Urban Sk-egg-ing in Tacoma

4/4/15 various inks, colored pencil, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

It had been ages since I visited the Washington State History Museum, so when Urban Sketchers Tacoma invited Seattle sketchers to join them this morning for a group-rate discount, I jumped at the opportunity.

This museum is the kind of place where I felt torn between lingering in the exhibits to take in my native state’s rich cultural and industrial heritage – or sketch. You can probably guess which I chose, but it was a difficult choice. My first sketch was part of an exhibit on Native American culture – an interpretive display of a woman teaching a young girl how to basket-weave. While I sketched, I listened to the audio program about how the craft has been handed down from one generation to the next.

4/4/15 various inks, colored pencils

For my next sketch, I went upstairs to find a view of the main floor gallery’s exhibit of the aerospace industry. That’s when I spotted Stevie – a tiny dot dwarfed by the framework of a plane’s fuselage looming over the space. (The dude at left is not real; I think he represented an airplane manufacturing worker.)

By that time the morning had warmed up a little, so I went out to do two iconic Tacoma sketches from just outside the history museum: Union Station and the Museum of Glass’s conical building. These Urban Sk-eggs took a little planning – namely, I had to bring my support materials in a cooler!

Happy Easter!

4/4/15 Copic Multiliner SP pen and colored pencil on Grade AA egg

4/4/15 Copic Multiliner SP pen on Grade AA egg

Forgotten Sketches

7/4/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, Moleskine sketchbook

The Friday sketchers are preceding our usual sketch gathering tomorrow with a Gab ‘n’ Grab: We’re going to talk about our favorite art materials and sketch kits, and then we’re trading supplies and books we no longer want. (I’ll let you know later if I score big!)

I started putting together a bag of stuff to haul to the grab, including some products that appear on last year’s Bottom 10 list. As I was going through a stash of sketchbooks I no longer use, I found a pocket-size Moleskine that at first looked unused. I was about to throw it into the grab bag when I thought I should thumb through it, and it turned out I had taken it with me on a trip to Boston in July 2012. Most of the sketches from that trip were of statues made in a larger sketchbook, so this little sketchbook apparently had been put aside, unscanned and forgotten.

7/4/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, Moleskine sketchbook

As soon as I saw the two small sketches in it, I remembered. One sketch was made in our hotel lobby. The other was made in a University of Massachusetts building where hundreds of 4^th of July would-be revelers on the Charles River were told to take refuge due to the imminent danger of an electrical storm. None of us wanted to leave without seeing the fireworks we had come for, but the show was on hold until the storm passed. After a half-hour or so, we were allowed to go back outdoors. Shortly thereafter, the best fireworks show I had ever seen in my life commenced – as well as a deluge that left us all drenched.

The sketches themselves don’t show much, but somehow memories get embedded with them, like tiny time capsules. 

39 Degrees

11/20/13 Copic Multiliner SP pen, Kuretake brush pen, watercolor, Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook

Our outdoor digital thermometer read 39 degrees as I pulled on my down jacket and headed for Green Lake on this beautifully sunny afternoon. I knew it would be chilly, but we haven’t had sunshine for several weeks now, and I’ve been craving a hit of vitamin D.

Painting my favorite stand of maples exhibiting particularly uneven and peculiar tree pattern baldness, I lasted all of 22 minutes. My hands were numb, even with fingerless gloves on. I retreated to my car parked nearby to spend another 10 minutes finishing up. Then I hurried home for a cup of hot tea.

Still Life J K L

11/10/13 Still life J K L. Copic Multiliner SP pen, Van Gogh watercolors, Arches hot press 140 lb. paper

For still life J K L in my alphabetical series, I only had to walk as far as the kitchen.

An ABC of Still Lifes (and More on Arches)

11/7/13 Still life A B C. Copic Multiliner SP pen, Van Gogh watercolors,
Arches 140 lb. hot press

Still lifes and single objects have never been among my favorite sketching subjects. I get the whole Danny Gregory Everyday Matters concept of drawing something – anything – daily, because it’s the process of regular drawing that’s important – not the particular subject that’s drawn. And in the early months when I first started drawing but before I discovered urban sketching, I followed Danny’s lead and drew a mug, a bowl, a pair of scissors, or whatever object happened to cross my line of sight. While the process excited me (just as it does now), I have to admit that still life subjects never did.

Now that I’ve committed to NaNoDrawMo (41 drawings to go in 24 remaining days), and the weather has taken a severe turn for the worst (buckets of rain, standing water on the highways causing major pileups and a high wind advisory through 8 p.m.), I can’t afford to be picky about subject matter today. Still lifes it is.

However, one of my struggles with drawing any old household object is having too many options: Shoe – but which shoe? The contents of the upstairs medicine cabinet or the downstairs? So to make it easier, I’ve given myself the assignment of making still lifes in alphabetical order.

11/7/13 Still life D E F. Copic Multiliner SP, Van Gogh watercolors, Arches paper

How did I get this idea? I happen to have an object for X, which is generally the hardest letter to come up with when doing an alphabetical anything. So if I get that far into the alphabet before NaNoDrawMo is over, you’ll find out what X is.

(Edited 11/29/13: I made it to X and, in fact, finished the whole alphabet.)

In the meantime, I present today’s three still lifes: A B C, D E F, and G H I. (The D could have doubled for C – both candy and chocolate – but those are Dove chocolates.)

One thing I was excited about was being able to give the Arches hot-press paper a chance with watercolors. The sizing that I complained about yesterday with fountain pen ink turned out to be OK with a Copic Multiliner SP pen. That same sizing, however, makes the paint sit on the surface for much longer than I’m used to, which made painting a bigger challenge today than usual. I suppose skilled painters prefer the sizing for that very reason – they can do more on-paper mixing and blending, for example, before the paint sinks in – but I’m a long way from knowing how to take advantage of that surface. (I did lift some color in spots and had to re-wet the paper a few times, and it did hold up well, as I expected.) And even though cold-press paper isn’t pleasant with fountain pens, I miss its organic texture.

11/7/13 Still life G H I. Copic Multiliner SP, Van Gogh watercolors, Arches paper

To further complicate the formula, I decided to try different paints: the set of Van Gogh watercolors that I received at the Urban Sketching Symposium last July. Some colors are the same as what’s in my everyday paint box (Ultramarine, Lemon Yellow, Sap Green), but others were new to me (Madder Lake Deep, Azo Yellow Medium, Cerulean Blue Phthalo), so it was both fun and challenging to try a different palette. If I fall in love with any of these colors, they are all in removable half pans, so I can pop them out and put them into my faithful Trader Joe’s tin. (I’ve already scavenged the mixing tray from the Van Gogh set for my portable setup.) And I used “real” brushes instead of waterbrushes – yet another variable thrown into the mix!

Metasketching Weather

It’s the first day of spring, and it’s coming in like a lion. Here’s what it looks like on weather.com    à

 

Despite the blue sky I see, it feels like our windows could implode, and the clouds look like time-lapse photography.

 

I decided it was a good day to stay in and do some metasketching – sketching sketching materials with sketching materials. Traditional still lifes don’t excite me much, although I see the value in learning from them, and I’ve done a few. But sketching the art materials I love and use every day means more to me than the random fruits and flowers that appear in my house.

 

3/20/13 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolors, Stillman & Birn Gamma sketchbook

Ironically, it’s technically not possible to sketch sketching materials with the actual sketching materials being sketched. I’m trying not to think about that too much, or I’ll have a woo-woo moment, not unlike standing in the restroom of a fancy hotel or restaurant where mirrors face more mirrors, and you can see your reflection reflected infinitely.

 

This is what happens to my brain when snow is threatened on the first day of spring.

 

(Shown left to right are a Lamy Safari fountain pen, a Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush marker, my mint tin watercolor box, a Kuretake waterbrush and a Lamy Nexx fountain pen.)

Tina’s Bottom 10

The other day on the Wet Canvas forum, Jan mentioned a product she had tried and decided she really hated. I was curious about why, and it was interesting to hear her perspective. In the forum thread, I jokingly proposed that we should all list our “Bottom 10” most-despised products. 

 

I was kidding at the time, but then I started thinking about it some more. Learning about why someone particularly dislikes a specific product they’ve tried can be just as informative as learning about why they love another product. Idiosyncratic prejudices – hating all dark blue inks because they remind someone too much of parochial school, for example (yes, I’ve heard that one) – are perhaps less helpful (though often entertaining). But if a product is bad or doesn’t perform as well as a competing brand, that’s useful to know.

 

At the risk of offending people who love these products, I present here Tina’s Bottom 10, in no particular ranking order. (Some products are not pictured because I’ve already given them away to people who love them. This is what’s wonderful about the wide variety of products available and an even wider variety of artists: There’s always someone who likes something I don’t.) There are other products I hate even more than these and will not use, but they don’t appear on this list because I think my reasons would fall in the “idiosyncratic prejudice” category (pens that don’t uncap easily or any dusty medium, like pastels and charcoal).

1. Moleskine Sketchbook: Boy, do I have a love/hate relationship with the paper in this sketchbook. First of all, I should say that I otherwise love all things Moleskine. I use a Moleskine planner every year, and I like their watercolor sketchbooks (though I wish they’d come out with a portrait format to go along with their landscape format. It’s not as if all watercolor painters paint nothing but landscapes). The thick, smooth paper is ideal for markers and pen and ink and can also support collage. But that nasty manila color makes many inks and markers look terrible. Even worse, it cannot take a wash worth beans! It actually repels water. For a long time, I kept using water-soluble markers and watercolors, hoping that one day they would miraculously stop beading up when I washed them, as if the paper were coated with wax. I finally quit banging my head against the brick wall and started using it only with permanent markers (so I wouldn’t be tempted to try yet again to make it wash).

2. Cretacolor AquaStics: I started using these shortly after I began my adventures in mixed media art journaling, and even as a beginner I could tell these water-soluble crayons weren’t the best. They apply dry and chalky, and it takes a lot of water to make their water-soluble properties wake up. The color range is also strange – so many similar yellows and light blues, for example, and hardly any good greens. A short time later I discovered Caran d'Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons, which are exactly the opposite: creamy, rich, easily washed and available in a huge range of colors. Buh-bye, AquaStics.

3. Copic Markers: Favored by manga cartoonists and graphic designers, these alcohol-based markers are also being used skillfully by some urban sketchers (Liz Steel comes to mind) to interesting effect, especially when blended with a blender pen. I bought a small assortment, pulled the cap off the first one and nearly keeled over from the incredibly strong smell. Because they are alcohol-based, they also seep all the way through most papers, so you either have to use only one side of the sketchbook page or use special paper. Forget it. (These are up for grabs if anyone wants them.)

4. Sakura Pigma Micron Pen: I used Pigma Micron mechanical pens as my default waterproof drawing pen for quite a while, but I was never completely happy with the tip that had to be held just right or it would feel scratchy. I replaced them with Copic Multiliner SP pens, which have the added benefit of being refillable.

5. Niji Flat Waterbrush: Although the rest of the waterbrushes in the Niji/Kuretake line (same brand, marketed under different names) are on my Top 10 list – they are probably my single, most-often-used art tools in the field – this so-called flat waterbrush is useless. I’ve tried it in many ways, and it’s impossible to get a decent watercolor wash with it. Plus the cap is too hard to get back on without risking bending the hairs.

6. Prismacolor Colored Pencils: These wax-based colored pencils are many colored pencil artists’ favorite, including nearly every colored pencil technique book author I’ve read. They do apply with a soft and creamy texture, which is probably why they are so highly favored. But the leads break so easily that more of the pencil ends up in my pencil sharpener than on my paper. After trying several brands, I settled on oil-based Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils (and eventually the more versatile water-soluble Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer pencils, which have become my colored pencil of choice).

7. Noodler’s Ahab Flex Nib King Philip fountain pen: When I first started experimenting with fountain pens as a sketching tool, I did a lot of research to find out what others liked, and the Noodler’s Ahab pen with its flexible nib was mentioned over and over. For 20 bucks, it was easy to buy one to try. But the regret came later when it kept clogging, skipping and blobbing, and being new to fountain pens for sketching, I thought that was just the way all fountain pens were. Soon I was doing research just to find out how to vigilantly maintain and even modify the Ahab to improve performance. I never got around to learning to use its famed Flex Nib because I was too busy trying to make it write! I almost gave up on fountain pens completely, assuming I just didn’t have the patience to maintain one. Then someone mentioned the carefree ease of (equally inexpensive) Lamy pens. Eight Lamy pens later, I hardly use anything else to draw with anymore.

8. Noodler’s Black Bulletproof ink: At the same time that I was researching fountain pens, I also read about inks, and once again, the name Noodler’s kept coming up. I knew I wanted a black waterproof ink to start with, so I chose Noodler’s Black Bulletproof ink (among several waterproof black inks Noodler’s offers). I filled that infamous Ahab pen with it and discovered nothing but misery – all that clogging, skipping and blobbing! Was it the pen, the ink, or me? When I gave up on the Ahab for my first Lamy, Noodler’s Black Bulletproof was the first bottled ink I filled it with. At least the pen wasn’t clogging and skipping anymore, so I could blame those traits on the Ahab. But the Noodler’s took so long to dry that I was constantly smudging and smearing it. Further research brought me to Platinum Carbon Black ink, which easily placed on my Top 10 list for its fast-drying, non-blobbing, perfectly waterproof qualities.

9. Copic Multiliner SP pen, Sepia: After deciding that my black Copic Multiliner SP was my favorite mechanical drawing pen, I got one in Sepia for times when I want a warmer line. I think of sepia as a rich, dark brown; this pen’s color turned out to be “tan” at best. I don’t know if I got a defective one, or if this is just the way sepia looks in the Copic world. Never mind; I got a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen in sepia, and it does the job just fine.

10. J. Herbin Glass Dip Pen: Using a dip pen is the most efficient way to test a variety of fountain pen ink samples (such as the ones I’ve been getting from GouletPens.com), but I’m not very good with a traditional metal nib dip pen, so I thought this glass pen would be a fun alternative. Is there a trick to this that I haven’t figured out yet? I couldn’t get it to hold sufficient ink, and the tip is so scratchy that it’s more esthetically pleasing to write with a toothpick!

Wrapping Up the Year with Randomness

1/2/12 Copic Multiliner, watercolor

12/31/12 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

Since I already did my “looking back on the year” post yesterday, I didn’t leave myself anything insightful or introspective to write about today, the last day of 2012. Hoping to dig up a sketch from Jan. 1, 2012, that I could post next to a sketch made today (symbolically showing the passage of the year?), I went through my sketchbook from that period, but I must have been busy with other things on New Year’s Day because I couldn’t find anything until this lemon I sketched on Jan. 2 (I hadn’t yet become an urban sketcher, so most of my sketches from that period are still lifes).

 

I could mention a few sketching-related resolutions I’ve made (1. Sketch at least one car a week until I see improvement or get bored silly, whichever comes first; 2. Flush out my fountain pens more regularly so they won’t clog; 3. Instead of whining about the weather being too cold and rainy to sketch outdoors, sketch more still lifes at home), but I stopped making resolutions years ago, so that would be contrived.

 

12/31/12 Diamine Eclipse ink, Zig markers, S & B sketchbook

So, lacking both insight and introspection, I’ll indulge in randomness and simply post three sketches I made today, the last day of 2012, and call it good.

 

Happy New Year!

12/31/12 Diamine Twilight ink, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

Northgate Mall Food Court

12/18/12 DeAtramentis Black-Brown ink, Zig markers, Hand Book sketchbook

A week before Christmas, I expected Northgate Mall to be a madhouse, but the parking lot was no worse than a typical Saturday, so I braved it. I have a long list of places I’d rather sketch than a food court, but for the amount of time I had (less than half an hour) and the weather (37 degrees and threatening snow), it would have to do.

 

3/9/12 Copic Multiliner pen

 

Like the one at Green Lake, it’s not the most exciting sketch, but one thing about it makes me happy: I attempted it. Recalling how I had felt trying to sketch the same food court last March, I dug out a pocket-sized sketchbook from that period and found this small sketch of a couple of diners. On the facing page my journal notes express how overwhelmed I was by the open space. “Too spread out, too many big TVs,” I wrote (I’m not sure how the size of the TVs affected my ability to sketch that day, but maybe I was simply overcome by the scale of everything).

 

This is not to say that sketching in large interior spaces like food courts is no longer challenging; it is. The big difference is that, in March, I scribbled a couple of heads, fretted about the space and then went home. Today, I simply sat down and sketched the space.

12/12/12

12/12/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, Tombow markers

According to an interpretation of the Mayan Calendar, whose last date is 12/12/12, the world ends today. 

 

A few days ago, some sketcher friends and I were pondering what we might sketch on the last day of the world or how we would sketch the world as it is ending. I didn’t give it much thought then, but today when I remembered that it is the fateful date, I started thinking about time.

 

The concept of linear time and how we keep track of it – calendars, clocks, sundials, hourglasses – are all creations of humans trying to make order of our lives. Dates and times are important to us so that we can wish each other Happy Birthday, return library books by their due date, and clock out at 5 p.m. Apparently some cultures have no use for such constructs, seeing time as a continual flow, like air or water.

 

I’m not philosophical enough to give any of this much thought – say, more than three minutes. But during those three minutes, I decided I wanted to sketch something today to commemorate this date, which is numerologically interesting, if nothing else. Then it hit me: If keeping track of time is an artificial construct, then depicting time abstractly is no better or worse than depicting it accurately.

 

I decided to make a modified blind contour sketch of the small clock on my desk. Happy 12/12/12!

 

Please note: I sketched the clock in my Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook, which is made of archival, acid-free paper that is supposed to last for many decades. Just in case.

Still Life with Rain

11/19/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor, S & B Beta 

In general, I’m not a huge fan of still lifes. Given a choice, I invariably opt for on-location sketching or even studio life drawing practice over sketching inanimate objects in my house. But today it rained so hard and continuously, accompanied by gusty high winds, that I hunkered down and couldn’t bear to go out, even to a coffee shop.

 

Fortunately, a mostly-fresh birthday bouquet from my spouse guy had enough color to keep me entertained. The first sketch, below, was a good opportunity to try a sample of Platinum Pigmented Sepia ink, one of several samples Kate gave me (thanks, Kate!). When I was shopping for brown ink samples a while back, the swatch shown online for this ink looked blah, so I skipped it. But in real life, it’s a pleasant, non-aggressive hue, and here’s what surprised me: it’s waterproof! I wasn’t necessarily looking for a waterproof brown ink – my interest was in finding one with a rich wash – but now that I’ve found this one, I’m thinking it would be a nice warm alternative to my usual Platinum Carbon Black. I especially like it on the ivory-colored Stillman & Birn Delta paper.

 

11/19/12 Platinum Pigmented Sepia ink, S & B Delta

The second still life, above, was drawn with my trusty Copic Multiliner SP pen, which I haven’t been using much since I got hooked on Lamy fountain pens. This time I sketched it on a bright white Stillman & Birn Beta page spread (again, thanks, Kate!), which has a cooler hue but maybe makes the colors pop a bit more.

 

OK, so still lifes have their place. But I’ve already got cabin fever.

Franklin High School

10/21/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

After the Columbia City sketchcrawl, I drove a couple miles north to my alma mater, Franklin High School, which celebrated its 100^th birthday this year. Nearly demolished in 1986, it was designated an historic landmark and saved by widespread public protest. Although it’s been a few (ahem) years since I attended, this view looks mostly the same, other than some sculptures toward the right of the building that weren’t there. To sketch this from the car, I parked on the same street where I parked my Toyota Corolla every school day of my senior year.

Greeting Card Sketchbook

Greeting Card Sketchbooks

Ever since I stopped using a designated “sketch bag” and integrated my sketching supplies into my regular, everyday purse, my general habit has been to carry a 5.5” square format Hand Book journal most of the time as my catch-all sketchbook because it’s a good compromise between portability and a decent page size. When I know I’m going to want more page space or higher quality paper, I grab a larger format Stillman & Birn or other sketchbooks. But as a general rule, I don’t carry my preferred sketchbooks day to day because they add quite a bit of weight and bulk to my already-heavy bag.

When I signed up for the Sketchbook Project, I wanted to make sketches in that book in the same way that I make sketches in my other sketchbooks – that is, I didn’t want to deem it “special” in any way, because if I did, I knew that would make me self-conscious, intimidated, whatever – a certain kiss of death. So to keep it un-special, I decided to carry the 5” x 7” Sketchbook Project sketchbook continually in my purse until I’ve filled it. (Here are a couple of my first sketches in the book. Edited 12/19/12: Here's the post about my completed sketchbook.) Part of my decision to do this was determined by the fact that it contains only 32 pages of very thin paper with flimsy chipboard covers, so it’s light as a feather. (As a bonus, the stapled binding opens flat, which is a requirement for any sketchbook I use, and the page size is very comfortable, despite the crappy paper.)

As a result, I’ve been using the Sketchbook Project book in very un-special ways –sketches of the backs of heads on buses, parked cars while I’m waiting for my spouse-man to shop at the hardware store, etc. – exactly as I had intended. And I realized I’ve been leaving even my 5.5” square Hand Book at home when I’m just running errands or going to work because I know the Sketchbook Project book is in my bag already.

All of this prompted me to rethink the concept of the everyday, catch-all sketchbook, and I decided I need something like that very thin, lightweight, flat-opening Sketchbook Project book – but with better paper. The result: the Greeting Card Sketchbook.

First off, I should say that I’m not a bookbinder. I love looking at handmade books, I’ve purchased a few handmade books, I own a collection of books about bookbinding and showcasing handmade art books and, at various times in my life, I’ve taken bookbinding classes because I love the idea of making my own books (although in practice, I don’t enjoy all the careful measuring, gluing and cutting that traditional bookbinding requires).

One of my Coptic-bound books.

When I started sketching last year, in a brief burst of rekindled enthusiasm, I idealistically decided I would make all of my own sketchbooks for the rest of my sketching life because it seemed like such a perfect integration of media and message – hand-drawn images kept in handbound books. To that end, last winter I did a little research on binding formats that would produce a flat-opening page and determined that Coptic binding would suit me best. After taking a workshop in Coptic binding, I made three books that I’m pleased with. But they took quite a bit of time to make, and I realized that I’d rather spend the time sketching than making the books. However, I also learned that the process of hand-stitched bindings is a snap, so I filed that away in my mind for future reference.

Fast-forward to this week, when I was enjoying how lightweight my bag is with that thin, flimsy sketchbook, and I began in earnest to come up with a simple – defined as non-time-consuming and using materials I already have – solution to meet this need.

I pulled from my bookshelf Gwen Diehn’s The Decorated Journal, which I recalled had easy instructions for the pamphlet stitch binding (which, similar to Coptic, allows the page to open flat). I took a sheet of 100-pound, 18” x 24” Canson Biggie watercolor paper, which I happen to have a stack of, and tore it down to eight 6” x 9” sheets. I folded each sheet in half, yielding a comfortable 6” x 4.5” page: a fast and easy single signature.

But what to do about the covers? (I had made collaged and painted covers for my Coptic books that took more time than I wanted to spend on this project.) I dug around in my box of collage materials and considered old calendar covers, decorative boxes, cardboard and other materials that could be cut down. But what caught my eye was right on my desk – a greeting card with a beloved image of a rabbit from a painting by Koo Schadler (at top of page). Would it be too good to be true for the card to be the right size, without even cutting it down. . . ? It was! And a reused material, to boot!

Nothing spurs me on like the serendipity of art materials, so I pulled out my bookbinding tools (that burst of enthusiasm last December wasn’t wasted after all), and in literally a few minutes, I punched and sewed up the pages and covers into a thin, lightweight sketchbook. And since I already had all my bookbinding tools out anyway, I decided to make a second one, below (the card image is from a folding screen by an unknown Japanese artist from the Edo period). This time, I first trimmed a half-inch off the full 18” x 24” sheet before tearing it down, which made the signature fit perfectly between the covers.

Whether the greeting card covers will hold up to daily hauling and handling remains to be seen. But since the book contains only 32 pages (and I’ve been known to fill a 124-page, 5.5” x 8.5” Stillman & Birn sketchbook in a month), how long does it have to last?

Edited 12/19/12: I just finished filling my first Greeting Card Sketchbook, which has been in my bag continually for about two months. The corners of the covers are a tiny bit dog-eared, but because the covers extend slightly beyond the edges of the pages, the pages themselves are not worn at all. I even got a cover a little wet once, but the heavily varnished card stock held up well and wiped off clean without leaving a mark. Downright sturdy for a book made from a reused card! I'm going to go make a few more.

Edited 6/26/13: The Greeting Card Sketchbooks weren’t as durable as I initially thought; see “Catching Up with the Catch-All Sketchbook” for the follow-up report.

Edited 8/11/13: I’ve rediscovered the joy, value and practicality of a handbound sketchbook.

Edited 10/5/13: I've developed a refinement to the Greeting Card Sketchbook.

Edited 10/20/13: Now that I’ve streamlined the process, I’m officially hooked on bookbinding.

10/12/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor, 100# watercolor paper in handbound Greeting Card Sketchbook

Bryce Canyon



10/4/12 F-C Pitt Artist Pen, watercolor, Hand Book sketchbook

Of the three U.S. national parks I’ve hiked (I have many more to go on my growing bucket list), Bryce Canyon is by far my favorite. Its mysterious hoodoos, amphitheater shape and bright red limestone are practically intimate compared to Grand Canyon and even Zion.

The first day, we explored the rim, and I found myself too overwhelmed by the beauty and strangeness of the vistas to manage more than a few rough sketches (below). The second day we decided to hike down into the canyon by way of the popular Queen’s Garden Trail, where the hoodoos were close enough to touch, and every turn on the trail brought another new and amazing view of this extraordinary geology. By the time we finished the hike, I was disappointed to learn that it descended only 320 feet, because it sure felt like more. But I felt a strong sense of satisfaction sketching the Queen herself (above) looking down from her throne at her sweating subjects.

10/3/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, Zig marker

Zion National Park

10/2/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, Kuretake Brush Marker

Fully recovered from altitude sickness, we hit the hiking trails of Zion National Park. Smaller than Grand Canyon yet no less majestic, Zion is more accessible and less intimidating to hike. We chose the Emerald Pools trail, which was rated as “easy to moderate” in the guidebook. By the end of the day, my quadriceps were saying that the hike was definitely on the moderate side of easy, and taking a sketch break at the Emerald Pools was well-deserved. (A second note to self: Leave reservoir-type brush markers at home when hiking in high altitudes.)

Pool, Top and Side

 


9/29/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor



Tina sketching the pool (photo by Greg Mullin)

From our room on the 23^rd floor of the South Point Hotel and Casino, I had an unusual view of the hotel’s pool. The palm trees growing poolside cast long-reaching shadows in the late afternoon sun.

 

9/29/12 fountain pen, Platinum Carbon ink, watecolor, Hand Book sketchbook 

That evening, more interested in sketching than in pumping a paycheck or two into a slot machine, I stayed poolside to sketch the lifeguard, a few swimmers and more palm trees.



9/29/12 Kuretake Brush Writers





Blind Contour Redux



9/27/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen

I’m taking an eight-week drawing class from Seattle architect and artist Anita Lehmann, whose urban sketches appear on the Seattle Urban Sketchers blog. At our first class, we did a few drawing exercises made popular by Betty Edwards’ book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. A favorite of mine is modified blind contour, a technique I used for these self-portraits. To learn what a modified blind contour is, see another self-portrait I did back in January.

 

Although these self-portraits are not exactly flattering, the bald-faced honesty and integrity of the line are strangely appealing.



9/28/12 Pigma Micron pens

Mid-September Melancholy

9/13/12 fountain pen, Copic Multiliner SP pen, Hand Book sketchbook

Despite the mostly cloudless sky and warm sunshine, so rare by mid-September, the Lake City Farmer’s Market had a distinct note of melancholy. Except for the woman with a megaphone encouraging shoppers to come around the corner where the information booths were hiding, the market was unusually quiet: By 4:15, the scheduled musician still hadn’t shown up for his 4 o’clock gig. Maybe it was just me who was melancholy.

 

Savoring a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream from Half Pint Ice Cream, I sat in the shade to sketch the young woman I had just bought the cup of decadence from. I had resisted that ice cream all summer, not for the usual reasons but because I knew it would be difficult to hold and eat it while also sketching. But I felt so bittersweet about the market and the end of summer that I saw no point in resisting today. I had originally planned to add watercolors to the sketch as I usually do, but then I noticed my ice cream was getting soft.

 

Life is short, and so is summer. Sometimes eating ice cream is more important than painting.

 

(Technical note: Once again, I started this sketch with Noodler’s Bulletproof ink in my Lamy, but switched to a Copic Multiliner SP because the Bulletproof was smearing all over the place. My bottle of Platinum Carbon – the champagne of inks! – is on its way!)

Green Lake Public Library

9/12/12 Lamy fountain pen, waterproof ink, Copic Multiliner SP, watercolor

Some days my freelance calendar is chopped up in such a way that I find myself with an awkward gap of time between commitments. I like to fill such gaps with a challenging sketch that I might otherwise try to avoid because it’s “hard.” The time is limited, so I don’t have to torture myself overlong. A few weeks ago I sketched a car during that kind of gap of time. Today I tackled dreaded architecture, but it’s a building I’m fond of and visit often, so it didn’t seem torturous: The Seattle Public Library Green Lake Branch, or “my” library, as I like to think of it.

I don’t know much about architecture, but I think it’s in the classic Carnegie library style that is slowly being replaced by more “modern” styles in some neighborhoods. The Green Lake Branch was closed for extensive improvements a while back, so I hope that means it’s around to stay.

I started this sketch with my Lamy Safari fountain pen filled with waterproof Noodler’s ink, but halfway through, I switched to my trusty Copic Multiliner SP because the Noodler’s was smudging to high heaven under my left hand holding the pen. I really like how waterproof the Noodler’s is on both Stillman & Birn and Hand Book sketchbook papers – but it apparently isn’t drying fast enough to keep up with my hand passing over it (the lifelong curse of the south paw).

But now I’m fantasizing about springing for an extravagant bottle of Platinum Carbon ink, which so many sketchers drool over. Any lefties out there who have tried it? Does it dry any faster than Noodler’s?