Jane and I went to go see the Sketchbook Project when it came to Lynn Arts. It was super cool. If you want to read all about the experience head over to Put it on Paper.

I won the Stillman & Birn Alpha series sketchbook in an online contest presented by European Papers, an online seller of fine paper goods. I’ve had my eye on the Stillman & Birn series of sketchbooks for a few months, they boast thick paper and are bound in the US. I was never sure of what paper I wanted to try so it was nice to have the contest decide for me. I was sent a 6x8in Alpha Series coil bound sketchbook.

Coil bound black sketchbooks remind me of my college days. Back when I studied art the students seemed to carry 2 types of sketchbooks- black with a coil binding or black with a hardback book style binding. I tended to carry the coil bound style.

When the sketchbook arrived It was packaged securely in a priority mail box with plenty of packing paper cushioning the corners. The sketchbook itself was wrapped in a brown paper bag  with a small “European Papers” sticker holding it shut. Inside the bag the sketchbook was secured in a self sealing cellophane bag. I felt like I was opening a gift!

Head to the European Paper’s blog to read the rest of my review!

PJ asked me what I use for watercolors. I’m not brand loyal with watercolors and I’ll try anything generally in a tube form. The biggest part of my “collection” consists of a lot of older Cotman watercolors as well as Grumbacher Academy. I bought them back when I was in college and they represented a good value at the time. They were also easily found. I’m also a sucker for clearance rack stuff and bought a bunch of Academy paints on clearance.

As I’ve used watercolors more and more and I’ve discovered what colors I like I’ve been adding to my modest collection with a variety of higher priced brands, namely Winsor & Newton and Holbein. Mostly because I can walk into Artist & Craftman and peruse the shelf and pick up one color and then put it back and then pick up another and another. I'll splurge and reward myself with a tube of Holbein or use it as a pick-me-up at the end of a rough week.

I keep a list of paints that I’m running out of in my planner so that I always know what colors I need so I never run out. If I’ve got a coupon for AC Moore I’ll use it to replace one of my tubes with the higher priced Winsor & Newton.

I also snagged a sample of Sennelier watercolors through their website. I really like those so I’ll be looking for some of those to add to my collection. (Samples are no longer available.)

I’ve also tried out Koi watercolors both in pan and tube. They are good for student grade colors. They are also very reasonably priced. Van Gogh brand watercolors are another student brand that I like very much. They are also VERY reasonably priced and have great intense colors.

My favorite splurge watercolors are the Holbein. I  have them in a variety of my watercolor sets and I like that they always rewet easily. A touch of the brush to the blob of dried paint leaves me with a nice amount of paint on my brush. I don’t need to scrub the blob to get the color going, just get it wet. It’s a really nice feature especially if I’m using one of my mint tin watercolor sets to paint in the cafe or park.

When I’m testing out a new brand I buy one of my 2 favorite colors: sepia or indigo. I can then compare how that brand’s version of the color looks and performs.

I have 3 brands of pan colors: Koi, Angora, and Cotman. I prefer the Cotman over the other 2. The 2 Angora sets I have are the smaller pocket size that they no longer make. I really like the size and portability of these 2 sets. They are the perfect size for sketching in the park or cafe. I was looking for a new version of these and was pretty sad to find they are no longer made. The Angora paints are more like a pan gouache than watercolor. The colors are very chalky and opaque. The Cotman colors are pretty traditional and work very well. I prefer the Pocket Sketcher’s set over their other sets. Their colors are pure and mix well. The koi colors are very bright and I find do not mix well. The colors are nice and bright though. I find the plastic of the koi set to be heavy.

For travel sets I really prefer to make my own and put my own color in from tubes.

My must have colors to always have on hand:

• Cad Yellow light* and medium
• Yellow Ochre*
• Red Earth*
• Hooker’s Green*
• Perm Green (a light yellow green)
• Quin Magenta*
• Cad Orange
• Cad Red Medium*
• Turquoise blue
• Ultramarine*
• Raw Umber
• Cerulean Blue
• Payne’s Gray*
• Sepia
• Indigo

I’ve starred the colors I think are starter colors. If I were suggesting to someone just starting out with watercolor I’d suggest that they purchase those 8 colors and add to the set from there.

So the state of my week has been… a total pain in my rear. First our VW breaks down in only the way a VW can- expensive and then the muffler on my Versa decided to jump off. This is right after I order both my new video camera AND a new laptop with some of my stock option money from my DayJob, I gave myself a budget! I shopped around and found the best deal on both the laptop, quad core ASUS for just under $450 and a refurbished Canon VIxia HF R200. All told I spent less than half on them than a fancy new DSLR would have cost, mostly because I have been researching these 2 items for months and months. I did have some buyers remorse when the VW broke down. Luckily the rest of my stock option money came through to help with that bill. Then the muffler… Sometimes you just can’t win. Such is life though. I’m happy that I have a great DayJob with benefits like stock options to help me through these tough times.

Anyway, on the positive side of things the new laptop kicks some serious ass. I can process longer videos faster and with color correction and speeding things up. Crunching a 35 minute video of me drawing down to 2 minutes now takes about 20 minutes whereas with my old laptop it took several hours and I couldn’t add any effect or correct for brightness and contrast.

The new camera, well, it also kicks ass. I am able to shoot bright focused videos with only my 2 halogen bulbs lighting my work area, which means i’m not getting blinded. No matter how many lights I had on my old camera just couldn’t shoot anything bright and it would go out of focus a lot. The old camera does okay outside but just didn’t do anything nice inside. So I’m really excited about that. the last camera I bought with a small amount of research this camera I took months to decide on.

Here are some videos shot with the new camera and processed on the old laptop:

Beverly Artfest was this weekend. It was fun, especially the foodtrucks.

Some images from durign the week:

I’ve sent you to this page on my site because you have sent me a random email with some sort of marketing or blog post pitch that shows me that you have not bothered to look at my site. So, here is a picture of a teenager wearing an octopus costume that is just about as random as the pitch you’ve sent me. Cheers!

While you’re at it please take a look at the rest of my site to get an idea of what I write about here. If you understand what the site is about and you give me a realistic pitch I might consider a guest post.

I get asked pretty often what sort of tools one should take with them to the cafe/coffee shop for journaling and sketching purposes. Here’s my list: (I have linked to any vendor I know and trust for the various products. If I do not have a vendor directly linked you can assume I picked it up from someplace I cannot remember or Artist and Craftsman in Saugus, MA.)

First get a bag or roll to store your stuff in. I have a repurposed 1980’s (totally vintage) cassette tape softie case- some sort of flammable foam encased in a heavy canvas. If I were to buy a new case (and I’m considering it) I’d get one of these bad boys from JetPens. If you are using nicer (ie expensive) fountain pens you’ll want a wrap inside that case to further protect them from scratches. I bartered a drawing for my current case, but again, Jetpens carries a nice selection of pen and pencil rolls.

As for tools I carry the following and interchange a few things as I see fit:
2 fountain pens, one with a fine nib and one with a medium or bold nib. Right now I’m carrying a TWSBI 540 and a 530. I have them filled with black ink. I alternate these 2 pens with other pens from my collection, most often seen in my kit are a pair of Platinum Preppies, also in fine and medium, also always filled with black ink. (Occasionally I’ll make a choice to fill one with another lighter color- usually a brown or sepia color.) If I'm going ultra lightwight I take just a Kaweco Sport Medium nibbed fountain pen that stows in my pocket.

As for black ink I’d suggest the following: Pelikan Fount India, Platinum Carbon Black or Noodler’s Black. They all show relatively little lift when washed over and are a nice deep black in most pens and look great. Fill the pens before you go.

For other pens I suggest the Uniball Signo line. I’ve got a strong love going for the ultra fine lines made by the Uni Signo Bit 0.18 and the Uni Signo DX in 0.28 and 0.38. I also really like their fine point Jetstream and other pens. Their ink stays put, is fade resistant, waterproof and a nice deep black. You can also get refills for their pens, so they are a little more green than other disposable pens. Another addition that I like quite a lot is the Uniball Signo white pen in broad. I like to use it as a white out ink and to add back in highlights.

For pencils I’m going to harp on the Uniball line again, both the Kuru Toga and the Shift Pipe Lock are awesome pencils. I like a .5 for general sketching and a .7 for sketching with shading. I use either B or 2B lead in mine. I don’t know why you can’t get anything better than HB in the average US office store like Staples, but there are a lot more leads available than just HB. If I’m not in the mood for a mechanical pencil I’ll carry a few pencils with me, specifically an HB, 2B and a 4B. I’ll also carry a pencil sharpener and a click knife.

Brush pens or waterbrushes. I’m a HUGE fan of the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen or PPBP. It’s not overly expensive, readily available, easily converted to eyedropper and looks pretty smart. Once converted to eyedropper you can fill them with any color of ink you want. I have one filled with Pelikan Fount India and another with J. Herbin Gris Nuage.

The journal or sketchbook portion of this is very individual. I like to carry something inexpensive. Lately I’ve been carrying a Canson XL Series Blue Books in pocket size. You can read my full review of this lovely little journal in Put it on Paper. I’ve filled 3 since March of this year. They are pretty much perfect for my current style of sketching and journaling. I also carry my MTNKO. One day I’ll buy the real thing but for now it’s the MTNKO. In it I have crammed a bunch of refills: 2 blank and 1 grid Field Notes, 2 blank handmade notebooks, and one Bandit Apple Carnet. Yeah, I’m using them all. The Gridded Field Notes is all about plans for this blog, Ideas I’m having for classes, thoughts on current classes, YT video ideas and the like. One of the blank Field Notes is for the Experiment the other is for mapping out specific ideas for my YT videos. One of the blank handmade notebooks is for random ideas and to do lists- things like the grocery list, things I need to do around the house, Home Depot shopping lists etc.. The other handmade is for sketching as is the Banditapple Carnet.

I stuff all this into a bag and head for the cafe/coffee shop. I ORDER SOMETHING and I sit in a location where I have a nice view and I start sketching away. If I’m there for over an hour I ORDER SOMETHING ELSE.* After a few instances of going to the same coffee shop you will become a regular, if they have a good barista/bartender they might get to know you, your name and even your drink. They won’t care much about your drawing, or they will take a passing interest.

Next post will be about various bags for using when out sketching. I have many…

I used to be really nervous about drawing and writing in public but the reality is… No one seems to care. Occasionally a kid or fellow artist comes along and wants to chat but 97%** of the time no one talks to me or even looks at my work. The waitress will see what i’m working on but generally it me and my sketches and journaling.

Continue reading →

Tammy over at DaisyYellow just released the most recent issue of her zine, The Daisy Yellow Zine. I've been fortunate to read an issue of her zine and it's great! Loaded with awesome ideas and great images.

After you check that out head over to MagCloud and check out our recent effort, Put it on Paper.