A logbook page from 2009

Page 28

Looking through an old sketchbook today for something to post, I came across this which might be of interest to some. It's from a hardcover A4 book that I was using as a combination sketchbook/logbook in the last two years of my Painting degree. This page records some basic observations about a Rembrandt etching which was the subject of another post -- here. The related thumbnail of the rainy Savannah at lower left evolved into some abstract paintings about a year later. It's often amazing the length of time between the genesis of a thing and when it actually happens though to my knowledge I hadn't been thinking about it .

UK sketchbook

For want of something to post, two pages from the UK section of my sketchbook:

In Kensington Gardens (graphite, A5)

Wildflowers in North Wales (pen, A5) 

New supplies

As promised: the new supplies arrived yesterday via Caribbean Express. On the left is a Strathmore "Dry Media" spiral-bound sketchbook, 14 x 11"; centre, same thing 12 x 9"; right, Strathmore Windpower Drawing sketchbook made of recycled paper, 12 x 9", spiral bound. The back covers are made of strong cardboard which I was wondering about because they were not expensive and it's a risk buying things online without handling them. Plus, the extra inch on the 12 x 9's gives a lot of extra room, surprisingly. 

In front is an open 12 x 9" sketchbook, a set of Caran d"Ache oil pastels in a tin box with a hinged lid which snaps shut, and in the middle two graphite sticks. 

One of the 12 x 9" sketchbooks is already well under way because I had a pile of stuff waiting to stick into it. I'm happy with these things, they are as described on the Dick Blick website, in fact they're even better, because the "Dry Media" sketchbook takes wet media quite well, not too badly anyway (but I'm not fussy about sketchbooks, someone else might disagree).

Gone shopping

It's been a while since I've been to the art shop but yesterday I bust out and went shopping at Dick Blick. Normally I'd go down the road to Deltex, the greatest art shop ever, but my car is down at the moment. Besides, I was mainly looking for sketchbooks and it's difficult for any art shop in Trinidad to stock a wide enough range of papers, bindings and sizes. This is where online is so brilliant. They have every size of sketchbook known to man, 3.5 x 5 up to 18 x 24 ins and everything in between. Moleskines for ever with neat features like pockets and rubber bands. Another variable is the number of pages, and this time I didn't want anything too big. Then there's the bindings. Hardcover, paperback, spiral bound, wire bound. Bound on the long side ("SIDE"), bound on the short side ("TOP"). Ah. This is what I was after, a wire-bound sketchbook with the binding on the long side. Strangely I've not seen these in Deltex or maybe I was too late. Dick Blick had so many it was hard to choose, so I decided to try a few, various permutations of number of pages and overall size (A3 and A4), all of them wire-bound on the long side. Also added a pack of oil pastels to the cart and a couple of graphite sticks. I am so looking forward to these things arriving and will post a photo when they come.

Savannah sketch

Pen, watercolour and graphite in sketchbook.

Sketchbook with pen-holder

(Sept 5: Apologies for that last photo, it was truly awful. I've replaced it, this one is better but I don't rate myself as a photographer.)

I've tried so often to attach a pen or pencil to a sketchbook, usually with masking tape. Masking tape doesn't last for long and it leaves a sticky residue just where one holds the pencil. So I was delighted to stumble on this in the office shop. It's a simple and effective idea. The spiral binder is covered by canvas which is stitched onto the front and back covers, and the pen-holder loop is stitched into the front seam. It works for any pen which has a clip such as Micron pens (can't find one right now for the photo). Really neat and duly snapped up.

Two kinds of sketchbooks

Looking through my sketchbook for something to post, I found this pencil drawing of Joseph Beuys's coyote from I like America, America Likes Me (video), done many months ago, approx A4.

These days my sketchbooks look more like the one below, a combination sketchbook/journal/logbook. with things stuck in at will and still evolving.

Words and pictures at the V&A

These are some sketchbook pages from an OCA sketchbook workshop that I attended in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum on October 12, 2008. In the afternoon session we had a choice of projects and most people including myself chose the "Walk around the V&A" option, drawing as we went. My aim was to do as many quick drawings as I could, of whatever caught my eye. The drawings and the notes tell their own story so here they are. The notes can be made big enough to read by clicking on the images to enlarge, though I can't say the same for the handwriting.

Watercolour travel kit

I've been feeling a need to add colour to my sketchbook, so I went looking for a small neat folding watercolour kit. Pastels are fine except for smudging, and I do use them outside, but not in a standard sketchbook with white pages. Gouache would be good too, didn't think of it at the time. Coloured pencils are too slow and need too much pressure. Watercolour pencils aren't bad. Markers -- well, it's no harm to have them but I don't use them much. Watercolour it would be.

I found dozens of watercolour kits in all price ranges, some quite elaborate costing over US$100, but I was looking for something simple and inexpensive. I settled on the little box shown here and am very happy with it, except that the brush is hopeless. The box, along with a much smaller sketchbook than the one shown*, and a tiny water bottle (a reclaimed airline rum sample bottle), fits in a zipper pencil case, good to go.


The kit performs well in actual use (apart from the brush) -- the pans have body and moisture and you can work up a good thick brush-load of colour. Actually, the brush isn't hopeless, it has good spring, it's just very small and thin. One of the things I like about this particular kit is that the colours are mostly permanent except for Viridian and Alizarin. Not that permanence is an issue in a sketchbook, but even so.

As for the brush -- I'll get a thicker one as well and cut the handle down to fit in the pencil case.

A selection of travel kits:
http://www.dickblick.com/categories/watercolorsets/watercolortravelkits/details/

This kit is by Winsor & Newton and is called the Cotman mini watercolour set -- US$23.59, item No. 00325-1039 at Dick Blick, http://www.dickblick.com/items/00325-1039/

The kit closed. The silvery thing is the brush slotting neatly into the cover.

*The sketchbook in the picture is hardcover, 8.5 x 11".

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