Playing with Papers!

Sometime back I got a variety of papers from Legion Paper, and since I love bookbinding I put them all together under one cover and bound them into a Sampler Journal...check out their Sampler Department for a dizzying array of choices for all kinds of paper needs: http://www.legionpaper.com/samples/

It's quite a big book with multiple signatures...and I left the stickers on the papers so I would remember what I was using!

I'm only partway through this book...maybe 2/3--but I decided (since I'm expecting more papers to test!) that it was time to share my impressions thus far.

As usual, I am most interested in papers that would work well in a journal, with a variety of mediums: fountain pen as well as disposables, graphite pencil, colored pencil, watercolor pencil, and of course, watercolor.

I generally enjoy a cold-press or its equivalent, but sometimes hot press and a bit of rough as well.  I look for a pleasing surface that not only looks but FEELS good with these varied choices--I prefer a tough surface that will take some punishment, too.  It's a lot to expect from a paper, but some of these really stand out.  I'll be ordering more for my next bookbinding marathon!

Some of these papers are not meant for watercolor, but pleased me mightily by working just fine for that medium.  Loved them...

Other papers are lovely for the purpose for which they were intended, but for the way I work, not so much.  A soft surface drives me crazy with its tendency to drag both pens and pencil points, as well as absorbing watercolor too readily.  I think they're likely perfect for printmaking, but not for my needs.

So...here are my findings so far, in no particular order or ranking--they're just how the ended up bound into the book, sorry.

Saunders Waterford was quite nice with a variety of mediums...it's a watercolor paper, with a slightly soft surface but very nice with ink as well.

For some reason colors dried lighter on the Waterford than I put them down...that often happens with a paper with a lot of sizing, but this was more than I'm used to.

On the other hand, these brush tests worked beautifully on the Waterford.  I'd give it a big thumbs up and remember to mix my washes stronger.

I adore Drawing Bristol, I just do--always have.  For a variety of mediums.  WANT MORE.

I use Stonehenge a lot when I'm binding books, mostly because I love the Kraft paper tan (this isn't it though...it's darker and warmer.)  I was disappointed to find ink feathering more than I expected, so I'll be careful how I use it.

It's delightful with dry mediums. though!  Stonehenge stays in my arsenal.

Somerset Velvet--not for me.  Too soft, pens and colored pencils tend to drag on it. 

Arturo Cover on the other hand is wonderfully versatile!  LOTS of thumbs up, and I definitely want more.

I really didn't expect the Arturo Cover to work this well with juicy watercolor, but it performed like a champ.  Love!

More Somerset Velvet.  Nope.  Not for me.  Way too soft.

I had three weights of Multimedia Aquarelle and loved all three!  Great, bright, strong paper, handled pretty much any medium I threw at it, including a fine pen.

This is the lightweight 90 lb. Multimedia Aquarelle...I deliberately made a wet, juicy wash to see how much it would buckle.  Absolutely minimal!  The thinner, lighter paper would allow more pages and more signatures in a journal.  Thumbs up!

Yep, I'm in love...brush testing on this page, pleased with how true the colors remained, too.

MORE Multimedia Aquarelle.  Must.  Have.  Gorgeous stuff, and truly multi-media.

Folio, nope.  Probably as its name suggests, a printing paper.  It took pen okay but not all that exciting.

Folio is definitely NOT pleasing with watercolor, the wet pigment soaks in and looks gray.

Lanaquarelle, on the other hand--YUM.  Same colors on this paper as on the Folio were much more vivid.

Lovely with all these mediums, too.  Ordering more...

Ink wanted to feather on the Folio, especially if the pen writes rather wet/juicy.

Sorbet text is quite lightweight, and comes in rich color...fun for light washes, a dryish application of gouache, or colored pencil, though.

This is Arches Cover, not their watercolor paper, but--I wasn't thrilled with it for ink, either, it felt a bit soft.  (But then I don't like their watercolor paper...)  It DID work well with a different pen, and as always that makes a huge difference.

Again, ink wants to feather some on Coventry Rag...not high on my list.

So overall, for me...not Arches Cover, Coventry Rag, Folio, or Somerset Velvet, but the others have definite possibilities for my artist's-journal keeping self!  (As they say, YMMV.)

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And this from Legion Paper's website...they're good folks and very helpful:


"It is our mission to continue to travel the world in search of the most intriguing and best performing papers - from delicate handmade papers that reveal striking texture and color with every sheet to the most technologically advanced digital printing papers produced today.

Following [on their page] are just some of the mills that we represent.  In addition to these, we have over 40 other mills all over the world with whom we work on a regular basis to have papers made to our, and our customers', specifications."

If any of these interest you as much as they did me, go to the Legion Paper link, above, and then to the specific paper you want to know more about.  On each paper's page there's a "where to buy" link in the bottom right hand corner!

Going there now...wheeee!

(And yes, this is on my personal blog as well...wanted to share with you, too!)

New video on my "essential" tools...

Back to Art Discardia here...

And continuing with my Discardia efforts...my beloved little shed studio is bursting at the seams!  The book case is FULL and there are stacks all over the floor, so beginning to thin the herd again.  

There are some of the best recent sketching and drawing books (urban sketching and otherwise) along with some of my OWN--our inventory closet could use some clearing out, too. 

Some of the other wonderful books include those by James Hobbs, Thomas Thorspecken and Katherine Tyrrell, and believe me I HATE to part with books!  Ouch, ouch, ouch...

So please check out my eBay store and see if you can find something you like!  I'll be adding more as I get photos shot, so bookmark my site, please.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/katestreasures

(And sorry if you saw this on my other blog, I REALLY need to make some space on my shelves and in my life!)

Sketching with Bent Nib Calligraphy Pens

As noted the other day in my pen conversion posts--this is FUN, with a huge range of line widths possible!

Sketching our friends in the Copper Creek Band, with a bit of gray wash added...

Molly Hammer and Joe Cartwright at Chaz on the Plaza...

See all the line widths that are possible with just one pen?

I added a wee bit of color today...this is my new softcover Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook, LOVE it.

Quick sketches of details...

Showing this again to show how the nib can be held to get different effects.

"Urban Removal" works...

Fun for nature subjects too...

I've got several Hero and Sailor calligraphy pens, almost like drawing with a brush.  The pens are generally quite inexpensive...give them a try!

Well hello! I'm back...

More or less, anyway...life has been more than full, and mostly good, and satisfying, though with it's fair share of pain as well.

What fills me today is being ready, finally, to start working on a new class.  More than likely, interactive again, after all this time.  Those are time-consuming and exhausting, but this is something I want to connect with, personally.  Connect with the students, personally.

And yes, it WILL focus on journaling.

It will grow out of this place--a journey begun, for me, years ago in the 70s, really.

It's time.

This is what I wrote on my Facebook page this morning:

"Someone flipped a switch in my brain. There WILL be a new class upcoming, maybe two of them, I've been writing for 2 hours and ideas just keep flowing. I love this part of what I do!

This is a class I thought of doing a couple of years ago, but life--and death--got in the way.

It's time.

It will TAKE some time to pull it together, but it feels good to be so full of energy and ideas."

And I've been writing down thoughts, quotes, ideas, and plans ever since.

It will be personal.  It will be DIFFERENT.  I'm not even sure where it will take place, yet, but most likely on my old familiar Blogger.

I'm not sure what to call it, yet..."Meaning-full Journaling" popped to the forefront this morning.

But I am confident it WILL happen.  It feels right.  I am full of a serene kind of excitement, if that isn't too much of a contradiction in terms.

It's time.

Noodler's Flex Pens

These were done with a Noodler's Creaper flex pen, the smallest one they make; I love the varied lines, and the fact that you can tweak the pens--literally take them apart to clean and service them yourself if you wish.  (LOTS of good videos on that at http://gouletpens.com!)

I own 6 Creapers now, for use with different inks (and two I've played with replacing the factory nib with different nibs--one a Hero M-86 bent nib for calligraphy and one an antique gold Waterman--they just fit the small pen.)

At $14, I find these a fantastic bargain for a flexible-nib fountain pen!

I also own 2 Konrads and a big old Ahab--it's lovely but a bit large for my small hands.  Holds a LOT of ink, though.

Here's my review on that pen: http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/2011/12/noodlers-new-ahab-pen.html


These are nice writing pens, too--I use them almost exclusively to write letters and to work in my written journal/daybook, though I do own other pens.  The nibs on mine are exceptionally smooth for a steel nib pen.

On the minus side, for some unknown reason ink DOES evaporate in the pens--something to do with the type of plastic-like material they're made from.  Sometimes they need a kickstart, either spraying the nib with water or giving it a quick dip. Sometimes I need to tap them on the paper to get them started.  And sometimes I just need to adjust the nib.

Of course any pen is sensitive to both the type of ink you're using and the paper you're working on. Some are a better "fit" than others.

What's been your experience?

I love working on toned paper!

I just had to see if I could copy one of my art tips to share, here!  It appears to have worked...sort of!

You can see all my original art tips on my blog, here: http://cathyjohnson.info/tips.html --we're up to 133 now.

On Nurturing Creativity

I have recently re-imagined my blog, Art, Life, and Other Oddities, and decided to share a couple of posts that you might find useful. Please feel free to join me there on a regular basis! I'll share this post and the one on what kills creativity, for me, but I don't want to take over AJW!

Playing with carving my own print blocks

I suppose we all have the occasional dry period when nothing seems exciting, when we just don't feel like picking up a brush, when we're tired or overwhelmed.  And in fact I have a whole post in the pipeline that will be a follow-up to this one, addressing those things that kill creativity--or at least inhibit it to the point of entropy.

And honestly, when it comes right down to the nitty-gritty, what inspires us--what nurtures that mischievous and elusive muse--is as individual as we are.

Often, what works for me is to make a list--well, two of them really.  One list of those things that feed my soul, and one of the things that definitely do NOT.  I have done this little exercise time and again through the years...it helps me take compass readings and make sure I'm still on course, as well as where I need to jettison some cargo or turn the wheel a bit to starboard.

Who wouldn't wish to see a few more of those stars like silvery eyes in a velvet sky, eh? (And yes, of course my sailor husband would remind me that starboard isn't up--work with me here, all right? I'm sailing this imaginary sloop...)

I've been doing a lot of jettisoning, lately.  Simplifying, getting rid of excess Stuff--belongings, ideas, occupations, imaginary or outworn obligations.

Making room for Creativity.  For life.

For we ARE creative beings.  That's what we do. Whether we create a piece of art, a symphony, a happy child, a balanced budget, a good meal or order out of chaos, we are fulfilling that urge. I once wrote an article suggesting that that is what we have most in common with the Creator; I still believe that, and I'm more grateful than ever, 25 years later.

Dip pens cut from feathers or sticks

So.  What nurtures creativity?  What inspires me?

Here's my list--this week.  Make your own.  They may be quite similar, they may be entirely different, but they must be honest, straight from the heart. 

• An open mind
• Paying attention
• Meditation
• Listening to what really matters to me
• The light on my sleeping husband's face
• Quiet
• Time
• Books
• Textures
• Joseph's hands
• Flavors
• Play
• New places
• Old ones...heart homes, near and far--places that have touched me
• Music
• Rest
• A new tool--a new pigment, a fountain pen that's smooth of nib, a vegetable peeler, whatever!
• Paper I love to work on
• Beauty
• Nature
• Light
• Color
• Learning
• New ideas
• Reviving old ones that work 
• Taking time for me (if I give it all away, I have nothing left for any of us)
• Honesty
  
• Friends who "get it"  (Get what, you say?  Well, that's as individual as we are, as well.)
• Art--seeing what others have done or are doing can spark a conflagration
• Rembrandt sketches, Vermeer's chiaroscuro, Winslow Homer's watercolors...
• A new direction (the stamps above were my balance from too many weeks of the same kind of thing)
• A different medium--almost but not quite the same as above
• The grace and antics of cats
• A quiet chat with an old friend
• A new discipline
• Old photos
• Time for memory
• Interaction with others...for me, sparingly, but still...
• A quote that speaks to me
• That One Perfect Word--you know, the one that strikes the ear and makes everything different  
• The sure and certain knowledge that there is no one right way when it comes to creativity

A friend's recent art on used teabags inspired these two...thank you, Palma.

My own technique was different...but her work let me take off from there!

And once I have my list?  I do more of that.  Whatever it is, whatever I have time for.  What bubbles to the top, what serendipity throws my way.  What insists I pay attention.

Synchronicity.

This.

Now.

Life's Little Mysteries, Part 2

I had two more short videos in the pipeline, both that had to be cut from my Sketchbook Skool class for reasons of length...this one agreed to be processed and uploaded, the other one didn't.  NO idea why!  Ah well, I like this one best anyway...

This is my old cabin book--I built my own cabin in the woods with the help of a young carpenter back in the late 80s or early 90s, and worked out there almost every day.  (In those days I had a computer out there and even a phone, neither of which is true today!)

And every day, I would do a sketch in my big brown-paper journal.  It's a time capsule, looking back through the pages and seeing the everyday miracles that caught my eye.

I got to write a book about the process, too...A Naturalist's Cabin; Constructing a Dream, long out of print, of course.

Yep, life is good...

Life's little mysteries...another video!

I have no idea why, but this little video was hiding, marked Private in my YouTube set...I appear to have dropped the ball somewhere. I originally made it for one of my Quick Sketching classes, but didn't get the link OUT there!  It was from March of 2013...I spaced...

Since I made it to be shared, here it is...test drive your tools so you know what they'll do and which one to grab to get the effect you want!

And a longer video, a study of a wren, in my journal

Whew!  My newest video is up on YouTube, and it almost didn't make it!  It disappeared, then the media files were missing...but here it is, a longer video on doing a study of a bird, in my journal.

Another little video...this one on sketching birds!

As usual, I overproduced for my class, so I've made several new videos I'll be sharing on YouTube!  This one was cut from a longer one on sketching from nature.

I'll be editing one on doing a more complete study of a wren, soon!

A new little video on mixing and using GREEN!

...And this is why I need to carry more tools...

I used a new Metropolitan pen in the people, but went back to my beloved ancient Sheaffer for the plane...I love the line variety...

It seemed fitting to use a Chinese bent-nib pen on the gorgeous waterfall at the Las Vegas Zen Center; I added text with my 1960s Sheaffer pen, and a touch of watercolor back at our room.

My pens leaked on the plane, so I picked up a few disposables at Desert Art Supply in Henderson Nevada...ooops, this one wasn't waterproof, and lifted somewhat.  I always like to sketch in the early morning in the courtyard where we stay--Hawthorn Inn & Suites in Henderson.

I LOVE the subtlety of graphite--sometimes the emphatic lines of ink just don't cut it for me.  This was one of the bouquets from my sister's memorial bash--we rescued it and took it back to our hotel.  So...needed that Pentel Forte pencil, too.  And of course my watercolors, and a big brush...

Yep, more subtle pencil lines...and used a calligraphy pen on the lettering on the right, but I've decided it can stay home next time...

This was one of the disposable pens I picked up in Henderson...I figured I could sketch on the plane without leakage, if need be.  And I DO like brown ink--so far I haven't found one that works well in a fountain pen for very long (that's also water-resistant.)

Mostly used my new non-leaky Micron Pigma here--I'd meant to pack one at home but forgot.  The bit of the kitty was a colored pencil...I used it on another cat sketch I haven't scanned, too.  This is my sister and brother-in-law's beloved cat, Bohdi.

and I used the colored pencil again here--they're wax-based, don't smear, don't lift when you wash over them.  Plenty of time at the Denver airport to work, so I added color, then a few touches of ink, then a tiny graphite Joseph checking out our plane...

...so actually, there was nothing I'd taken with me that I didn't use, either in sketching or writing...and as usual, a few things I hadn't packed and bought in the art supply store!