This is my favorite time of year to be outside appreciating the subtleties of nature. Springtime is the best time to experience the color Green in many different variations. The spring landscape is gorgeous here in New England.
The View from Poet's Seat Tower in Greenfield, MA
Above is a photo I took yesterday from the top of Poet’s Seat Tower. I made a mini sketch of the view from the lower part of the tower on a manila tag. It was an experiment using my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and some colored pencils. The pen works great on this paper (no smudging unlike some other papers I have tried), although there isn’t enough tooth for the colored pencils.
I made a color chart for my Derwent Coloursofts. I don’t have very many colors, but I definitely think I will add to these. I have never taken the time to make a color chart for anything before. I’m actually surprised because I am a very meticulous kind of person. I can really see this helping me out when choosing colors for a new painting. I am going to start a new colored pencil piece pretty soon and this is getting me excited.
I arranged the colors according to what pleased me, and it was interesting to compare my choice to the manufacturer’s numbering system.
This morning I took out some colored paper and did a little sketching with my Derwent Coloursofts. It’s kind of fun to work on the colored paper and I think I will try out more of this in the future. (This photo was taken in dim lighting, so the colors aren’t very accurate.)
Colored pencils have been more appealing to me lately because they are non-toxic and very portable. The negative is that I can only do a small amount at a time because it tends to irritate my wrist and arm. These days I have to work slowly anyway though, because I get interrupted with baby duties often. In the next few years, I can see myself doing more colored pencil than watercolor.
Another small painting from Google Street View in Elba, this time experimenting with my new Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils. I like the soft feel of these pencils and they come in a lot of natural looking colors, but I have trouble distinguishing different colors from one another.
I tend to draw with a ton of different colors strewn all over the table, but that won’t work with these pencils. The color swatches at the end of the pencil don’t seem very accurate, and the leads don’t look like the actual color on the paper. Being organized and having a scrap paper on hand for tests is critical for me, because I had a few accidents when I started using the wrong color.
My only other (small) gripe is that the pencils are too large to fit in my electric sharpener. Luckily, I have a manual one that works. Otherwise, I LOVE these pencils.
I bought some hotpress watercolor paper to try out. I’m not sure how I feel about the surface; it will take some getting used to. Coldpress paper seems to allow me more time for “wiggle room” before leaving an indelible mark. Also, coldpress paper seems to take more abuse and “scrubbing” before the paper’s surface starts to disintegrate. I painted this rose, but I mangled the leaves badly so I cut them off with the paper cutter.
It’s frustrating to have something turn out badly, especially when I don’t get to paint whenever I want anymore. I know that it is to be expected though, and I’m glad I experimented with this new paper.
Dick Blick was running a sale awhile back and I took the opportunity to order some more blue paints. Above is the result of my experimentations with my new colors.
Previously, the only blues I had on my palette were cerulean blue and phthalo blue. I bought some M Graham cobalt blue, ultramarine blue and prussian blue. I’m not too impressed with the prussian blue though, because it seems like it’s just a darker version of phthalo blue. I really love the cobalt blue though, and I think this might be my new favorite blue.
As promised in my last post, here are my thoughts on the Noodler’s Inks that I recently purchased. I bought the Lexington Gray and the Bulletproof Black, both of which claim to be waterproof. Here are my conclusions:
I really love the Lexington Gray and think that this will be the main ink that I’m going to be using. It looks almost black, especially when I use a lot of flex, and it is really waterproof.
The Bulletproof Black is advertised to be waterproof on cellulose. Apparently my watercolor moleskine is not the correct paper because the ink did not want to “soak in” or even dry quickly. I actually even smeared some parts when I accidentally dragged my hand through the wet ink (I tried to cover it up).
When I went over it with a watercolor wash after several minutes of drying time, the ink proved to be water-soluble, especially on the parts that had more ink. You can see this on parts of the tree bark in my drawing above. The watercolor moleskine is the only paper that I have tested it on so far, but I have a feeling that any watercolor paper is not going to work with this ink because of the sizing.
I have read similar complaints about this ink elsewhere, so I had my suspicions from the start. People really love Platinum Carbon Black ink, but I was wary because of warnings that it might clog the pen without frequent use and a lot of maintenance. For now, I will only use the Bulletproof Black for drawings not involving watercolor and I will use the Lexington Gray for my pen and wash drawings.
A few weeks ago I ordered the Noodler’s Flex Nib pen after reading a number of reviews online (see reviews from Nina Johansson, Cathy Johnson, and Roz Stendahl). I actually ordered two pens, in Lapis Inferno and Vulcan’s Coral, mainly because I wanted to be able to use two different colored inks. Also, so many people are going gaga over these pens that they are selling out very quickly and I wanted to make sure I got what I wanted.
My main reason for getting this pen is that I wanted something that could replicate the lines that you can get with a dip pen, but portable. As you can see from my sketch (click to enlarge), a large degree of line width is possible, which is really different from the Lamy fountain pen I use for writing. I am still not really used to controlling the flex and I find that I have to concentrate and go slower than normal when I want a thicker line. The pen is also sensitive to the angle at which you hold the pen. To get more flex you need to hold the pen more horizontally to the paper.
I did find the instructions that came with the pen a bit odd. Besides the bizarre drawing of “The Nib Creaper,” the instructions are one solid block of text that I had to reread several times before figuring out how to fill the pen. I had previously watched a video showing the pen assembly, so I was able to figure it out, but I wished there were some kind of diagram as well as the text. I still had some trouble filling the pen the first time (I got mostly air and very little ink), but I had better luck the next time. Once I fill the pen a few times, I think it will be easy for me.
For detailed info on this pen, I recommend the videos that Brian Goulet has posted to his blog Ink Nouveau. I haven’t tried it yet, but the whole pen can be disassembled for cleaning. The nib and feed can also be adjusted to allow for more or less flex and ink flow according to preference.
Some people complained about the smell of the pen (from the resin material that the pen body is made from), but I don’t mind it. It is noticable, but I think it is a pleasant smell, like scented soap or something similar.
I purchased Noodler’s Lexington Gray and Bulletproof Black ink to fill these pens. I will write a seperate blog post about these inks after I test them further. The sketch above is of the two pieces of pottery that I made in my recent workshop and a mini ceramic pitcher that I bought at the Old Deerfield Craft Fair last weekend. I bought the pitcher just because it is cute, and I’m still not sure what I will do with the other two dishes.
I feel really good to be making progress after such a long time doing nothing. I’ve still been working on Every Day in May, having only skipped two days because the topics weren’t something I had access to (and I didn’t feel like drawing from a photo).
One benefit of this project is that I’ve been able to quickly fill up the remaining pages of my Pen and Ink | watercolor brand sketchbook. The paper of this book didn’t really suit me, as it disintegrated with washes and buckled a lot.
The top painting was done in the old sketchbook and the bottom one was done in my new watercolor moleskine. Even though I know there are people who complain about the watercolor moleskine paper, I am a lot happier with it. The paper surface is much better to work on, and there is less buckling (as you can see from the scan).
A 15 ml tube of M. Graham cerulean blue paint, squeezed out.
I thought I’d share an interesting issue I had recently, in case the same thing happens to anyone reading. About a year ago I purchased some tubes of M. Graham watercolor paints which I have been, on the whole, really happy with. The only issue I had is one tube of cerulean blue that separated in the tube. Every time I squeezed any out, it would be mostly binder and very little pigment. This caused issues with the paint being very sticky and not wanting to dry (as well as the color not being as intense).
On the advice of Jane Freeman of Watercolor Mania, I squeezed out the entire tube into a small saucer and mixed it up really well. Thankfully, M. Graham paint rewets very well because from now on I am going to be using this saucer like a giant pan of watercolor paint. I am planning on storing this flat in a zip-lock bag to avoid dust becoming embedded in the paint. This could become very cumbersome if other tubes develop this same issue! Apparently, M. Graham paints have honey as one of the ingredients in their binder, although I am not sure if this is what caused it to separate. Has anyone else had similar problems with watercolor paints separating in the tube?
I was able to find out a solution to my problem via the facebook group Artists’ Tips and Tricks, which I highly recommend. Incidentally, Jane recommended Daniel Smith watercolors. I think I will try these out when I use up my current paints, as a number of other artists I have come across say they use Daniel Smith as well.
