“Little Hammer” measures A5 or 5.75×7.5 inches. I did a quick sketch with pencil and then used a couple of fountain pens, one with J.Herbin Bleu Nuit and another with Noodler’s Black.
Cost is $25 USD, shipping to CONUS included.
“Old Iron” measures A5 or 5.75×7.5 inches. I did a quick sketch with pencil and then used a couple of sizes of RapidoCraft pens and Lamy Safari M Nib filled with a Noodler’s Black.
Cost is $25 USD, shipping to CONUS included.
"Demolition!" measures A5 or 5.75×7.5 inches. I did a quick sketch with pencil and then used a Pilot Parallel filled with a mix os Noodler's Black,Luxury Blue and Nikita ink for the darklines and color was added with watercolors and a brush.
Cost is $25 USD, shipping to CONUS included.
"He Must be on Crack" is a satirical piece about @rokali the founder of etsy. Etsy is now being represented in the media as a "flea market." I read the recent article about Rob in whatever magazine he was recently interviewed in and all I could say after each paragraph is, "He must be smoking crack." It measures A5 or 5.75×7.5 inches. I did a quick sketch with pencil and then used a Lamy Safari with a B nib filled with Noodler's Black ink for the black lines and color was added with watercolors, the background and all red in the piece is done with Noodler's Nikita and a brush.
SOLD
However I started a zazzle store just for this image. You can get some shitty post cards, a crappy mug, a badly designed sticker, an eye searing poster and if approved some crack smokin' postage stamps.
This is the 4-1-11 drawing titled “I Need that Color!” It measures A5 or 5.75×7.5 inches. I did a quick sketch with pencil and then used a Lamy Safari with a B nib filled with Noodler’s Black ink for the paint tubes and added the shading with a TWSBI M Nib and Private Reserve Electric DC Blue ink.
Cost is $25 USD, shipping to CONUS included.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a drawing/ painting-a-day blog for a while now. I’m still debating doing it for a year. Traci Bunkers (click her name for a great blog link) tweeted that I should try it for 30 days. And well, duh! I’ve been reading her blog with her 30 day experiments for awhile now and think that she’s right 30 days is a good start for my commitment phobia to gravitate.
So for the next 30 days you’ll find a post of a drawing done the night before. I think I’ll working my Graf It pad and my Rhodia Dot Pad, both are A5 or 5.75×7.5 inches in size, acid free and archival. I’ll be working in pen and ink, perhaps with spot watercolor. There will be a paypal button so you can purchase the original work, pricing on these will be $25 shipped via USPS to CONUS in a clear archival baggie with a certificate of authenticity. Should it go well I might extend the project.
Drawing-a-day posts will go up on here at noon EST and will feature work from the day before.
Sketchcrawl
Originally uploaded by Caatje's Artsy Stuff
Really love these Sketchcrawl pages. I really enjoyed the Sketchcrawl I participated in last year. I'll have to do more this year!
I’ve bought a bunch of different watercolors from Grumbacher Academy to Winsor & Newton. My favorite travel watercolor set is a Cotman 12 pan set. The colors wet easily and lay down nice saturated colors. It was a great value to get 12 half pans of color for around $20.
I’ve since focused on purchasing tubes of color to replenish emptied tubes and adding a few extras. I’ve tried to buy a few different brands. If you’ve got an AC Moore or Michael’s near you, getting a tube of Winsor & Newton Artist watercolors with a 40% off coupon is a pretty good deal.*
My usual rant with any art material is that you get more out of artist’s grade than student. Why? They tend to have more pure pigment and less filler and that means you get more color out of a 5ml artist grade tube versus a 15ml student grade tube.
I’ve purchased a few tubes of Holbein watercolors at Artist & Craftsman as they’ve been having a sale. The 15ml tubes are a little pricier than the usual 5ml tubes of Winsor & Newton colors that I buy but it’s also 3 times the amount. The colors are intense.
The first time I sprung for a tube of W&N artist grade watercolor I was shocked at how much more intense the color was than Cotman and Academy colors. I was also surprised at how easily my damp brush picked up a lot more color than with Cotman. The “rewetting” ability of W&N over their own Cotman student grade colors was surprising and delightful. Creating an intensely colored wash was much easier than with my cheaper colors.
Now that I’ve discovered Holbein I’m feeling the same way about them as I did about my W&N artist grade colors. I feel like I’m getting more bang for my buck out of these slightly more expensive tubes of really intense color. So far I’ve bought a tube of indigo, turquoise blue, and sepia. All 3 colors perform flawlessly and wonderfully on everything I’ve tried them on so far. The Holbein turquoise blue is a very different shade than the Cotman turquoise. Since I rather like the color of the Cotman turquoise I may end up buying a new tube of it, but I have to say that I’ve been quite spoiled with the Holbein paints.
That being said I also tried out a tube of Van Gogh watercolor. These are larger sized tubes of color that are considered student grade. The VG colors had something going for them- they rewet on a palette like nobody’s business. A swipe across a dried out blob of red oxide brought up a fully loaded brush of intense color. These tubes are moderately priced around $4 a tube and come in sets. I’ve not tried their pan colors but the tube color is very well behaved and an excellent value.
Sometimes OI forget that art isn’t just about locking myself away and creating it’s also about interactions with people and places. I went out with an old friend this weekend, had a few beers at a favorite watering hole and then walked Salem Common and talked. We happened to go out on the night of the super moon. So we both took obligatory pictures.
And here’s mine!
