Hurricane (tropical storm) Irene proved to be a real non-event for my family other than our power going out for one hour. There was a gentle, steady rain with almost no wind. I’ve seen the lake more choppy on a sunny day in fact. It was generally just a gray, yucky day. Thankfully, I baked up some tasty whole wheat blueberry-oat scones that morning.
Below is a watercolor I made last year of the Deerfield River as seen from the Bridge of Flowers. It is so sad to think of it as such a destructive force. I still have some reference photos of the bridge itself from that trip and I’ve been thinking of making a painting to remember it like it used to be. I’m sure they will fix it all up at some point, but it will be a long time and will take a lot of money.
Some ten minute sketches of a belt that fell off a sweatshirt of mine. My Noodler’s pen and bulletproof black ink seem to work well in my Moleskine cahiers. The ink dries quickly without feathering or smudging and the pen slides over the surface of the paper.
I may actually find myself filling these books up with sketches! I am not a big fan of the paper in the Moleskine cahiers because it is so tissue thin that drawing on it is uncomfortable for me. It wrinkles easily and it is see through. It is only possible to draw on one side of the page because otherwise, the drawings on both sides will be spoiled.
I have been able to deal with this issue by cutting a piece of Bristol board to insert behind each page so that I can draw without ink bleeding through. I can also scan my drawings without seeing through the pages.
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.
I have a small 7 x 10 inch watercolor sketchbook that is in progress right now. I have only four pages left and after that I have a new moleskine watercolor sketchbook to start. I am a little nervous because I have never used one of their watercolor sketchbooks before. There are always people out there who don’t like something about moleskines, whether it is the paper, or the binding or whatever. Nina Johansson even started a Facebook group petitioning Moleskine to make a portrait format watercolor moleskine.
Speaking of Nina Johansson, she just had a show of some recent watercolor paintings and she has been posting them to her blog. It is a really lovely series of paintings, featuring Swedish homes and landscapes. She also uses a lot of abstract geometric shapes and stenciling. Definitely check it out if you haven’t already.
On an unrelated note, I’ve added Google Friend Connect to my sidebar to make it easier for you if that’s the way you prefer to subscribe to blogs. Also, for anybody in the US who is needing (or wanting) some new art supplies, Dick Blick is running a special offer until July 26, 2010 with free shipping on orders over $69.
I had a lot of plans for this weekend — lots of things to do, projects to finish, etc. Somehow nothing I had planned seemed to work out, and I ended up wasting most of yesterday playing Bejeweled. Today it is raining and kind of chilly. I’m also a little bummed out because my scanner isn’t quite right and I’m going to need a new one. It is not an unexpected expense because I’ve had it for five years now and I was expecting it to go soon, but it is a hassle I don’t want to deal with this weekend. So I’m lowering my expectations and I’ll be happy if I can finish the last few pages of my moleskine before tomorrow. I’ve been working on it since 2005 so it is high time I finish it anyway.
I just spent a lovely twenty-four hours away from my computer. I still had my computer with me, so I had the option to use it, but I was doing so many other things that I didn’t have the desire. When I checked my email today, I came across this post which really reminded me how much time I waste online and otherwise, doing very repetitive and admin type tasks. I’m not about to disable comments on my blog, but I did find some of his other suggestions helpful.
What struck me the most was the warning that came at the end. If I’m not working on a meaningful ongoing project, I could inadvertently create a time vaccuum and start filling it with other meaningless tasks out of boredom. Therefore, today I am officially starting a project that I have been putting off for some time. Hopefully I will have some WIPs to show you soon.
On another note, I added a subscription section to my sidebar, to make it easier if you wish to read my blog through RSS, or email.
On Thursday, I got home from work and I had an envelope from Michael Nobbs waiting for me. My whole address was written out in his characteristic block lettering and it was such a treat after a long and yucky day. I ordered the first three issues of his zine The Beany. He has just come out with issue #4, which will be in color and will be available shortly.
The next morning, I felt inspired and made a sketch first thing after I woke up. The whole day felt very productive for me after that.
Instead of looking forward to Christmas this year, I’m sorry to say that I’m sort of looking forward to when Christmas is over. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great family and a wonderful partner, and I haven’t had any traumatic childhood Christmas experiences. I have just become overwhelmed with it all. I am normally a “medium maintenance” kind of girl, but I have reverted to being high maintenance until Christmas is over.
I am trying, but struggling, to take it one day at a time. My temptation is to become preoccupied with January when all my Christmas art projects will be over, because I have so many other projects that I am itching to start. There is a very big project in particular that I have been thinking about for years now but I have never been ready to begin. I have been on this self improvement kick for a number of months now and I finally built up my confidence to jump into it, but my Christmas projects are a more pressing priority right now. I also signed up for Kate’sCourageous Year e-course partly because I want to keep up my motivation to actually finish this project. Also, I have been reading her blog for years now and I trust her integrity that she put something great together.
I went to the mall yesterday and did some Christmas shopping and some shopping from myself. Shopping is something that I don’t like to do so much as I find it exhausting and a little stressful. When I got home, I remembered that it was the 25th World Wide SketchCrawl and also the 5th anniversary of the event. I was too tired out to go anywhere to sketch so I just stayed home and drew some things around me.
I tried to experiment by drawing things in a way I ordinarily wouldn’t. I would have kept going, but eventually my right hand got too sore to continue and I had to rest it. It’s still a little sore today so I’m planning on doing some watercolor and going easy on it.
Yesterday I had a bad fall when I was walking my mother’s German Shepherd. The leash got tangled around my thumb and she started running after some sort of small vermin, leaving me flat on my face, with bruised ribs and sprained wrists.
I spent all day in bed with wrist splints on, not doing much of anything. I was a little afraid of having a major problem with my hands again, and there were multiple “what if” situations going through my head. After some time I realized that this will clear up within a few days, and my thoughts settled on other subjects, like financial, relationship and career matters. I feel I am starting to formulate an actual strategy for the first time in my life, so this fall might have been a blessing in disguise.
