Sketchbooks
"Let us wander where the wi-fi is weak."
Anonymous
Sketchbooks are an essential item for every artist. They become a repository for the artist's mind, each artist fills the book with their unique type of content. Mine contain few, if any words.
Anonymous
Sketchbooks are an essential item for every artist. They become a repository for the artist's mind, each artist fills the book with their unique type of content. Mine contain few, if any words.
Train Drawings
Sketches from a moving train in the Stillman & Birn Delta Softcover.
Travel Drawings 1988 - 1997
In late 1988 I left England for a short visit to New York, nearly two years later I returned having visited Australia and the Far East. For most I used sepia ink drawn with a stick of bamboo cut to a nib, and washed over with a Chinese style brush. Here are some of my travel sketches.
Stillman & Birn sketchbooks
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In early February 2014 I recieved an email from a representative of Stillman & Birn, the east coast US maker of high quality sketchbooks, who’d seen ands liked my work online, offering me a selection of the company’s products to try. I knew the company by name and reputation but had never used their products, so welcomed the chance to draw and paint on some top notch materials. I won’t go into too much detail, you can get the full story here, but Stillman and Birn produce a wide range of the most robust sketchbooks available.
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Each book contains sturdy paper with a clever double-sizing process allowing paint and ink behave in an enjoyably unique way. The goodies were supplied by Jackson’s Art Supplies in London, a well-run business providing all manner of wonderful things for arty creative types, and arrived a few days after choosing. Heaving the contents out of the packaging I was met with two impressively well-crafted sketchbooks, the Beta and Zeta, rough and smooth versions to test ink, watercolour and line & wash. But enough of the waffle, let’s see some art.
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More Stillman & Birn gifts
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A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Stillman & Birn telling me that I was the lucky recipient of a Gamma sketchbook and a set of Faber Castell pencils. I get through many sketchbooks, quickly filling pages, using mainly pencil and wash. For the past few months I’ve been using Faber Castell’s water soluble 6B & 8B pencils with a Pentel water brush. These pencils sharpen well and give a smooth wash once wetted. The Pentel brushes keep a point and deliver water with controlled consistency. I've not tried other makes but this chap on You Tube has.
Recently I tried something from Australia (via Jackson’s Art Supplies, London) called Liquid Pencil. It’s graphite powder in some sort of acrylic medium, I chose the non-reworkable but they offer a range of tints - warm>cool -and a reworkable version. I spent yesterday at Chichester making a few sketches of the cathedral with the Gamma sketchbook, Faber Castell 8B w/s pencils and the pot of liquid pencil. |
Below are some of the results, one or two more successful than others.
Thanks go to Stillman & Birn and Faber Castell USA for sending these fine gifts. 
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