Caran d’Ache + Paul Smith Bicolors Special Edition

 

I succumbed: The Caran d'Ache + Paul Smith Bicolors Special Edition

I fell off the wagon. No judging, please.

During a week of high stress and anxiety, I saw that Goldspot Pens had the Caran d’Ache Paul Smith Special Edition Bicolors set in stock, and after months of resisting, I crumbled. Bicolors are my weakness! C’est la vie.

Like Cd’A’s first set of colored pencils in collaboration with British fashion designer Paul Smith (released in 2020), the latest bicolors set features Smith’s design palette and trademark stripes on the tin and sleeve. I must admit that the tin design appeals to me more than the palette. In particular, I like the thin, subtle strip of stripes on the lid’s lip on an otherwise solid black tin.

This is my favorite part of the tin -- the subtle strip of stripes on the tin's lip.

Unlike that first tin, which contained Supracolors, the latest edition contains bicolors – 12 water-soluble pencils (24 colors) and a small watercolor brush. Each pencil is stamped with “Caran d’Ache + Paul Smith” in silver. (It’s intriguing that the 2020 set puts Smith’s name first: Paul Smith + Caran d’Ache. I wish I’d been a fly on the wall when the discussion took place for that change.)

Before I even used the pencils, I was aghast by the factory sharpening: Very messy collars (that’s the type of thing I’ve seen on cheap pencils from China and India) – I don’t think I’ve ever seen any Caran d’Ache pencils that were as badly presented as these. And look at the big chip in the pink one on the left! Shame on you, Caran d’Ache.

Very sloppy collars and a huge chip

The Smith-curated palette is very . . . fashionable, I guess? Unsaturated and sophisticated, it’s a nice counterbalance to the Supracolor set, which has a more vibrant range. Although it’s not at all a range I would pick out for myself, it’s not bad for urban sketching, and it also has a good range of values (ever since my experiments inspired by the wacky Germanier palette, I find myself viewing hues as values as well as temperature). It’s not great for landscapes, though – it’s short on natural greens.

Swatches made in Hahnemuhle Akademie watercolor sketchbook. I used my Prismalo swatch page to identify as many colors as I could. 

Now let’s get to the all-important cores. A couple of months ago when the set was announced, a reader brought an interesting controversy to my attention (see comments at end of this unrelated post). Apparently the new Smith set, along with last year’s Alpine Frost holiday collection, contains student-grade Swisscolor cores. That would be a significant step down from all the previous bicolor sets, which were promoted by Caran d’Ache as containing Prismalo cores. (How insulting to Smith! Perhaps a reflection on the change in branding to put his name after Caran d’Ache’s? The plot thickens.) The reader later reported that when she asked the question directly to Cd’A’s Instagram account, she was told the Smith set actually contained Supracolor cores:

“Just to reassure you, these bi-colour pencils are actually made with our Supracolor leads, not Swisscolor. We hope you’ll enjoy their quality and performance!”

First of all, even without calipers, I could easily see that the Smith cores are too thin to be Supracolors. A few swatches were all it took to convince me that the marketing person who responded to the inquiry was sadly misinformed: These are definitely not Supracolor cores, which are much softer and creamier.

Smith bicolor at left, Supracolor at right: No way are these the same core!

The next question, then, is whether they are student-grade Swisscolor cores or, like the previous bicolor sets, the mid-grade Prismalo cores. I hadn’t used Prismalos in a while, so I refreshed my memory with a few swatches, and they are as I had remembered them: Much softer than the Smith bicolors.

My large set of Swisscolors was dispatched during my downsizing the past couple of years. However, I still have a small set that came with the kids’ travel kit I got a few years ago (a-ha – as silly as that purchase was, it came in handy after all!). I compared a few swatches.

Sample Swisscolor swatches from my large set

The bicolors’ hardness and dryness seem closer to Swisscolors than Prismalos. However, it’s important to look at the washes, not just the dry swatches. Often the pigment content of a water-soluble pencil becomes more apparent in its wash than in its dry state. When I compare the washed bicolor swatches to washed Swisscolors and Prismalos, they look closer to Prismalo. Since we can’t get a straight answer from Caran d’Ache, we may not be able to know for certain, but I’m unconvinced that they are Swisscolors.

Sample Prismalo swatches

Miffed by the drop in quality and Cd’A’s lack of transparency, I still had to make a sketch with them (below). Taking a cue from my recent experiments with trying on the themed Blick Neocolor II palettes, I challenged myself to use as many colors in the Smith bicolor set as possible. Even as an experiment, 24 colors in one sketch are a bit much, and I lost count at some point, but I used at least one side of each bicolor and several of the opposite sides, too. While that’s certainly more colors than I would ever normally use together in one sketch, they don’t look too bad together. I guess Paul Smith knows what he’s doing.

As for Caran d’Ache . . . one disappointment after another.

6/9/26 Paul Smith bicolors in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook (photo reference)

Getting My Ballpoint Chops Back

 

6/10/26 The Sanctuary and Smith Tower, downtown Seattle

MJ and Roy sketching inside Columbia Center

Last winter when USk Seattle met at Madison Centre, Roy and Mary Jean both missed out. Since our art play date on Wednesday began with a cold morning, it was a good opportunity to introduce them to this cushy, indoor location. With floor-to-ceiling windows all around, this office building’s lobby offers great views of old and new downtown architecture.

Since it was National Ballpoint Pen Day, which I observe annually, I brought along a trusty Bic 4-Color, one of my favorite ballpoints for drawing. It had been a long time since I last sketched with ballpoint, and my hatching felt rusty. While I was a little reluctant to take on architecture, the lovely domed top of The Sanctuary inspired me to push ahead anyway (above). Behind the dome was the glassy, ultra-modern F5 Tower (F5? Whose dumb idea was it to name a skyscraper after a function key?).

Feeling warmed up, I moved on to my beloved Smith Tower (like the Space Needle, it’s a subject I can’t resist if I see it). Hatched clouds – now, that’s something I don’t recall trying before!

W Hotel and Columbia Center lobby stairway

Bic 4-Color for the win!

By the time I finished that page, the morning began warming up, so I walked across the street to the federal courthouse’s sunny lawn. From there, I had a nice view of the pyramid atop the W Hotel. (Can you see the pattern here? I like to draw only the tops of buildings.)

After lunch at Columbia Center’s food court, Mary Jean and I both tackled the intriguing lobby staircase that offers seating along the sides. As soon as I began, I regretted the subject – all that horizontal hatching!

It was a fun day of getting my ballpoint chops back.

My Sketchbook’s Gifts to Me

 

Another partially used sketchbook conquered.

My goal to fill partially used sketchbooks continues. My latest conquest is this Hahnemühle Akademie Aquarelle sketchbook. For student grade, it contains excellent paper, but once I discovered Hahnemühle’s watercolor books containing 100 percent cotton paper, especially on location, there was no turning back.

What makes this book unusual is that it is entirely filled with sketches using reference photos and some imaginary work – not a single page drawn from life. I did a lot of portrait practice, both human and animal, direct watercolor challenges, workshop exercises, composition practices – all done from home.

An exercise in imaginative drawing and watercolor play.

The superpower of working on location is that the sketch becomes permanently infused with sensory memories from the experience. When I look back at an urban sketch, especially from my travels and other experiences that were new to me, all the sounds, smells and feelings of making the sketch come rushing back.

This book doesn’t evoke any memories or feelings in that way. Even when I sketch from a photo I’ve taken myself of a place I know well, the superpower of drawing from life doesn’t work. Although seeing a portrait made of an Earthsworld stranger sometimes  makes me recall whatever struggle or satisfaction I may have felt from an approach or medium I was trying, the subject and experience have no other emotional connection.  

Lots of Earthsworld people! I usually crop images neatly for this blog, but here are the full pages, messy scribbles and all.

This volume, however, is emotionally meaningful in a different way. I began using it in March 2023 in the midst of my most difficult, painful caregiving years. Most pages were filled late at night when I could finally take respite to recover from the day’s challenges so that I could sleep. I now see the book as the direct product of the art therapy that probably saved my life (or at least my sanity). Recalling that time, it’s hard to look through now, but I’m also filled with gratitude.

Composition studies using the Caran d'Ache mixed media set

I also appreciate the purely experimental nature exhibited in this book. With no connection to subject matter, I could focus exclusively on media, technique, approach or whatever else I was exploring. With my grounding in urban sketching, I tend to think of my sketchbooks mainly as repository for my on-location observations. The pages are finished products. But to many artists, a sketchbook is a place for play and experimentation. I have sometimes worried that I don’t do enough of that kind of play in my daily-carry sketchbook, but this book makes me realize I have been doing it all along – I just keep the play in a separate volume.

It is always with great satisfaction that I put away a completed sketchbook into my bookcase designated for that purpose, and my urban-sketch-filled books are usually the most rewarding. This one surprised me for all it has given back to me.

I filled the few remaining pages with doomscrolling prevention tactics and my recent Blick themed Neocolor II palette experiments.

A Pink Pick for National Donut Day

 

6/5/26 Top Pot Doughnuts, Wedgwood neighborhood

My dilemma is always the same. When I go to a donut shop with the intention of sketching my treat, what kind do I choose? One of my favorites to eat (fritter [see last year's], Bavarian cream [in 2017], chocolate-glazed raised), none of which are particularly attractive, or a pretty one that I may not enjoy as much but will be more fun to draw? Since it was National Donut Day, which I look forward to observing annually, my sketchbook won the argument with my mouth: A bright pink raspberry-glazed raised ring.

Lots of families came in briefly for after-school treats (kids scarf down donuts surprisingly fast), but most purchases were for takeout. I was lucky to catch one young boy who was there with his dad to celebrate the last day of school.

View from Retreat

 

6/4/26 Green Lake Park

After finishing a couple of errands on foot, I stopped for a Cortado break at Retreat. At the café’s sunny outdoor seating area, I picked this view facing a curve in the road around Green Lake – similar to a composition I had sketched several years ago from the same café.

In that 2022 post, I had been complaining about our Juneuary weather. Other than that one freakish day last week when the temps hit the high 80s, we haven’t had summer yet. I don’t mind cool morning clouds, though, when they eventually give way to blue skies. As long as it’s warm enough to sketch outdoors, I’m happy.

Blue notes: I may have to reconsider this Caran d’Ache Blue (260) for sky (see geeky mutterings in this post). This blue is too reserved for the exuberance I feel when the sky finally appears. I may have to bring back my favorite, much warmer Middle Cobalt Blue (660).

Overlook Landscaping

 

6/7/26 Waterfront Overlook Walk

A cruise ship was in, and soccer fans were already in town for the impending World Cup, which meant only one thing: Pike Place Market was more mobbed than usual on Sunday. Fortunately for USk Seattle, our outing focused on spacious Waterfront Overlook Walk, which feels unoppressive even when lots of people are enjoying this city gem.

After sketching there several times since it opened less than two years ago, what caught my attention this time was how lush all the landscaping has become. Lupine and many small floral bushes were blooming everywhere (which the bees seemed to appreciate). I decided to make the landscaping the “story” of my first Overlook visit of the summer (I anticipate more . . . some of my best-used tax dollars are here).

Blick Urban Sketch Palette (Tina Edition)

 

6/4/26 Blick's Urban Sketch palette (photo reference)

Yesterday I emulated the “Blick Exclusive” edition of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels with the Botanical and Earth Tones theme. In today’s post, I recreate the Urban Sketch set (of course). As I mentioned yesterday, my Cobalt Blue (160) and Emerald Green (210) have gone missing, and both appear in this palette too, so they are absent in my recreation. I didn’t think Cobalt Blue was necessary since Ultramarine is included, but a green seemed essential, so I subbed in Phthalocyanine Green (710).

While the color range is wide enough for most urban scenes, it’s a bit heavy on browns and other earth tones for my needs, and including both Sepia and Black seems nearly redundant. I use Light Gray (intended for pavement, I suppose?)  so infrequently that I didn’t know what to do with it in my sketch. I ended up using it mostly to block in shapes that I colored over later with other colors. It’s curious that the palette includes Lemon Yellow, Golden Yellow and Orange while the Botanical and Earth Tones set includes only one yellow. (A-ha – the tin illustration shows a classic yellow taxicab.)

Phthalocyanine Green stands in for Emerald in my recreated palette.

With blue and green in the palette, I knew what I needed in my reference photo: Trash cans! Maybe I was influenced by the theme’s name, but I found this palette comfortable and easy to use. I only needed to take artistic license with the car’s color (yellow cabs are extremely rare in these parts). Not seeing an obvious way to use Vermilion and Carmine with this reference photo, I had to start a dumpster fire (ha-ha).

While Phthalocyanine Green is ideal for trash cans, I find it too unnatural for foliage. Using this palette taught me, however, that when warmed with Lemon Yellow, it’s not bad.

As I did with yesterday’s palette, I balked at too many colors being used for no reason – and then I reminded myself that no one said I had to use them all. In any case, I enjoyed using these palettes as a fun exercise in stretching my color vocabulary. It was relaxing, too, because I didn’t have to think about which colors to choose. I’ll add this to my doomscrolling prevention toolkit.

The two themes I emulated are each wide-ranging enough that they could be used as standalone sets. The Blick Exclusive series has two more sets – Fantasy Dreamscape and Floral Expressions. Fantasy Dreamscape is overly heavy on cool hues, and the floral set wouldn’t be adequate for urban scenes, making both less versatile. If I come across reference photos that might be appropriate for those palettes, I might try them someday.

In the meantime, I have a more pressing matter at hand: Where could my Emerald Green and Cobalt Blue be . . .?