh cut, found a solution.  They last forever :-)

This is a sketch of these gold dipped and enamel roses my husband presented me with 15 years ago.  It's amazing to me how something so fragile can be preserved in this manner and last as they have.

First worked the pencil sketch and was going to leave it at that but then yesterday decided to erase some of the pencil marks in shading and add watercolor.

Stillman & Birn Zeta / Mechanical Pencil / Uniball pens / Daniel Smith Watercolors

Latest Sketches - Scribbling Technique

Seems I'm hitting another low tide with my journaling; however, I did work these two sketches.

I'm trying something inspired by a sweet lady, Minerva, in one of the art groups I'm in on Facebook.  It falls under Scribble Art but not sure I'm really following the concept correctly.

Regardless, I've had fun working these two sketches with what I understand using scribbling for my values.

The first is using pencil and the second is using a ballpoint pen.

Today's Journal Sketch and Thoughts

A gorgeous, quiet day to sketch...................this idea from a duo parrot figurine, choosing only one of the parrots to sketch.  Was in the mood to job down various thoughts going through my mind.

Stillman & Birn Zeta journal; Pilot Falcon; QoR watercolors

More Christmas Gift Sketches

These are two of several new Willow Tree figurines my family bought me for Christmas.  I love this series for the simplicity of the figures.

Handbook, Pilot Falcon pen with Lexy Gray ink, QoR watercolors.

Electric Lamp Post

Dad was quite the handyman and craftsman back in his day. He loved creating things like this and my step-mom would stain or paint his creations.

I always wanted one made but Dad never got around to doing so before he passed. My hubby sat over one day visiting my step-mom and with paper/pencil mapped out the design taking measurements and then put one together using an old Ball Mason Jar Peggy (step-mom) gave him.

I stapled a leaf garland to the post and then added a string of white Christmas lights to it. The electric candle still works (needs a new light bulb) but I had to remove the Christmas Lights as they stopped working. Still need to find another small electric string of lights to put back on.

Stillman & Birn Zeta journal and Micron 03 pen

Challenge Sketch - Pen and Ink

Now and then I like to challenge myself and this is one of those times.  Not only using pen and ink only but with a subject I find really complicated.

This camera arm used to be set up mounted from the wall with a heavy camera attached.  The camera was hooked to a small TV where I could view what the camera saw taking photos and videos.  Since the few moves we have made over the last several years, I've not been able to set this up like I had it.

Several days ago, we came up with this set-up using a broom handle and 2x4s for a base.  Mid way up the broom handle, we have a clamp holding it to the back lip of my table.  For now I have a web cam attached as we're not sure if the broom handle can handle the extra weight of a camera.  This metal arm is quite heavy.

Pink Rose

Not a whole lot I can add to what's already showing on the journal page.

Handbook, QoR watercolors, and watercolor pencil darker shade to the pink watercolor.

Kitty Sketches

Today's sketching is of my two sons' cats.  Kiddo being a slim white cat while Mocca is a very large fat cat.

Sketched in the Stillman & Birn Zeta journal.  Micron pen.  W&N Watercolors

Cacti Watercolor Sketch

Night before I was up all night and last night was in bed super early.  Of course it figures I'd wake up every hour middle of the night until I finally gave up trying to fall back to sleep and got out of bed.

So while it was quiet with everyone else snoozing, I worked this little sketch in the handbook journal.  Micron pen and QoR watercolors.

Now that it's breaking daylight, I'm ready to go back to bed.......LOL

Late Night Sketching

One of those nights where I couldn't fall asleep so I sketched while watching TV.

Stillman & Birn Zeta, micron, and watercolor

Using My First Hand Sewn Journal

Although I already have several open journals going right now, I just HAD to start in my own home-made journal.

Here are the first two page spreads I've done using the first journal I put together.

I had forgotten how much I love Fabriano watercolor paper!!  It will be so nice using my favorite paper again.  Just love the surface texture and how watercolor flows across the surface.  Love the ease in lifting as well.

Madison's Howling Wolf

One of the accordion fold journals found a home with my eldest granddaughter (age 12) and this is her first entry.

Graphite and paper is Fabriano  Bianco

Additional Journals Made

This makes three hand sewn hard bound journals I've made.  Each were done a little differently as I try various methods to see which suited me best.

The first as shown in previous post was using scrapbook paper for end pages and purchased book cloth.

The second here was trying scrapbook card stock paper (little thicker than paper but not a real stiff card stock).  I found when I folded this it wanted to crack a bit at the fold.  Was easier to glue but at the same time wasn't as easy to smooth out wrinkles when glued down.  With this journal and the third, I made my own book cloth taking cotton fabric, iron on adhesive, and tissue paper.

The third journal I decided to go without the end pages.  I think for future books I'll either use the thinner scrapbook paper stock or none at all.  This was easier to put together (text block into book casing) either because I didn't mess with end papers or because it's getting easier with each one I make :-)

After I finished these, I made three spiral journals using the same 140lb cold press watercolor paper.  Two were made with soft vinyl covers and the other was made using mat board.

Even though I would have liked to have covered these with fabric, I wasn't sure how my binding machine would handle cutting through glued on fabric.

So here are the journals I have been working on the last several days.  I made a total of six accordion fold journals with 14 usable pages and three twice the number of pages (shown here).

With the size spirals used (9/16"), I was able to fit 19 pages in the hard cover - 38 front and back and 21 pages - 42 pages front and back (covers were thinner allowing two additional pages).  Hand sewn journals were made with 20 pages - 40 pages front and back.