Shawna Chooses

11/11/19 Shawna (20-min. pose)

As I filled yet another Gage punch card Monday, I thought about how I used to feel in life-drawing sessions when I first began attending seven years ago. I would return home completely drained and exhausted, partly from the mental focus but also because I was entirely tense the whole three-hour session. Completely out of my comfort zone, I found life drawing stressful.

11/11/19 20-min. pose

I got over it after a few times, and fairly soon after that I started feeling relaxed and “in the zone” during many sessions. Don’t misunderstand – life drawing is still one of the most challenging and mentally focused drawing practices I engage in – but the relaxing part is that I don’t have to do anything to prepare.

Whenever I sketch on location, I have to consider the weather and temperature, the time of day, how to get there and where to park, and once I’m there, I must choose a composition. It’s all part of urban sketching, and I enjoy the process, but there’s always a bit of tension in not knowing exactly what I might sketch or the conditions I might encounter.

At life-drawing sessions, the conditions are completely controlled, including the lighting, and the model chooses the composition. All I have to do is show up and draw whatever he or she presents for two minutes or 20. In that way, I am completely passive, and my only active engagement is in the act of drawing. I wouldn’t want all my drawing to be this way – searching for and discovering my subject and composition are a large part of the fun of urban sketching – but once a week, it’s relaxing to let someone else decide.

11/11/19 20-min. pose

11/11/19 5-min. pose

11/11/19 5-min. pose

Sketch Kit Retrospective

11/9/19 My current sketch kit

In the eight years that I’ve been sketching, my materials and tools have changed significantly as my working methods and habits have evolved and my preferences have changed. Whenever I prep for a major trip, I review my sketch kit and report on how I’ve refined it for travel (I’ve consolidated related links on this Travel Sketching page). I thought it would be fun to put all my sketch kit photos together in one post to see the transitions all at once.

During most years, I shuffled my kit more than once, but I chose only one photo for each year as representative of the direction of my changes at the time. If you surmise that I’m somewhat obsessed with my sketch kit, you wouldn’t be wrong – but at least I know I’m in good company. (I challenge you to name one sketcher who doesn’t think about, talk about, shop for or rearrange their sketch materials regularly and often!)

11/10/10 Here's the M+R sharpener I forgot in the large sketch.

Unlike many, I don’t sketch my sketch materials much (though I like the meta-ness of the concept), but since this post is the ultimate in sketch-kit navel gazing, I decided to indulge. I must say that there’s a good reason I don’t do this often: It’s tedious and even annoying to sketch all those long, narrow objects. I wanted to keep the sketch to a reasonable size so that it wouldn’t take all day, but the tradeoff is that I couldn’t put in as much detail as I wanted to distinguish among all those long, narrow objects. If you’re interested in the details, a post from July describes most of the same items. (At right is the sharpener, which I tend to forget about because it’s kept in a separate bag compartment.)

2012

Taken six months after I began sketching, this is the earliest photo (from March 2012 when I began this blog) that I could find of my sketch materials: a Sakura Koi watercolor kit, waterbrushes, waterproof fineliners and a few brush markers. It’s a solid, basic kit that many sketchers begin with. The Moleskine landscape watercolor sketchbook is the only one shown, but I was trying out a wide variety back then.

2012 A beginning urban sketcher's basic kit.

2013

I dumped the fineliners for fountain pens, including my first Sailor fudes. The brush markers increased, and so did the waterbrushes. My leather “Stefano” sketchbook cover made its first appearance as I readied for my first symposium.

2013 Fountain pens have appeared.

2014

Surprisingly few changes from the previous year except that a few more colored pencils crept in.

2014 More colored pencils.

2015

This was an interesting year: More fountain pens were added as well as more colored pencils. I jettisoned all the brush pens except a few self-made ones (ink-filled waterbrushes).

2015 More pens and DIY brush pens.

2016

I’m certain this was a record-breaking year – my fattest sketch kit ever. I remember it as a year of major transition. I knew that watercolors were not meeting my needs, but I hadn’t figured out what to replace them with, so I carried everything – color brush markers, black brush pens, DIY ink-filled waterbrushes, watercolor pencils and more fountain pens. A small red Field Notes (and a white gel pen to use with it) became an integral part of my daily-carry. Very sadly, I let my beloved “Stefano” go. 

2016 Whoa... did I really carry all that to the UK? Yes, I did.

2017

During the second half of 2016, I made the final jump from watercolors to watercolor pencils, and by 2017, I had fully embraced colored pencils as my sole color medium (so much so that I committed to two quarters of study at Gage Academy). Graphite pencils made their first (and permanent) appearance (also reflecting my study at Gage). The only markers and brush pens that remained were black and gray. And the Tran Portfolio Pencil Case I had discovered the previous year turned out to be my best bag enhancement ever.

2017 The colored pencil era begins.

2018

Last year’s kit looked very similar to my current supplies except that it still had two fountain pens in place. Not shown is the sketchbook, which was still the DIY signatures and handbound sketchbooks I had been using consistently since 2013.

2018 A stable kit.

2019

(Sketch at top of post and photo below.) The biggest change I made this year was switching to off-the-shelf Stillman & Birn sketchbooks instead of the handbound books I’d been making since 2013. A kneaded eraser and tortillon are currently among my daily-carry for when I’m in a graphite mood (more often in winter than at other times of the year). The ballpoint pen took up permanent residence after 2018’s InkTober. And reluctantly, I realized I had been using a fountain pen less and less, so I took it out (and put it back only for this year’s InkTober).

Kit staged for the sketch, plus the usual desk mess.

During all these changes, the one constant throughout has been my faithful Rickshaw messenger bag, which has sketched with me on four continents since 2012. Although the organizing accessories within the bag have changed many times, since the beginning, I’ve always made all the primary tools stand upright to be fully accessible without the need to unzip, unroll or un-Velcro tabs, pockets and cases. So even though most of the media and tools have changed over time, my basic carrying setup has not.

Everything upright and ready for action.

My Favorite Art Materials page has details about my current kit contents. For details about any of my past sketch kits, see the Archive page.

I Appear, I Leave

10/28/19 Gloria (10-min. pose)

My current reading is Ways of Drawing: Artists’ Perspectives and Practices, by the Royal Drawing School. It’s a collection of essays about the practice of drawing by students and faculty of this classical drawing school in London. While most of the essays are by artists, a notable exception is by a long-time art model, Isley Lynn. Not an artist herself (in fact, she’s a playwright), she has experienced a range of encounters with artists who spend many hours scrutinizing and interpreting her nude body. 

I appear, I leave, and the artwork is the trace of my visit. Thousands of people have seen me intimately without knowing me. They never see me, they see a reflection of me, a version of me, someone else’s story of me. And art to a model is like money to the dead – you can’t take it with you when you go. – Isley Lynn

20-min. pose

10-min. pose

10-min. pose

Caran d’Ache Watercolor Pencil History Update

The incomplete and confusing history of Caran d'Ache watercolor pencils.

With a few exceptions, most of my vintage colored pencil collecting has been led by whim, curiosity and availability of affordable items on eBay – without specific targets. One notable exception has been Caran d’Ache’s water-soluble colored pencils. As my favorite maker of and the original creator of my favorite art material, Caran d’Ache is special to me, and therefore its history is interesting. The product history of Cd’A’s watercolor pencils is also short enough – the Swiss company developed the first one in 1931 – that I might actually have a chance of acquiring samples of all its products through various eras. Although I’m certain I don’t have samples of all variations through Caran d’Ache’s history (many questions remain unanswered), I think I now have a fairly good range.

Since I’ve already written about most of these pencils before, this post will serve as an update rather than a rehash of my previous speculations and theories. For the context, please see these posts:

• Vintage Prismalo (possibly from the ‘30s; the oldest set in my collection)
• Vintage Prismalo (probably from the ‘90s)
• Contemporary Prismalo (100^th anniversary edition, with historical comparison)
• Contemporary Supracolor (in which I ponder at length about why Supracolors are called Supracolor “II” when there is no Supracolor “I”? It turns out there was a “I”! Read on.)

My latest acquisition is a set of Supracolor I (left, top row, in the photo above), which answers the question I had been asking for a long time. When I first acquired the “Water Soluble” set (center of top row), I was told that these pencils and Supracolor I (which I didn't own yet) were the same – only the names on the boxes and the barrels were different. In addition, Supracolor I and “Water Soluble” both have the product code 3999. Now that I finally have some Supracolor I to make my own comparison, I have confirmed that the cores are, indeed, the same: The thin cores are very hard and contain little pigment. According to the Supracolor I tin (below), these pencils have “fine leads, ideal for detailed drawing,” while Supracolor II have “thick leads, ideal for shading.”

 

Bottom of the Supracolor I tin.

Although I could see from initial swatches that the very hard Supracolor I pencils would not be easy to use for coloring, I made a sample sketch of an apple on principle. As you can see, I had difficulty developing saturated hues, but as promised, the very hard cores remained sharp throughout the sketch and would be ideal for fine details.

 

11/6/19 vintage Supracolor I pencils in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

According to Atelier Caran d’Ache: The Workshop Book, the Supracolor product line was introduced in 1988 (though the I and II designations are not specified). I wish I had a sample of Supracolor II from that era to see how it compares to a contemporary Supracolor II. In any case, a new question arises: When did Caran d’Ache stop producing the I line and why? Personally, when I need a colored pencil for sharp details, I reach for a hard traditional (wax- or oil-based) pencil so that all the fine marks I spend time making won’t accidentally wash away. Perhaps other artists concur, and Caran d’Ache saw no need to maintain the harder I line.

To add to the mystery of the set of Prismalo that I reviewed last year, I have acquired a few pencils that came in a random lot without a box which are labeled Prismalo I on the barrel. What?! Prismalo and Prismalo I!? (Can you be any more confusing, Caran d’Ache?) To my hand, Prismalo feels slightly softer than Prismalo I, but beyond that, there’s no difference. Both have the product number 999. Why the two names? When did Prismalo I disappear? And was there ever a Prismalo II (doubtful, but the question is cause for yet another sleepless night)?

Notice that all three tins – Supracolor I, Water Soluble and Prismalo – look identical, with an image of the Matterhorn, red flowers and the sans serif Caran d’Ache logo.

The blue box shown is another new mystery. Contained in this tin was a set of pencils with three sailboats on the barrel. Their cores are slightly softer than the others and contain a bit more pigment. What was this nameless line, and where did it fit within the Prismalo/Supracolor history?

 

The nameless, numberless "sailboat" pencils (and one random Prismalo that came in this used set).

Finally, also in a random lot, I acquired a single Swisscolor pencil, with a core similar to contemporary Swisscolors, which are dryer than Prismalo and Supracolor and lower in pigment (my guess is that they are student grade). The product history in the Atelier book is not helpful regarding the “sailboat” and Swisscolor pencils; they are not mentioned at all. Since the book seems to focus more on artist-quality products rather than student products, perhaps both belong in the latter category.

All the above-mentioned pencils are water-soluble. I also have a few unnamed pencils with two tulips on the barrel (product code 333) that are not water-soluble. A precursor to the contemporary Pablo, perhaps?

Shown below are specimens of all the vintage product lines or eras I own. The last two in the photo are contemporary Supracolor (now called Supracolor II Soft with the product code 3888) and Prismalo.

 

From top: 1930s Prismalo, 1980s Prismalo, Prismalo I, unnamed "sailboat," unnamed "water soluble," Supracolor I, vintage Swisscolor, unnamed "tulip" (not water-soluble), contemporary Supracolor II Soft, contemporary Prismalo.

The swatch comparison indicates that all the vintage pencils (top row) have about the same pigment level except the “sailboat” set, which is slightly higher in pigment and softer. For reference, the two swatches in the bottom row are from contemporary Prismalo and Supracolor II Soft pencils. (Whenever I compare contemporary pencils with their vintage counterparts, I am always grateful for advances in technology and manufacturing that enable me to have products now that are of much higher quality than their predecessors. I like collecting old pencils, but with few exceptions, I don’t prefer them to contemporary pencils.)

 

Swatches made on Canson XL 140 lb. watercolor paper

The Caran d’Ache watercolor pencil history described in this post is not exhaustive by any means. If anything, it just raises more questions. If you know more about Caran d’Ache colored pencil history or can solve the mysteries described, I’m all ears!

Supracolor I

St. John the Evangelist

11/7/19 Greenwood neighborhood

The bishop’s hat on top of St. John the Evangelist Parish always catches my eye when I’m in its neighborhood. In Greenwood for an errand on a foggy and then overcast morning, I was attracted to it again, though I knew it would be a challenge in that indistinct light (as it is in any light; I attempted it last year and several years before that, too). But the lazy sun on one side and the bright white sky on the other framed the hat with subtle highlights that gave me somewhere to start.

Now that the leaves are falling off, I think graphite season is beginning.

Dick’s on Queen Anne and La Marzocco Café

11/8/19 Dick's on Queen Anne Avenue North

Dick’s Drive-in has been a Seattle-area institution for 65 years. When I think of the family-owned chain of burger joints, I think first of the one on Broadway (which I sketched few years ago) with its classic drive-in shape (though in-car dining is no longer an option). The one in lower Queen Anne has a more modern building, but it’s still a neighborhood icon. On a brisk and still-partly-foggy morning, I started the Seattle USk outing with a sketch of Dick’s.

Chilled after standing for more than an hour in the shade, I went back to the meetup location – La Marzocco Café – to warm up. Housing indie radio station KEXP (DJs are visible through a window, and the station’s broadcast is the café’s soundtrack), the café is also a large public space for town hall meetings and other events. There’s also a vinyl record shop and espresso-making equipment shop inside. I didn’t have much more time than a hasty sketch of café patrons in front of me, but I’d enjoy going back to take advantage of the many seating (and therefore composition) options. The coffee and snacks aren’t bad, either!

11/8/19 La Marzocco Cafe

Dappled

11/5/19 Wedgwood neighborhood

After being sadly surprised by how much lower the light is in the early afternoon, I set my sketching clock back to sync with the sun. Shortly before lunch (instead of after), heading toward the sun, I found this dappled street where the trees’ colors were visible only around the fringes of branches. Although I missed all the color I would have seen if I’d faced the other way, I had more fun capturing the shadows and the tiny sparks of yellow burning through. Any day now, clouds and rain will be back for the long haul; I’m hunting as much light as I can – even from the back.