Another Year of Mindful Sketching

9/3/15 plane passenger

(The other day I mentioned that I have a few personal year-end blogging traditions; this is the last one.) A year ago, I wrote about how I had completed my commitment to sketch every day in 2014. It’s not a resolution, which typically seems to be based more on external pressures (“Join our gym now and save 50 percent!”), unrealistic expectations (“Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!”) or vague ideals (“Be healthier.”). Instead, my daily commitment to sketch is simply that – a commitment to myself.

A long time ago I heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit. That is, if you do something daily for three weeks, it’s likely that the habit will stick indefinitely. Later I read that this was a popular myth; another study showed that it actually takes 66 days to form a habit. In my experience, though, 21 days, 66 days or even 365 days isn’t long enough unless a commitment is behind it.

After 2014’s 365 days of sketching, I was fairly confident that the habit would stick; I didn’t have to put it on my to-do list because it had become automatic, like flossing. In an important way, though, sketching isn’t at all like flossing, because flossing is completely mindless. (Sometimes I’ll get into bed and suddenly wonder, “Did I floss?” It’s so literally automatic that I can’t recall doing it!) Indeed, on some days when I do nothing but fulfill a series of obligations – earn a living, shop for groceries, take out the recycling – making a sketch might be the only mindful thing I do all day.

1/10/15 baby giraffe (from photo)

I have an easy way to track my daily sketches: I almost always scan them on the day I make them, even if I have no intention of posting them online. The files are systematically dated by the PC, and I date them in the file name, which also includes the location of the sketch and other details that are of interest to me. (Incidentally, scanning regularly has another benefit: If I were to lose a sketchbook, I’d be very sad, but not nearly as sad as I would be if I were to lose it before scanning its pages.)

Compulsive? Maybe. But I prefer to think of it as being mindful about the way I organize possibly the only mindful thing I do all day. And it means I can easily look in this year’s sketch folder and see that I made 946 sketches (shown on today’s post are some that didn’t appear on the blog earlier). On many days I was barely able to make one sketch, but on many other days, I made several per day. If I were simply trying to make 365 sketches in a year, I could have stopped on May 21. But that’s not the point.

10/7/15 Smith Tower (from photo)

What is the point? Sketching every day. Mindfully.

Happy New Year, and here’s to the next 366 (leap year!) days of sketching!

8/11/15 presentation audience member

Olympia: From the Legislative Building to Tarot Cards

7/25/15 inks, watercolor, colored pencils

For the 48th quarterly World Wide SketchCrawl, Urban Sketchers Seattle as well as sketchers from Marysville to Bainbridge Island gathered at the steps of the Legislative Building in Olympia for a day of sketching. The morning was cloudy and 60 degrees – the world’s best outdoor sketching weather, if you ask me!

7/25/15 ink, colored pencil

I have been wanting to sketch the Capitol building for a long time, so my first mission was to walk across the boulevard to the top steps of the Temple of Justice building and face the Capitol squarely. The sun stayed behind clouds most of the morning, which was great for sitting outdoors, but I was hoping for a peek of sunshine to help me with shadows. At 11 a.m. when the building opened to the public, I could hear the “Star Spangled Banner” playing somewhere. The flags were at half-staff for the five military service members who were killed Sunday in Chattanooga.

Since that sketch took more than an hour, I spent most of the remaining time before the sketchbook sharing wandering around to see the beautiful Capitol campus that I rarely see. I made a mental list of a number of things I’d like to sketch the next time I visit. I did squeeze in a quick detail sketch of one of the lamp posts in front of the capitol.

7/25/15 ink, colored pencil

Next on the itinerary was to meet up again at the nearby Olympia Farmers Market, which is a smaller and cozier version of Pike Place Market, but just as colorful and fun. That’s where I got my people-sketching fix. During lunch, the jazz band Tra-La-Lu performed on the main stage, which is an actual stage – no casual buskers, these guys! I regret that their set ended before I could sketch the trumpeter.

Interestingly, I found both a palm reader and a tarot card reader working this market, and both seemed to have a continual stream of clients as I sketched them. If there’s a connection to be made between our state governance and the need for psychic services, I’ll let you make it.

7/25/15 ink, colored pencil

Meanwhile, I was delighted to participate today in the second part of our Singapore Symposium Pity Party! J

And speaking of the Urban Sketchers Symposium, next year it will be in Manchester, England! 

7/25/15 ink, colored pencils

7/25/15 ink, colored pencils

Epic Pen Search and Discovery, Part 7: Sailor 1911 Profit Standard with Music Nib

1/16/15 Platinum Carbon ink, Van Gogh watercolors, Stillman & Birn Alpha

(This is part of a multi-post series about my ongoing search for the ultimate variable-line-width fountain pen. To read other posts in the series, choose “Epic Pen Search” in the label cloud at right, below.) 

Despite finding a perfectly reliable and even elegant music nib in the Platinum that I had decided was a keeper, my mind kept drifting back to that Sailor I flirted with briefly once. (Yeah, I know how that sounds – it’s an apt metaphor in several ways.) I had read numerous reviews about how the Sailor music nib’s “sweet spot” was too narrow, causing frustration for many users. Yet for that brief moment that I had that pen in my hand, it seemed altogether sweet. . .

I should have listened.

1/10/15 Private Reserve Velvet Black ink, Stillman & Birn Alpha

Perhaps the pen I borrowed briefly had been altered somehow, because the one I purchased, the Sailor 1911 Profit Standard Demonstrator with a music nib, is definitely not the same. (That experience reinforced my belief that pens must be used in an actual sketching situation – not just scribbling or writing – to really know how they will behave.) And as those reviewers tried to warn me, it also isn’t the same as the Platinum’s music nib.

First of all, the Sailor music’s range of line-width variation is much narrower than the Platinum’s – the broadest stroke isn’t nearly as bold, and when I try to use the nib upside-down to get the finest line, it’s not only not as fine – it also feels scratchy, like it’s not really supposed to be used that way. (I don’t care if none of the nibs are supposed to be used that way; if they work, why not use them that way?)

Writing samples made with Sailor music nib.

Second, that small sweet spot others mentioned? It’s true. If the nib isn’t held at just the right angle to the paper, the ink skips or fades away. I encounter this issue most while simply writing in my journal, but it’s also noticeable when sketching – to the point of distraction. I’m constantly thinking about staying within the sweet spot instead of thinking about my sketch.

Perhaps with a longer workout, I could learn to get used to the Sailor music nib; after all, the Sailor fude took me months to fully love. Or I could dump it right now and decide that it was a flirtation that was never meant to be anything more.

(By “dump,” I don’t mean literally; I mean that I could try to resell it on the secondary market, which seems to be very active for pens in this price range, and probably be successful. It’s one reason I haven’t hesitated in experimenting with all these different nibs.)

1/13/15 Sailor Shigure ink, Sailor music nib pen,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper

One comment about the Sailor 1911 Profit Standard Demonstrator’s body: Its size and shape are identical to the plain black Sailor 1911 Profit Standard (coming up next when I discuss the zoom nib). The fully transparent “Demonstrator” model, however, is a lot more fun to look at. The standard Sailor converter has silver colored detailing, but this pen’s converter has gold detailing to match the pen body’s gold features – a nice touch.

The fountain pen world is full of music nibs to explore. But does a girl need more than one music nib? (Gourmet Pens would say yes – she is trying to collect a music nib by every manufacturer who offers one.) The only other one I would consider trying at this point is Pilot’s, just to complete my education about Japan’s “big three” pen manufacturers’ music nibs. But after my disappointment with the Sailor, music nibs have lost some of their appeal in my explorations.

Besides, I still have the zoom to consider. . . (stay tuned next week).

1/29/15 Sailor Shigure ink, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble
colored pencil

(Just in case it’s not obvious, unlike many blogs that review fountain pens, my blog has no sponsors or affiliates. Every pen I mention here was purchased by me at retail price.)

1/10/15 Sailor Shigure ink, Clairefontaine notebook (from photo)

1/15/15 Sailor Shigure ink, Clairefontaine notebook (from photo)