Sketch Kit July 2017

I’ve made some recent changes to my sketch kit and bought a new pen case – “Lihit Lab smart fit small double pen case” that holds all my sketch gear (except the little water bottle) in one compact unit….

It has 2 sections, one opens like a book with pockets and elastic to hold all my pens and brushes, the other side is a half zip pocket where I store my Altoids paint box and other bits and bobs…..The above pictures are a little misleading, the as the pen is resting on the floor it looks much smaller than the case….actual size see below with pen stored inside….

Below picture…. top row from top left are…

TWSBI Eco fountain pen with Extra Fine nib; Pentel pocket brush pen (cartridge refilled with DeAtramentis Document Black ink); Uniball gel pen with White pigment ink; Pentel broad waterbrush filled with tap water plus a few drops of Lamy black ink (makes a convenient grey ink wash); Zig BrushH20 “broad”waterbrush (this is actually a flat brush); Pentel round waterbrushes sizes fine and broad; Travel brushes (separated in the photo) – 6mm (1/4”) dagger brush synthetic hairs (no name on brush, bought from Malcolm Carver website) and Escoda Number 8 Sable brush; Bic Classic fine ball point; Pentel 0.7mm mechanical pencil with 2B leads; Cheap 6mm flat brush (for gouache); cheap synthetic rigger brush.

Other items above are: Altoids paint box (see next picture below for details); wrist sweat band for wiping brushes; Nalgene bottle of water 60mls / 2oz (this bottle doesn’t fit in the pen case): Nalgene bottle of white gouache 8mls / 1/4oz; Bulldog clip; Metal ruler

 

I’ve also changed a few colours recently… from top left…Winsor Lemon, Hansa Yellow Medium, Yellow Ochre, Buff Titanium, Quinacridone Violet, Permanent Rose, Winsor Red, Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet, Sepia, Perylene Green, Turquoise Green, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Indigo

Perylene Green is my newest interesting colour and the only ready-made green I carry, mixing other greens as needed from above……

I have to say that 95% of my watercolour sketching is done with waterbrushes….even though I have great “proper” watercolour brushes I still love the convenience of waterbrushes. They do take some getting used to ….hold them lightly and gently – don’t squeeze the barrel unless you want water.

It is possible (though a little tricky – needs practice) to get dry brush effects…. thoroughly wipe off excess water from the bristles and paint holding your paper and brush vertical (with the bristles pointing skyward) it feels a little strange – but gravity can’t pull the water down down out of the barrel!

Cottesloe Beach – the old timber jetty appears ?

Autumn tides have shifted the sand around the local beaches exposing limestone reefs and ripping up old seaweed in great heaps on the beach. But today I saw something that I’ve never spotted before….old wooden post and rail with large iron bolts sticking out of the sand just in front of the Indiana Tea House on Cottesloe beach. It seems this wood could be part of the original Cottesloe Jetty built in 1906 to make it easier for fishos to get out past the reef and allow people to “promenade” as was the thing to do in those days. Unfortunately it was fairly short lived as the pylons were damaged by boring mollusc and later winter storms. The jetty was eventually condemned and blown up in 1952 with gelignite.

Read the full story at….

A TALE OF TWO JETTIES

Finally a quick scribble with pen and coloured pencils, looking North….

Bounce – People at play

Took several kids to “Bounce” an indoor trampoline centre this afternoon. Rather than glue myself to my mobile phone for an hour like nearly all the other parents I seized a sketching opportunity. These are my “sausage” people…trying to catch people in mid bounce is of course rather challenging but surprising fun. I watch for a few minutes before trying to take a mental snap-shot of one person in mid flight then scribble furiously before I forget the visual image. Fortunately most people do seem to repeat the same type of bounce if you watch long enough….each person moves in their own way according to their build, flexibility and spacial awareness.

Pilot Prera fountain pen medium nib, De Atramentis Document Red ink.

Chooks with Sailor Fude Fountain Pen

These are our two chooks Emily and Chirp (Poppy is sadly no more)  who scratch around in a section of our backyard. They were really hard to draw as they never stop moving… I watched them for fifteen minutes hoping that they would settle down and be still but I think they only know me as the food provider – they always get excited when I approach expecting to be fed some kitchen scraps.

I did the drawing with my new toy…. a Sailor brand “Fude” fountain pen from Larry Post. It’s a fountain pen with a nib bent up at 55 degrees  which gives varying line widths depending on how far you tilt it from vertical position….It’s rather weird to draw with (it was created as a writing pen to mimic Japanese brush calligraphy), takes a bit of practise, I found it best to hold it loosely and further up the barrel than I would normally hold a pen…moving the whole hand at the wrist

Drawn on 125 gsm Quill brand cover paper