a few smallish sketchbooks

Sketching inspiration still seems lacking. So I drew my smallish sketchbooks.

The necklaces came from Peg & Awl, the generic copy of a tiny Traveler’s Notebook from Amazon, the green open-spine from Etsy seller LkMichiganBookPress, and the tiny pink one was included in an order from British artist Andrea Joseph years ago.

And my Traveler’s Notebooks, passport size and card size (which doubles as my wallet). Each with a Kaweco Liliput fountain pen.

an unexpected find

As I was heading out to the car the other day, I was dive-bombed by a medium sized bird — it happened so fast that I couldn’t even tell what type of bird it was. Then I looked up and found a nest being built under the back patio roof.

Both fountain pens hold De Atramentis Document inks: the Sailor Fude de Mannen has brown ink and the Wancher PuChiCo mini fountain pen has turquoise ink.

a little bit of play

Here, I was trying new ways of sketching some wildflowers seen on a walk yesterday.

First, simply drawing with Pitt Artist brush pens. Then, details in colored pencils but it didn’t show well on this toned paper.

So I broke out my safari green Lamy filled with Noodler’s El Lawrence green ink. Overworked, probably, but I had fun trying.

nothin’ but us chickens!

Yesterday we took our corgi to the vet’s for her yearly checkup and a vaccination. We must’ve been taken to the chicken exam room (yes, our vet has a chicken specialist on staff) judging by the chicken decor! 

My Duke 209 fude fountain pen was still causing me problems, even after repeated cleanings and changing ink brands. Seemed like a good excuse to buy this Sailor fude de Mannen pen . . . Besides, it comes in BROWN! Perfect for using with brown ink. Like the navy version, this one has a 40° bend which I prefer over the bamboo green 55° degree nib. I found the pen at Jet Pens.

sketchbook play

It began when I pulled my favorite fude nib pen (Duke 209) from the antique tool box where emptied & cleaned fountain pens sleep. I wondered how this very lightweight pen would work with the progressing tremor in my hands. I filled it with new-to-me Rohrer & Klingner Lotte Sketch Ink and drew some sketch tools.

My hand didn’t shake much, but the pen nib fought with me the whole time! I remember its lines as smooth and effortless, not skipping and dragging. Was the CP paper of the Seawhite Travel Journal to blame? Or the ink? I cleaned it and refilled with my old ink, De Atramentis Document Grey. Seems much smoother now, but I’ll try it on other papers to be sure.

As long as this mostly-gouache palette was out, I wondered if gouache could be used in ink & wash like watercolor. I had just baked another loaf of sourdough so I sketched it with the fude pen, then added thin layers of gouache over the dried ink. Seems to work fine.

We don’t actually eat that much bread, so I cut fresh loaves I bake in half and pop half in the freezer for later. 

daily tools

I was asked about the tools seen in the background of yesterday’s posted photo, so I sketched my current tools today. The toolkit is an older version of the pocket sized kit from arttoolkit.com — I have it loaded with everything needed for doing tiny sketches or a daily ink-only sketch.

On the left side are a Mono Zero stick eraser, a Kuretaki very fine brush pen, a white Gelly Roll pen, a tiny mechanical pencil, my Pilot Namiki Falcon fountain pen filled with water-soluble ink, a #2 round paintbrush, a short Aquash waterbrush with a small brush tip, and a small binder clip. Underneath, there is a discarded cap holding different sizes of tape, a plastic viewfinder, and a handful of precut pieces of paper for mini sketches.

On the right side are a tiny water spray bottle, three Kaweco Liliput fountain pens filled with brown, green, and black waterproof inks, a bit of kneaded eraser in a small plastic container, and a Demi palette filled with warm & cool primaries, a green, and several neutrals. Underneath is a sweatband to wear on my wrist for wiping brushes — this one is unused; the dirty one has been tossed in the laundry. Just now I see that I forgot to add the layer of transparent red oxide to the copper Liliput — oops!

After finishing this illustration in my sketchbook, I went ahead and drew the closed toolkit and my passport sized Traveler’s Notebook for my daily ink sketch. From a photo, since my daily ink sketches are _in_ the Traveler’s Notebook.

after baking

This mess was on my kitchen counter after baking a loaf of sourdough, so I thought I’d sketch it. The initial layout had a very wonky perspective between countertop and brick backsplash — I decided keep it wonky. That’s a “breakfast bar” extending to the right, an easy surface to work the dough.

Drawn with a Kaweco Supra fountain pen, F nib, and De Atramentis Document Grey ink.

I bake my loaves in parchment paper because it makes transferring the proofed dough to the preheated loaf pan so much easier! I have a bread lame for scoring the top but kitchen shears work easier. The actual loaf of bread is in the wax-infused cloth bread bag — it keeps so much fresher this way!

which ink color for Cream?

I am back to using my old favorites, Lamy fountain pens. They work better on the rough watercolor paper I filled this sketchbook with.

I love matching pens with the same color inks. These Lamy LX pens in Marron and Ruthenium are perfect for brown and gray inks. But my favorite Cream Lamy Safari pen, a gift from grandson Quen, has long puzzled me. What color ink? At first, I tried samples of pearlescent and shimmering inks from Goulet Pens — sort of reminds me of Quen’s personality. But when they began to stain the pen, I quickly flushed them out.

I drew the cream pen with J. Herbin Lie De The ink (a light brown ink) which is slightly water-soluble, giving sketches an antique look. Maybe that would be a good match?

I sometimes give my pens names. Our first Maine Coon cat was originally named Cream (his brother had been named Coffee) though we called him Kippy. Obviously, I call this fountain pen Cream.

first samplings

Our daughter Kristen left one of the purple pens she uses for work over at our place (a Pilot G-2 gel pen) and it made me want to fill my purple Lamy fountain pen — with purple ink, of course. I mixed mine from red and turquoise with a touch of black, all De Atramentis Document inks.

And my subject? While getting my sourdough starter to grow, some is discarded each day before the remaining starter is fed. I used yesterday’s discard to mix up some biscuits, to go with the bacon & egg sweet potato hash that Bill made us.

He just happened to put mine on a purple Fiestaware plate.

trying new things

This new sketchbook of mine is made up of Arches 140# rough watercolor paper, which I have never worked on before. The fine nib fountain pens that I usually use (Pilot Falcon and Kaweco Liliput fountain pens) don't work very well on this rough paper; neither do my fine-tip Gelly Roll white gel pens.

A new sketchbook with new-to-me rough paper, a few new colors never tried before in my emerald green folio palette (instead of my normal regular sized Pocket Palettes) . . . I might as well use new pens as well. Testing has shown that the Mahjohn Q1 bent nib eyedropper pen works well, as does Pentel's Pocketbrush and Milky Brush pens and my Wancher Puchico Mini with turquoise ink. Normally I use dagger travel brushes; I decided to switch to round brushes this time in large and small sizes. 

The quote is taken from a longer post of Belgium artist and architect Barbara Luel that I read on Sunday. She often draws her tools so I did some of mine after jotting down the partial quote. Her post included a gorgeous sketch of 6 delicately stacked tea cups -- beautiful!

currently inked pens

To check ink levels, I propped my currently filled pens in this old measuring glass. Then sketched it while waiting for gravity to work.

Going through some of our father’s things, my brother found a box of miscellaneous supplies from when he taught art or did photography. I’m not sure if this small glass held pencils or was used in the dark room. I cleaned it well and now use it in my kitchen — its bottom is surprisingly heavy.

I like to keep a pen filled for each of the colored inks I use: black, gray, brown, teal, dark green, and a “burnt sienna” (dark red) that I mixed.

a forgotten critter

I forgot to post this sketch of a cow skull seen on the wall of a Magnolia diner.

Sketched with a chunky fude-nib eyedropper fountain pen in my own mix of “burnt sienna” ink (De Atramentis Document red ink with a bit of black added) and painted with my “neutrals” palette. 

The plastic sheet clipped under the palette is from Traveler’s Notebook and protects the sketch beneath it as I work.

one sketch for Inktober

In past years I have had fun joining online sketchers doing one ink drawing a day for the entire month of October. This year I am not participating, but I just refilled my Falcon fountain pen and drew this to celebrate Inktober anyway. My current viruses and strep throat are making me feel a bit foggy, so I added a Demi Palette full of “foggy” colors.

Then as an afterthought, I added some Jelly Babies. They are very soothing to my sore throat right now! Dr. Who #4 would approve.

The Art Toolkit in the second photo is my favorite, an in-between size that is no longer offered. It has my favorite color turquoise trim, and holds just enough supplies while still feeling small in my hands. The footstool is one that Bill made me years ago to go with the Morris chair he also made — Butters has claimed it as her jump-on-the-couch stool so I had to clean Corgi hair off before taking the photo.

Butters has now reclaimed her stool.

my current fountain pens

Like nearly all of my sketch journals, the first page showed my current watercolor choices. On this, the final page of this Tumuarta sketchbook, I drew the fountain pens I’m currently using. (I almost forgot to include the Pilot Parallel pen, squeezing it in at the end — and misspelling Parallel while I was at it!)

This sketchbook’s cover seemed rather poorly made, with cardboard covers and the spine left looking undone with only some canvas glued to the book block. But it held up very well. The 140# cold press paper was great to work on, as long as I wasn’t working wet-in-wet — it didn’t seem to like that technique.

testing a skinny nib

It is extremely hard to sketch family members! This is supposed to be Michael, our son-in-law, as we went to look at a used RV in Katy. We are considering an upgrade from small camper to small motor home.

I was testing a fountain pen with a very skinny nib, the Meister by Point slim liner from Jet Pens, in my tiny sketchbook. I’m also testing a new-to-me brown ink: “Jule” from Rohrer & Klingher. Even though the nib is a medium, its lines seem fine enough for tiny sketches. The only down side I can see with this pen is that the cap will not post when using it.

a little “fatty”

Just for fun, I recently bought this chubby wee fountain pen with a fude nib — and it is surprisingly comfortable to sketch with! It has a fude nib but a regular nib is included. It needs no cartridge or converter — the whole barrel holds a huge amount of ink, filled with an eye dropper, also included.

Since it is an eye dropper pen, I rubbed a bit of silicone grease around the threads as an added precaution against leaks. It is filled with a “burnt sienna” ink that I mixed from red and black De Atramentis Document inks.

Also just for fun, I gave this pen a name: “Lugg” for Magersfontein Lugg, who was valet to fictional sleuth Albert Campion. Lugg was once a burglar but “lost his figure”, becoming too fat to burgle any more.

a gouache rose

Gouache looks so bright when painted on Kraft paper, though it is really too lightweight for wet media. I grabbed this small sketchbook from Traveler’s Company off the shelf just to give my new gouache palette a try. Because paint ripples the paper a bit, I plan on sketching on one side only and use the other for text. (That rippled bit on the left side is a sketch of my palette on the previous page). The paper will be great for black & white ink sketches.

Sunday was our 52nd wedding anniversary and Bill gave me a dozen of the deepest, darkest red roses! So I chose one of them for this quick sketch.

I haven’t decided whether to remove the plastic cover from the sketchbook (I know, it’s technically a notebook — but I sketch more than note-taking). It might get in the way of drawing, but it does provide handy pockets to tuck receipts, etc. into.

today’s sketchcrawl

Today I finally made it to another sketch crawl, this time in nearby Tomball. It must be over 8 years since I last met with the Urban Sketchers Houston group! Several of us avoided the Farmers’ Market crowds and chose to draw the 1906 train depot in its peaceful park setting instead. After adding the USk stamps, we headed home before the rain began — Bill had some wood in the back of the truck for a new building project and we didn’t want it to get wet. Later on, I’ll decide what else I want to add to this 2-page spread.

a new toy

When I first began to use fountain pens for sketching, Lamy Safaris were my go-to choice — and I still love their dependability, as well as being able to match my ink color to the pen. (They still don’t have a decent brown for brown ink though!)

But in recent years, my favorite pens have been Kaweco Liliput fountain pens! Even though they are not flexible-nib pens, the more they are used the more flexible the nib becomes.

Several months ago I found this Kaweco Supra on JetPens.com and immediately placed it on my wish list. The nib is larger and with the barrel’s extension piece it can hold a regular international cartridge or an ink converter. (If the extension piece is removed, it is more the length of a Liliput which can only use international short cartridges.) To celebrate beating cancer, I decided to gift myself with the new pen with a larger M nib, especially for writing letters or drawing with a bolder line. German fountain pen nibs as a rule run larger than Japanese nibs.

For some reason, my white gel pen refused to write on the black ink label of the De Atramentis ink bottle in the sketch. Curious!🤨 

my eye candy

Instead of beginning my new journal with a sketch of one of my Pocket Palettes like I normally do, I just chose my top 18 colors. Which, looking at it this morning, makes me hungry for jelly beans! Gotta love candy colors! 😂 

From the top, the colors are: 

Potters pink (WN), quinacridone rose, quinacridone coral, nickel azo yellow, azo yellow, green apatite, jadeite, cobalt turquoise light (WN), cobalt turquoise, cerulean blue chromium, ultramarine blue (WN), indanthrone blue, monte amiata natural sienna, transparent red oxide, quinacridone burnt scarlet, burnt umber, buff titanium, and lunar black.

All from Daniel Smith except the 3 indicated from Winsor & Newton.