Sammy in the upholstery studio…
He even has his own chair, the Moon and Stars chair.
Black cats are not easy to paint. Black on black on black…
Pentalic Aqua Journal, Platinum Carbon pen with Platinum Carbon ink;
Noodler’s Lexington Grey ink, White Uniball Signo pen, Fineline Masking Fluid,
Sennelier, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I will teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
Janzten Beach Carouselis a series, and this is the second in the set.
(Click here to see the first, the Chinese Water Serpent Horse.)
I named this Horse with Grapes!
Why am I naming them differently than CW Parker called them?
Because mine are not historically accurate but an homage to the various styles,
as I had to use many disparate images — black and white images, frontal images, detail images, and images from other carousels — while researching to create one horse.
I continue the background of a greyed image evoking an old photograph,
while tying the past to the present. The mane and tail also used
waterproof grey to lay in accents under the watercolor.
Bright yellow and green were undercoats to brighten the top coat.
As I built up color, the original pink looked a bit pale;
I switched it to Quinacridone Coral.
The Fineline Masking fluid was a part of painting on this horse,
where I used it to allow the tassels and the highlights of the grapes to remain white.
Sky, grass, and final touches added,and this cornucopia is complete!
Cold Press watercolor paper, with a Pentalic 2B woodless pencil,
Lamy Al-Star and Pilot Parallel pen with De Atramentis Document black ink
and Platinum Carbon pen with Platinum Carbon ink; Fineline Masking;
Sennelier, Holbein, QoR, M.Graham, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I will teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I will teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
With Inktober arriving in a week, pens are an appropriate tool to review!
(BTW, yes I am doing the challenge — I love it — but
I don’t use the prompts. I just draw every day in ink!)
I’ve drawn my favorite pens, the ones I reach for, walk from desk to home to bed, the ones I love the feel of, that flow well. I will talk about a few others that are keepers but…
know that there are amazing artists who will disagree with me and love that which I tolerate or hate! (Thinking about Cathy Johnson and Noodler’s flex pens.)
My priorities in a pen are that it WORK. That is 90% of it.
I’ve had some pens that didn’t work at all, that had to be fussed with constantly,
and so they went to other homes. I hate fussing. I am all about the drawing.
If possible, I want them to be beautiful.
Being a former architect, designer and artist, I love beauty!
I love a well-designed object (see WORK above), though it is more than that. I want them to be able to post for the times I use them outside my studio.
The favorites:
My favorite pen is the Lamy Al-Star.Reliable 100% of the time;
it only clogs if I abuse it — mostly by letting let the converter go dry unintentionally;
then I need to clean it. It feels good in my hand and is gorgeous!
I bought a converter, which is a must for me as I want waterproof inks for sketching with watercolors. I can easily change my nibs in a flash, meaning I only have to have one pen and I have all this nib variety. How cool is that for traveling? I confess to have it in several colors. Pen pig. I use this one exclusively with Diamine Ancient Copper.
The Lamy Joy(below) didn’t make my favorite list, but it is a good pen,
much better than the Safari. I’m not as thrilled with the feel of it in my hand,
and the colors/design are not as beautiful.
I’m not sure why, but I’ve not had luck with the Lamy Safari with my inks. Clogging constantly… drove me nuts.
My husband loves his with their cartridges… Me, not so much.
☾
Mitchell bought me a gorgeous Jinhao as a memory of my first pen show.
I’m not a purple person, but this cobalt blue violet is stunning.
I said I’d never own another Jinhao (a dirty word in my studio) BUT
the dealer buys them and retrofits them and tweaks them with lovely Goulet nibs.
Mine has a 1.5 stub, and I love it. It is juicy and if I turn it I can get quite a thin line,
above, or flatten it and it is a good calligraphy pen.
I am still trying out colors but think I’ll chose the Diamine Regency Blue, above.
*sigh* I’m in love with a PEN!
☾
If how often you reach for it is the sole tell of your favorite pen, and the one that you can’t live without, then the Platinum Carbon Pen with waterproof cartridges is my favorite.
A total workhorse. My first was the fine point,and I used it and used it and used it with no clogging then one day it stopped. I panicked, wondering what had I done?
I wet it and wiped it and babied it and then realized I had an empty cartridge!
I have it in both sizes, have the desk holders on my studio desk, and then have
two with cartridges for holding brown ink. I really love this pen!
The big downside is the dang pen doesn’t post! Really, how stupid is that?
Most of us are using our pens in the field and then you really want to post
so you don’t lose the pen. I haven’t done this, but Cathy Johnson
has solved the problem of the non-posting pen by cutting the tip off until it posts!
☾
Another workhorse that rarely clogs and can hold a ton of ink is the Platinum Preppie, in three sizes, including a truly extra fine.
I convert it to an eyedropper using O-rings and silicone grease
from Goulet, and have them filled in several ink samples to for play!
At under $4 these are also great to give as starter pens.
☾
The Pilot Metropolitan is also a favorite: inexpensive, comes with a converter at $15.
You can buy a better converter (Con-20 another squeeze converter — or Con-50),
but the squeeze jobber (bladder) works fine! Gorgeous bright colors or
an elegant subdued color with a bit of patterning around the band.
I admit to having them in several colors to match ink.
Downsides: You can’t easily swap out the nibs, and there is no stub nib.
I am fond of stub nibs, and like the option.
I also have found they are fussy with some inks, and can’t get the hang of what makes them fussy. Daily I use a bronze with Super5 Australia ink (waterproof, left above.)
☾
The Pilot Parallelis not quite a
fountain pen — it is unique! I have it in
the 1.5mm and 2.5mm, and larger than that would not suit me. I highly recommend the video by Rachel Goulet to see the capabilities of the pen — I use it in the most mundane manner, that is, for lettering.
Downside: The pens often feather on cold press (rough) watercolor papers.
Sometimes I am okay with that look, sometimes not.
☾
Noodler’s Ahab, the pen I hate but now I use a lot since I dumped the original flex nib, replaced it with a Goulet nib, and filled it with De Atramentis Tobacco ink.
$23 + $15 for the nib….
I’m not a fan of Noodler’s inks or pens, but I do love the Ahab for it’s ink capacity.
I’m not sure if it the nibs themselves or perhaps it is Noodler’s are just too fussy for me.
I also feel like the body is cheap — it FEELS cheap in my hand.
It’s a big pen, so for small hands (mine are medium) that might be a problem. If you want to try a flex nib, at least you know you can swap it out for a great nib if you hate it.
Next for me is that I am going to learn dip pens!
I am adding this great set of test trials by Susan Bronsak. She diligently compared the pens and inks she had on hand — and it is a nice way to see the inked lines.
I may have to do this sometime. A good way to break in a journal!
Goulet also has a page called the Nib Nook, and this is great if you are determined to compare sizes because you are looking for a very bold or very fine nib.
Want to know more about taking care of your pens?
Goulet has 22 videos called Fountain Pen 101:
Just for fun:
Pens banners / samples as described.
Painting is in a Fabriano Watercolor journal, so not my favorite, using a
Platinum Carbon pen, Super5 Dublin ink, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I will teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
How do I paint from my car? What does my setup look like? I’ve been promising this post for a long time and I finally found a photographer willing to take some quick photos of me sketching (well, fake sketching in my driveway). Several things to note before you read the post in its entirety: the car is not always this clean and my palette is not always this dirty. But this is a good week because the car was just washed. As for the palette, a cleaning is a bit overdue, as you will see.
I am sometimes asked if I sit in the driver’s or the passenger’s seat. Well, as you can see, it’s the former, for two reasons. One is that I use the steering wheel as a support for my sketchbook. Secondly, I am right handed and that gives me easy access to the palette and water container.
Sketch from an old black and white photo from who-knows-where,
looking East into the Laguna Hills, when they were pristine…
With more news of fracking pollution approved to dump in our oceans, I am homesick for better days. There was a time when we wanted to take care of and clean up; now the once pristine land is our sewer. I was taught not to relieve myself near any body of water — even hiking, we had to be 20 feet and on the down side from a creek. Now we allow fracking waste and every kind of chemical pollutant to be sprayed and dumped in our waters. I don’t think we need worry about the political differences of the candidates for President; both will continue to do an excellent job of polluting our HOME, and we will take all the creatures of the Earth with us, which is even more unfortunate.
Pentalic Aqua Journal, with a Pentalic HB woodless pencil,
Platinum Carbon pen/Platinum Carbon ink; Noodler’s Lexington Grey ink for grisaille;
Sennelier, Holbein, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I will teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
I am a lover of carousels; this set was a pleasure to paint!
Janzten Beach Carousel has so many gorgeous carousel horses!
I wanted to set up a series whereby someone could buy the set or just one,
and they would all work together or alone,
changing only slightly with each horse or set of horses.
I’ve been calling this the Chinese Water Serpent Horse.
I began with a sketch in pencil, really, three sketches,
loosely sitting on bits of paper, as all of these pieces will be done as collages.
Graphically, the background of a greyed image evoking an old photograph ties them.
I want a version in all the carousel pieces, plus a detail of some aspect of the horses,
and the horse itself. The layout takes time; I play with it.
I’ve inked the image and laid in the masking fluid (blue) so I don’t have to try
to remember and fuss with the bits I want to stay clean and white.
It is important for me to lay in the background color of the carousel in a
waterproof ink wash before coming to this horse, which happens to be quite grey.
The background sets the tone, and I don’t want it overpowering;
I want it to evoke an older time. By using the same grey value ink, I can guarantee
(as much as there are any guarantees in this crazy medium) that the inked carousel background will stay looking the same from image to image in the series.
I began to darken my horse with ink washes.
Coming soon: A class showing how I do ink washes of this nature.
(*Must Buy Camera*)
My under-painting begins, bright yellow,
to provide a *pop* and variation some of my top colors.
Layering the final colors begins, though some of these will also be “under-painting” colors. This is always tricky for me, because of my background in acrylics.
I have to be careful not to rush the process, let it dry completely,
and not to layer too much or it gets muddy.
At this point the grey of the horse began to bother me against the grey background.
The horse I was looking at, often in bits and pieces, appeared to be grey or blue.
I added a very pale wash of Paynes Grey + Prussian blue + Lapis —
which I might use to create a moody night sky —
and it did the trick, pulling the horse forward while not competing with the other colors.
All bits of masking fluid were removed, and final details finalized. OOOOPS, the real background, that which he stands on and sky and earth —
I forgot to start with that!!! Now I had to be sooooo careful!
Done and done, no mishaps. May just do all of them this way, back-ass-wards!
If you are interested in a video class on the process follow me for announcements here
or on Facebook and/or support me on Patreon for discounts and specials.
C.W. Parker built his first Carousel in 1896.
Although built in Abilene, Kansas, it spent its first years on the Venice Beach Pier, from 1921 to 1928,
when it was relocated to North Portland’s
Hayden Island with the opening of Jantzen Beach Amusement Park in 1928. The Carousel was listed, then dropped from the National Register of Historic Places, but is eligible for relisting again. Fun fact:
Carousels were once called “Carry Us Alls.”
Cold Press watercolor paper, with a Pentalic 2B woodless pencil,
Lamy Al-Star and Pilot Parallel pen with De Atramentis Document black ink
and Platinum Carbon pen with Platinum Carbon ink;
White Uniball Signo pen, Fineline Masking;
Sennelier, Holbein, QoR, M.Graham, and Daniel Smith watercolors.
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
access to some content not on this website,
sneak previews, goodies, discounts on classes.
I will teach architectural sketching,
art journaling (art+writing), creativity, watercolors.
That annoying loud-mouth editor/critic in your head? GONE! How great would that be?
I'd love it if you shared this; please mention my blog name!
Sammy in the upholstery studio…
Pentalic Aqua Journal, Platinum Carbon pen with Platinum Carbon ink;
As my Patreon supporter, you will have
