A Fossil and a Seahawk at the Burke

2/11/15 Platinum Carbon and Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun inks, Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencil, Fabriano
Studio 140 lb. hot-press paper

The Burke Museum held a Behind-the-Scenes Night for members last evening. They opened up many of their collections that are generally not accessible to the public or are simply not on view right now. While I found them fascinating, especially the rare and old textiles and baskets, the viewing spaces were crowded and tight – not very conducive to sketching. After getting my fill of that, I wandered out to the regular exhibits, where I never run out of things to sketch.

2/11/15 Diamine Chocolate Brown and Fuyu-syogun
inks, Museum water-soluble colored pencils

My first stop was the fossil of a huge Eurhinosaurus, a 185-million-year-old marine reptile. After sketching it from a distance, I walked up to it to get a closer look and spotted (relatively) tiny fossilized nautilus shells around the reptile.

Next I saw “Here and Now: Native Artists Inspired,” an exhibit of the work of contemporary artists who have been influenced by their ancestors. On temporary loan to the museum in this exhibit is a Kwakwaka’wakw transformation mask that was carved in the late 19^th century on Vancouver Island. The original inspiration for the Seahawks logo, the mask will be on view through July 27. 

Mostly Overcast at Green Lake

2/11/15 Platinum Carbon ink, Caran D'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencils, Fabriano Studio 140 lb. hot press paper

Today the temperature was supposed to get all the way into the mid-50s this afternoon – 55 is my self-designated lower temperature limit for outdoor sketching – so I bundled up and ventured out to Green Lake (below). I was a little cold, though, especially as I waited for my watercolors to dry. (It’s funny – while I’m sketching, I hardly notice the cold, but as soon as I have to stop and wait, I suddenly feel it.)

Chilled, I got back in the car and was about to leave when I spotted an interesting stand of trees bordering one side of the parking lot (above). I felt like my watercolor sketch of the lake lost all sense of distance, so this time I used pen and colored pencils with the goal of achieving more depth.

2/11/15 Platinum Carbon ink, watercolor

Technical note: I’ve always been a fan of textured paper with watercolors, but now that my favorite cold-press paper has become too toothy, I’m giving Fabriano Studio hot-press paper another try. Its smooth surface is especially pleasant to use with a fountain pen, so in the winter when I tend to use watercolor less, it works out well. I don’t like it much with colored pencils, though – for those, I prefer more tooth. 

A Lesson in Monochrome Lines

2/10/15 India ink, twig, Super 5 Frankfurt ink, Zig marker, Canson
XL 140 lb. paper

After my usual Tuesday meeting in Shoreline, I meandered through a different area this morning and discovered many more hacked trees to eventually sketch. The butchering of these two trees was less obvious from the angle I took (I was parked somewhat awkwardly and perhaps illegally), but I was intrigued by the challenge: showing the vertical lines of utility poles, the horizontal and diagonal power lines and the organic lines of trees – all in monochrome. 

Technical note: My Sailor pen filled with Super 5 Frankfurt ink hasn’t been getting a regular workout lately because the rain has kept me indoors, where I tend to sketch with whatever is on my desk instead of in my bag. To sketch the power lines today, I wanted a finer, more consistent line than what I could get from the twig I used on the trees, so I pulled out the pen containing Super 5. The first several strokes were dry, and it was definitely scratchy throughout. I’m beginning to doubt whether its idle time is acceptable after all. In general, the ink seems to flow more dryly than my favorite Platinum Carbon. Now that my sample’s almost gone, I’m not sure I’m going to spring for a full (pricey) bottle. I like Frankfurt’s warm gray, but I prefer wetter inks.

Epic Pen Search and Discovery, Part 3: Music, Zoom and Flexible Nibs

Left to right: Sailor music, Sailor zoom and Pilot Falcon nibs.

(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.) 

Although I had seen mention of it online, before attending the Pen Club meeting, I had no idea what a music nib was. (The blog Gourmet Pens has an informative post on the subject.) It turns out that it is an option offered by a number of pen manufacturers. Making a thick line in one direction while making a thin line in the crosswise direction, the three-tined music nib is apparently intended for use by composers and other musicians penning musical notes all day. Using a Sailor music nib (which has two tines rather than the typical three) at the meeting was intriguing, to say the least.

Music nib reviewers, however, seemed to strongly favor Platinum’s (and to a lesser extent, Pilot’s) nibs over Sailor’s. Unfortunately, no one at the Pen Club meeting had a music nib from those manufacturers for me to try and compare with.

Another nib I tried at the Pen Club meeting was the Sailor zoom. Unlike the music, this nib was harder to find information on. The one I tried seemed to have slightly less line-width variability than the music, but the variability was achieved by tilting the nib backward and forward – similar to the movement required for the fude – and therefore somewhat familiar to me.

At the same time, I started hiking down the flexible nib path. It is well known among fountain pen enthusiasts that the most flexible nibs are found on vintage pens that are difficult to find (and accordingly expensive). I tried one of these (known as “wet noodles”) at the Pen Club and was amazed by its softness and flexibility. It did, indeed, produce a lovely, expressive, variable-width line.

Among modern flexible or semi-flexible nibs, I was familiar with the Pilot Falcon (also known as the Namiki Falcon), which is favored by some artists for drawing, but I’d also read many complaints that the nib isn’t as flexy as artists desire. (The far less-expensive Noodler’s Ahab is another popular pen that supposedly flexes, but I tried that pen briefly a couple of years ago and found that the so-called flexing ability was so stiff, I had to apply too much pressure to sketch with it naturally. And don’t get me started on all of its other issues!)

To confuse matters, Pilot offers several fountain pen models with the option for a “Falcon” (FA) nib that is not the same as the nib on the Pilot Falcon pen mentioned above – the Falcon nib is, in fact, much softer and flexier. (It took me quite a while to understand that those are two different entities.) Now this was starting to sound interesting!

After a few more weeks of research, I knew a flexible nib was in my future . . . (stay tuned next week).

Year of the Ram and Bruce Lee

2/7/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Zig
markers, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

After last night’s deluge, the Pineapple Express gave us a brief reprieve this morning. We took advantage of it by dashing out to the Chinatown-International District to see the Lunar New Year celebration outside the Wing Luke Museum. Unfortunately, we were a little late, so the firecrackers started blasting away just as we got there, and with a huge crowd in front of me, I could hardly see the lions dancing! I had a slightly better view of one of the drummers, but I had to sketch the lion mostly from memory of the tiny glimpses I was able to see by standing on my toes. (I’d had a slightly better view two years ago when I met up with a few Seattle Urban Sketchers there.)

2/7/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Zig marker

After the lion dance, we went inside the museum, where more festivities were taking place in celebration of the Year of the Ram. We shied away from most of the hub-bub, though, and ducked into a quieter area of the museum showing an excellent exhibit of Bruce Lee’s life. I sketched a bronze bust of Bruce that was conveniently close to a corner, where I could stand without getting in the way. (“No Photography” signs were everywhere in the exhibit, so I felt somewhat smug being able to sketch it!) I know the classic bust form is usually armless, but I found it sad and ironic that a man whose arms and hands were such an important part of his martial art form would be portrayed armless. Maybe it was a metaphor of his life being tragically cut short (he was 32 when he died in 1973 of cerebral edema).

The rain was already starting again on the drive home, and now the deluge is back. As we like to say around here, at least we don’t have to shovel rain.

2/7/15 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink

A Few Floating Heads

2/6/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

The Pineapple Express is upon us, and I’ve also been busier than usual with work, income tax and other annoyances, so I’ve been a frustrated urban sketcher. The only on-location drawing I’ve been able to manage this week is a few floating heads snatched out of the air while running errands and at a food court.

2/6/15 Diamine Sapphire ink

2/5/15 Diamine Sapphire ink, Caran d'Ache
Museum water-soluble colored pencil

Tax Break with Monkeys

2/4/15 Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored pencils,
Fabriano 140 lb. hot press paper

We’re working on our income tax return, which is unusually complicated this year. After several hours of confusing, left-brained work, I needed a break.

This silvered leaf mama monkey and her young one looked like another good exercise in sketching fur with colored pencils. But unlike Punxsutawney Phil, whom I sketched Monday, these monkeys demanded that I pay closer attention to their expressions, which I’m afraid I failed to capture. In the calendar photo that was my source, mama looks alert and attentive, while her baby is pure trusting innocence (and yes, it really is bright orange). It’s one thing to render an animal’s form or even texture somewhat accurately; it’s quite a different challenge to get its expression right.

Technical note: Ever since I noticed that the texture of my formerly favorite Canson XL 140-pound cold-press paper had changed, I’ve been trying to decide what to do. Even though it’s a cold press, I’ve really enjoyed using Canson XL because it used to be smooth enough for a fountain pen but still toothy enough to impart a nice texture with watercolor. Now it’s rougher, especially on one side, and I’ve been ranting about why manufacturers make changes like that! I bought several pads at discount a while back, and they all seem to have the “new” texture. Aackkk! (I should know by now that stockpiling a favorite product can backfire this way – it’s happened to me before.)

Today I pulled out a pad of Fabriano 140-pound hot-press paper, which I had last experimented with about a year ago when I was trying out various papers. I remember its smooth surface being a joy to use with a fountain pen, but I didn’t care for the way it looked with a wash of ink or watercolor. Since I use wet media of some kind more often than not, I decided that Canson XL’s cold-press texture served my overall needs better. I don’t think I had tested the Fabriano with colored pencils back then, though, so I tried it today with the monkeys. It’s not bad, but I think I prefer a bit more tooth when using pencils. On the other hand, I rarely use colored pencils while sketching on location, so perhaps this paper would be OK for my Stefano sketchbook. I might stitch up a few signatures and give it a try.

In case you haven’t guessed, I have a habit of hoarding stockpiling accumulating art materials I fall in love with and decide are perfect, and then often it turns out that 1.) the product changes (today’s example); or 2.) I change (I need something different). I also love experimenting with lots of different media, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I tend to want to use all of them simultaneously, requiring many different types of supplies.

Apropos to all of this, Roz Stendahl’s blog today has excellent wise counsel related to product testing, hoarding art materials and expecting art materials to stay the same forever. It’s a lengthy but worthwhile read. I will quote here a paragraph I should hang in my studio:

REPEAT AFTER ME: There is no perfect paper. A magical pen or pencil does not exist. There is no such thing as a perfect art tool or supply. There are a lot of fun ones out there, but none are perfect. Don't spend your valuable sketching and painting time looking for the perfect anything. Love the one you're with.

Thanks, Roz, I needed that. (Don’t worry – her admonition will have no effect on my Epic Pen Search and Discovery.)

Sigh. I guess I’ve procrastinated enough. Back to taxes.