Pink Trees are Here! (Plus Re-Discovery of Pentel Sign Brush Pen)

 

3/7/26 Plum tree, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Seeing a decent dry block in the morning’s forecast, I took a long walk through the ‘hood to check out the pink tree situation. I’ve been seeing ornamental plums blooming for weeks now, but with their dark foliage and tiny blossoms, plums don’t show off big fluffy pink clouds, so I tend not to sketch many. The first sketch (at left), though, does include a plum in the corner. I was actually more interested in the twin firs that had been butchered.

Next I saw a row of cherries that were just getting started (below). The blossoms were still sparse; more interesting were the weird “feet” of their exposed roots! Oftentimes I find the roots of trees more fascinating than anything else about them, especially in winter when their crowns are bare.

Paper notes: That’s a wrap for the partially used Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook that I had decided to finish as my daily-carry sketch journal (it didn’t have as many pages left as I had thought). While it’s been fun to have white paper for adding color, there’s a lot not to love about this particular white sketchbook. For one, Beta paper, which was a favorite for years, just doesn’t do it for me anymore. Now that Hahnemühle’s 100 percent cotton has taught me how much fun it is to be able to slam down multiple layers of water-soluble materials and lots of water without harming the surface, it’s hard to go back.

3/7/26 Cherry trees

Worse, though, is the 3 ½-by-5 ½-inch format. You’d think that would be close enough to a true A6 (4-by-6 inches) or Uglybooks' almost-A6 (4-by-5 ¾ inches) not to make a difference, but as you can see from these sketches, they look too narrow for their height. After getting used to Uglybooks’ comfy page, I felt horizontally cramped. It was such a relief to go back to an Uglybook!

Brush pen notes: One commitment I made to myself during my downsizing process was to “shop” from my own stash before buying anything new. Several months ago, I went through all my brush pens to review what their brushes felt like and make a clear division between the ones containing water-soluble ink and waterproof ink (at some point, they had been neatly separated, but that system apparently fell apart).

That’s when I came across the Pentel Artist Brush Sign Pen with an ultra-fine brush. Of course, I had forgotten all about it. I probably didn’t use it much when I got it because it contains water-soluble ink, which is less versatile than waterproof for the way I like to work. But look at that tip (image below)! The Pentel Pocket Brush Pen has long been a favorite for its slender tip, but the Sign Pen’s brush is even finer. As much as I love the Pocket Brush Pen, I’ve often felt that my results are better when I use it with a slightly larger sketchbook, and I often feel cramped when using an A6.

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen vs. Pentel Artist Sign Brush Pen. The difference is especially noticeably in my writing, which is often where I have the least control of the line.

The Brush Sign Pen has the slimmest brush tip of any I’ve used. After it went dry last week at the zoo, I was supposed to shop from my stash again – but that ultra-fine brush won me over: I bought another one. (A downside of the Sign Pen is that it’s not refillable, which is one of the Pocket Brush Pen’s major benefits.)

When I used it for months in my Uglybooks, I hardly noticed that the ink is water-soluble, since I rarely use water on colored pages. When I switched to the Beta, I had to be more aware of water-solubility because I was using color more often. The cherry tree sketch was a good opportunity to make the ink work with Caran d’Ache Neocolor II. After applying the color, I tried to spritz only where the color was, but fine-controlling the spritzer’s direction is difficult, and the branches got more water than I wanted. Still, the washed ink color is almost lavender when mixed with pinks – a nice shadow tone. I’ll probably stick with a waterbrush to activate colors when I use this brush pen going forward.

More pink for your viewing pleasure!