Roz Wound Up

Ken Avidor on Toned Paper

Above Ken Avidor on Tone Paper video—if the embedded video doesn't play, see it at YouTube at this link.

Valentine's Day Minneapolis-based artist Ken Avidor talked about working on toned paper in a demo at Wet Paint in St. Paul. I was able to get some of it on tape.

Since I stupidly decided to avoid the highway rush hour traffic and go on River Road I got stuck in the exodus from the University! I arrived about 15 minutes late but then started right in taping at what I think you'll agree is a great moment to start!

Left: Roberta and Ken Avidor show off their new Brompton folding bikes in the concourse of the Union Depot in St. Paul, MN. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

 

From talking with friends afterwards I think what I mainly missed was a discussion of some of his tools and his admonition to "always draw from life," and his repeated encouragement to "draw every day."

In the video some things are mentioned and the following links and information will help you in your search for the whole "scoop."

People Mentioned in Ken's Talk:

Ken mentioned the Minnesota Journal Project 2000 in his talk. Linda Koutsky and Mark Odegard were the original coordinators who started the project and I (Roz Stendahl) was brought on in the fall of 1999 as a coordinator. I helped bind the 50 journals we used for the project and helped with the various activities and exhibits. This project ran through 2000, with exhibits in 2001. Fifty Minnesota artists, writers, songwriters, actors, directors, graphic designers, and other creative individuals kept journals for the year 2000 and those journals became part of the permanent collection of the Minnesota Historical Society. (In 2010 the group held a reunion at the History Center and an additional journal containing work from most of the participants was added to the collection.)

Both Ken and Roberta were artists already known to Linda and Mark (who had hired Ken when they both worked at the Science Museum). I first met Ken and Roberta when we had our first meetings for this project. In a studio visit with them I grumbled about the bond paper Ken was using for his sketches and I have been nagging him ever since to use better paper and materials because his art blew me away when I first saw it and it still does today. I'm pleased to say that I have made several appearances in Ken's journals over the years, thanks to my bossiness which he captures perfectly!

Sketchbooks and Paper:

For quite a long time Ken used Cachet's Earthbound journals for his daily journal. He liked the toned paper they contained. However the bindings were always pretty battered by the end of the year. He has since switched over to Strathmore's Toned Paper Journal line and is loving the slightly darker tone of tan paper (and also works on the line's gray paper). He finds the binding superior and recommends them. (You can read about the Strathmore journal line here. Ken only uses the toned paper journals in this line, and he only works in dry media. The post contains images from my toned paper journal experiments in this line.)

In the video Ken passed around some drawings on loose sheets. He was working on Magnani's Annigoni Designo (which is a wet-media ready paper that I routinely make into books, but which is also available in pads) and Stonehenge Kraft, available in sheets and pads.

Tools:

Ken now uses China markers (white) after talking with Don Colley, who visited the Cities last fall. (Don is coming back to the Cities in May 2013 so when I have details of any demos he might be doing I'll let you know.) (Note: Wet Paint sells white China markers, as well as other colors as I have a bunch, but I couldn't find a link on their site so I've given you the Amazon link so you can see what they look like). 

Other white pens and markers Ken uses:

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Big Brush Pen with white India Ink.

Stabilo Tone watersoluble wax crayon in wood, which Ken calls a Stabilo in the video, is actually now only available as a Stabilo Woody. (This is my favorite watersoluble crayon, which if you've been reading the blog I've lamented long about. Use Stabilo Tone in the search engine and find a ton of posts on it. If you go to the link I've provided and scroll down to a "pens and crayons photo" you'll see both a white Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Big Brush Pen [A] and Stabilo Tone/Woody [E] so you'll know what to look for. Wet Paint has both.)

White Prismacolor Pencils. (The regular colored pencils, not the Verithins.)

Pastel Pencils and pastels.

Lyra large colored pencils.

Ken used to use the Rotring Sketch pen but it is now his fall back pen. Currently he uses a Noodler's Flexnib—but would actually prefer a non-flexible nib. He uses the Noodler's pen because it looks more like a fountain pen and people don't realize he's sketching. He uses Noodler's ink, sometimes Platinum Carbon Black ink (though he has trouble with this ink in some pens), and various fountain pen inks (since he's using dry media for coloring he doesn't have to have a waterproof ink). He still carries the Rotring because it has a converter and if he runs out of ink with the Noodler's pen he has a back up. He will also use the Preppy Pen (which you can read about on my blog here, and you can read another more recent review of the Preppy here where I talk about the news that you can get converters for them!).

Sketch Outs and Sketch Out Groups:

Ken mentioned the following groups and events—

Urban Sketchers an international sketch group started by Gabi Campanario.

Urban Sketchers—Twin Cities (which is the local authorized sub-group of the Urban Sketchers organization and you can read there how to become part of it if you're a Twin Cities sketcher.)

MCBA Visual Journaling Collective is a group for journaling artists of all types (we have some writers as well as visual journal keepers) which I run with Suzanne Hughes at Minnesota Center for Book Arts.  

MetroSketchers—a local sketching group started by LIz Carlson and run by her and Tim Jennen. They meet the first Sunday of the month at different locations. You can find them on Facebook (no website at this time). You can contact Liz for additional info at MetroSketchers@yahoo.com.

Additional sketching opportunities that Ken didn't mention include Bell Museum Sketch Night and Dr. Sketchy's. See a list of Sketching and Sketch Outs in the Twin Cities here.

Each year I run the Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out during the run of the Fair. This is the link to the Fourth Annual Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out from 2012. The 2013 Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out will likely be on the Tuesday during the run of the Fair but details have not be finalized yet. Please check back, and use the blog's search engine to read about helpful hints for sketching at the Minnesota State Fair. Sketchers of all levels are welcome. (Yes there will be buttons!)

Books and Blogs and Reaching Ken Avidor:

Ken and Roberta Avidor's new travel sketching blog is here. While you're there follow links to the MANY other blogs which Ken runs, because he has a lot to say about a lot of things.

Ken and Roberta Avidor are two of the featured artists in Danny Gregory's new book "An Illustrated Journey." You'll want to check this out at Danny's blog. He's doing interviews via Skype with the artists and those are great fun to see. 

You can reach Ken Avidor at the following email address:
ken(dot)Avidor(at)gmail.com

Wet Paint Artists' Materials and Framing—An Independent Art Supply Store:

Wet Paint is Ken's (and Roberta's, and my, and just about everyone else's) favorite art supply store. I know Ken would like to thank them for the opportunity to spread the word about sketching and using toned paper. I'd like to thank Wet Paint for creating a community for artists by their regular demonstrations and "try-out" evenings. You can read more about Wet Paint here. No matter where you are in your journey as an artist Wet Paint staff members are there to help you get the tools and materials which will give you great results.  

Life Drawing Notes, And a Funny Thing Happened…

Above: Final sketch of the evening from Oct. 9, 2012. Pencil (2B) on newsprint. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

People have been writing in lately to provide new times, locations, costs, etc. for the Twin Cities Life Drawing Co-ops  page on my blog. Since there have been a number of them I have reformatted the page to incorporate listings I found out about later, into the main body of the post, and put a new update date on the top of the post.

If you refer to this list for information on these types of opportunities please take a moment to refer to it again and make sure that the co-op you go to is still showing the correct information. If not I'd love to hear from you with corrections.

I don't list classes on this list I list drawing co-ops that anyone can sign up for either for a series of sessions or on a drop-in basis.

As for the above sketch, it was something I did in a life-drawing class and I was so happy it actually ended up looking like the model—and then when I was taking photos of my night's work at home (I like to keep digital files of these throw away sketches) I realized that I was so pleased with the placement of her hand on her face that I neglected one minor, little detail—I didn't count her fingers. It still makes me smile.

A Quick Art Exhibit Road Trip and an Incredible Gift

Left: Devon, a ceramic squirrel I purchased in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Let's start with the "boring" stuff. 

I drove about 4.5 hours (actually I was riding shot gun so it wasn't strenuous on my part at all) so that I could go to a Target in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on pre-Christmas Eve Eve, i.e., the eve before the eve when most stores close early, but since it was the eve before the eve everyone was interested in selling stuff.

I didn't come up with a plan to do this. But it was all actually my fault. Weeks earlier I asked my friend Linda if she would like to drive down to Cedar Rapids (hereafter simply CR) and see the Alphonse Mucha exhibit with me. We both are a little bit Czech, and we both are a whole lot interested in printing, graphics, and line.

Linda is a wonderful travel companion for a host of reasons (some to be explored here) but also because she likes to do all the driving. All I have to do is sit and chat, in fact, before we left her dad asked her if she wanted to take some books on tape for the drive and she told him, "I've got Roz."

I love Linda, she gets me.

So there we were, driving south towards CR, the snow from the previous week's snow storm had been shoveled away (or drifted away) and the roads were mostly clear (some patches of ice. (We did see a lot of abandoned jack-knifed trucks in the ditches and that's never fun.)

Left: The jar of questions Linda had prepared for our trip—each scoll of paper is another question. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

We made great time, we zoomed along taking in the scenery. After a couple of hours Linda said something like, "I think now would be a good time for you to check out your jar of questions." She directed me to open the glovebox and there was a bottle filled with little scrolls on which she'd written questions. I laughed and laughed and started unrolling the questions. One was about how my brother was doing (working too much), another asked specifics about projects past and future. (I'd give you more details but the jar was inadvertently left in Linda's glovebox when I unpacked at the end of the trip—I'm getting it back tomorrow; I want to put the questions in my journal.)

We also stopped for lunch at a Culvers where I had a really tasty chicken sandwich. (Just saying.) I didn't have any ice cream though, I'm rather particular about ice cream.

Our destination wasn't the Mucha exhibit. Linda, who researches everything, had learned that there was a Marvin Cone exhibit at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. They were open on Sunday (which this was) and the Mucha exhibit was open on Christmas Eve Day (i.e., Monday, the next day) so we would see each in rapid fire, but with plenty of viewing time and rested eyes.

I'm sorry to say I knew nothing about Marvin Cone before this trip. Oh sure, someone may have mentioned him in passing as a friend of Grant Wood, and I may have seen a painting or two—but nothing stuck.

Well this exhibit stuck. If you would like to see more images than were in the exhibit the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art has put up a collection of Marvin Cone images. (I love the image of the little girl reading that comes up on the first row of the first page of the gallery. It was a gem to behold in person.)

The museum also allows you to take photos so I snapped a couple photos to remind myself, and to augment images I might be able to buy in the giftshop on postcards. Linda came over to me and told me to turn off the sound on my camera. While photos were allowed you could hear the bing throughout all 7 galleries. Since the camera is relatively new I didn't have a clue how to do this so she took it and pushed some buttons and instant silence. Now friends are always complaining that they can't hear me take photos—but I love it. Stealth.

The museum closed early and we went off to find our hotel and our destination for the next day. We ended up driving through a flat part of town near the river, where there had obviously been a flood (a couple years ago I think). We went through a neighborhood called NewBo (New Bohemia). I was to learn in one of the tourist magazines why there were so many Czech immigrants in the area—they came to fill positions in an industry that the town was known for, but sadly I don't recall. All I know is that industry morphed into telecommunications or radio stuff and then into something else and now it turns out there is an avionics industry in CR. There are also some really cool factories that have been reclaimed and turned into lofts. (This city girls loves industrial lofts.)

Neither one of us was hungry (OK Culvers also has good french fries) so we continued our explorations. We ended up in an area that was supposed to be a "mall." There was one, but there were also satellite strip malls all around it. Think of the area around the Galleria and South Dale only more industrial.

We tried a number of local stores but finally decided that we would go check into our hotel. After settling in and asking about places to eat (no good answers) we decided we'd return to the Super Target we passed and buy meats and bread and fruit. So off we went.

Of course Linda and I can't go into a Target without looking at "other things." She has some interesting stationery to show me. I was attracted by the bright sparklies of the ornaments section. We found some very cool ornaments with LEDs inside that made them glow. I bought a snowflake that changes color, for my friend Diane (who has THE Tree).

Right: Linda made a collar for Devon. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I also found Devon, the squirrel pictured at the opening of this post. Ten dollars of fun. At first I thought it would be fun to decorate him with graffiti. Then I realized he'd make a great model for working with value transitions.

That evening we ate our improvised smorgasbord and watched a little TV. We didn't have any show listings so we ended up calling Linda's fiancé on iPhone speaker phone to tell us what was on the "national" stations.

Linda also worked on her holiday bracelets. (I got two of them and they are very spiffy indeed. They are the same as Devon's collar, only bigger.) During the commercial breaks we chatted.

We had a wonderful view of a refining plant miles away. I actually did a sketch of it (but haven't scanned it).

The next morning it was off to the Czech bakery to snap up a bunch of goodies and then on to the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library for the Mucha exhibit.

If you have not seen Mucha posters in life you have never seen a Mucha poster. I had only seen his work reduced in books, reproduced without much care for color. While the exhibit included drawings (oh what a hand with the dip pen), gouache paintings (yummy lessons in painting with gouache waiting to be deconstructed); oil paintings, cartoons for stain glassed windows, and photos, it was the posters that took my breath away.

First they are huge—about 10 feet tall. The people in them, since most of them have Sarah Bernhardt and she was short, are almost life size. But what you can't see well in small reproductions is that much of the ink used to print the posters is metallic.

So there I was leaping from side to side like a hop-scotch pro with a tic, looking at them from every angle. Linda of course walked away, "I'm going to go start at the other end," she said. (I think I love Linda a little more than she loves me.)

On the fourth or fifth jump I almost fell over because that's when the DUH moment hit me. Imagine these posters under the glass frames beneath a marquee, on a gaslit street—or streets lit with Yablochkov candles!

These posters must have glowed. And the printing was exquisite. We spent some time looking through the exhibit, and then went through again together, stopping to savor our favorites. Everything about the exhibit was great, except we both were disappointed in the lighting, which can only be labeled as less than usefully dim.

I've always loved Mucha for his effortless line. Now I love his work for his color sense as well.

I'm glad Linda was driving, because frankly after that experience I couldn't have driven. 

We swung by Grant Wood's "studio" which is the carriage house or some other sort of out building to a rather large mansion in an industrial part of town. (The mansion is for sale, FYI—but it needs a lot of refurbishment. It's on the historic buildings list.) We couldn't go into the studio because it is open only in the summer.

But it's just as well, by then all desire to move to CR and live in one of those lofts had evaporated. There was an overwhelming odor of stale beer and something very bitter, with a bit of something urine-esque thrown in for good measure: the offshoot of some process in the cereal plant or something. (Thank you weather gods for intervening in my dreams of relocation and kicking up a prevailing wind to save me.)

On the drive home Linda was after me to read more of my questions. After about 2 I got one that asked, "Are you ready to unwrap your present now?"

Left: Christmas gift to me from Linda. An antique Faber-Castell tin which enclosed a pencil sharpened by the author of the book she also gave me, and the certificate. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Yep, Linda, she's a planner.

I wanted to wait, but she was insistent.

Imagine my surprise when I opened two conjoined wrappings and discovered a book on sharpening pencils and a professionally sharpened pencil.

Linda's sister had sent her an article on David Rees and Linda had asked if he would sharpen a pencil she sent him. Since he said yes she sent one of my favorite pencils to him. (She didn't know he'd be sending a certificate and only said it was for her friend, so the certificate actually reads "for Linda's Friend." I love it!)

What you don't see until the second photo is that he also sent back the shavings!

Left: the expertly sharpened pencil (which I can tell you will never be used) and the shavings from the sharpening process, all neatly and officially labeled. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

This is what planning looks like folks. Linda found that pencil tin ages ago on a trip to Duluth. She wrote to this guy, got his book, etc. all to be ready in December.

Linda does amazing stuff like this all the time. I'm awed by her ability to do this. 

What she will probably never fully grasp is that I really needed to get away and that was enough of a gift of friendship. But she just oozes creativity and if you stand next to her long enough some is going to get on you.

And did I mention she always does all the driving?!

We got back to her parents in time for prime rib dinner and a ton of fun conversation with her parents' other guests.

Linda had bought plum pudding to be heated up (found in St. Paul at an "everything is Irish" store). I whipped up some icing concoction that we'd researched on the internet—which Linda had to taste in the final stages because I don't do Bourbon or rum, or whatever it was we put in it. We also brought back a heap of tiny Czech cookies and small cakes. There would have been more macaroons, but…what can I say, just that they were built on a layer of dark chocolate.

Art can fill your mind with wonder, your heart with inspiration. Friendship can having you laughing as you search for an elusive holiday earring in a mega store not unlike the ones you left 5 hours away—where you live.

I'm grateful I have both art and friendship in my life—oh, and that Linda doesn't mind when I read the roadsigns aloud as we buzz past them.

Three Days in Wisconsin

Left: Zeke sitting in front of a chair on which my supplies (and reading material, before you get all crazy like my friend Bill did). Click on the image to view an enlargement.

For three days in November 2012 I dog sat for my friend Nan. At the end of this post you'll find a video flip through of the journal I completed in those three days. Before you watch the video, however, I wanted to share some background and some information about supplies I was using.

First I have to say that I have some really great friends who trust me to take care of their dogs. I've dog-sat for Nan before, in 2004 for 10 days, when she had 3 dogs. You can see my 2004 Kinni journal here.

Nan's an AKC tracking judge and we've spent a lot of time sitting in cars with wet dogs, while tracks aged, following each other through the woods, and of course chatting—especially after tests. She's known both of my dogs. I've known most of her dogs. Nan's friendship has been one of the most important of my life. When I decided to do the dog portrait project I knew I would ask to sketch her dogs, I'm just glad she was going away so I could have them all to myself for a few days. 

Rush, the older dog I was sitting with this time, was one of the dogs I sat for in 2004. Back then her littermate sister and her mother were also alive. (I met Rush when she was 3 days old and I got to go to doggie kindergarten with her). I had one heck of a time in 2004 sketching Rush's "merle" coat. Even on toned paper with the liberal application of white gouache I frequently put the brushes down in frustration. Of course that was also one of the hottest summers on record so I didn't have a lot of patience with my sketching. I spent a lot of time (when not walking the dogs) writing, and calling a couple of friends over and over to update them on the serial killer situation in the Wisconsin countryside (it's a Woody Allen thing).

Returning to sketch in November I knew I would again be faced with that "merle" coat. I decided to use sheets of Stonehenge Kraft (brown) paper. I don't like to make journals out of this paper because it cracks when you fold it with the grain, but I LOVE painting on it in gouache and simply sketching on it. 

Of course I tested some other toned papers before going, but I knew I was going to use NeoColor II watersoluble wax pastels and other dry media and the Stonehenge Kraft just suited my goals.

Right: Here's my pre-trip test sheet with a bunch of pens and watersoluble stick type media. I liked the way the paper would hold up to vigorous rubbing and blending with my fingers. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Since I was traveling by car "weight" limitations didn't apply to me. I decided to take whatever I felt I might need (because where I was there would be no art supply stores and I wouldn't be running home for supplies).

This decision generated a lot of ridicule from my friend Bill—who took me to task for telling people to travel light, but then not doing so myself.

I bring it up here to point out that "consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds" (Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed that out), but more importantly to point out that this wasn't a typical trip. This was a pre-painting trip. I was going with a particular goal in mind—to generate as large a volume of observed detail as possible in the short time I had. That detail would then later be used to paint portraits. While in Wisconsin I wanted to have any media I might want, if something wasn't working, so that I could keep on going seamlessly. I did have a pretty firm sense in my mind that I would only be using the NeoColor IIs and some other pencils, but just in case I had my travel palette of gouache (and of course paper that would take that gouache was the foundation of the trip).

If I'd been going somewhere as a tourist my "travel light approach" would of course have been followed—I have no desire to carry a ton of supplies around with me as I weave my way through tourist sites.

(Something else that was in the box—lots of DVDs. I brought all the recent Miss Marple episodes and a whole bunch of "Monk" to watch as "background while I sketched, because I was going where there wasn't cable TV, i.e., the wilderness.)

Left: Brush carrier containing the brushes I thought I might need as a fall back if my original plan didn't work out. (I didn't use a brush the entire weekend. These are mostly synthetic brushes. They are all brushes I use with gouache, and also with watersoluble stick-type media like the wax pastels. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Since I was going with a "back up" plan I packed a bunch of brushes. I am showing you the photo today of what I packed because then we can all enjoy a good laugh with Bill.

However, when collapsed, they really only take up about 6 x 9 inches of relatively flat space. By far the bulk of what I took was paper—in case I decided I wanted to use different types of paper instead of just one paper. (And it's a good thing I did that because I ran out of my 9 x 12 inch sheets and was glad to have extra smaller squares of the same paper with which to finish the trip.)

Left: The tools I actually used (well mostly as you'll see): A—Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Big Brush Pen filled with WHITE India Ink (it's nice and opaque—I did NOT use this, but hey, I had it on hand); B— Faber-Castell Pitt Artist's Calligraphy Pen (I used this the final day for most of my sketches); C and D— NeoColor II from Caran d'Ache (I didn't use group C at all; group D I used all of); E— Stabilo Woody (formerly StabiloTone) white, used quite a lot; F— Derwent Drawing Pencils (Chocolate and Ivory Black are shown, I had two others with me that were more reddish); G— Koh-I-Nor Tricolor pencil (this is the only one I really enjoy using and is the only one I brought); H— Stabilo Alls (I brought an orange, white, black, red, and graphite). Click on the image to view an enlargement. Click on the product name links in the caption to read a past post about them.

Note: I have a ton of posts on Stabilo Tones which I love using, even though they are defunct (there are so few colors in the Woody line that it isn't worth pursuing). If you use the blog's search engine to search for Stabilo Tone you'll find a bunch that I hope you'll enjoy. But to get you started, here's a link to a post about two toucan sketches I did using them. I discuss how I like to work with them.

My rationale for using the Stabilo Alls was that they would dissolve if I used water with them. I ended up not using any water all weekend long, but it was still nice to have the possibility. (I arrived with plans to set up my painting station on Nan's dining room table, and I brought a sheet of plastic to cover it. However, as soon as I was in the house I realized that I would be spending all my sketching time sitting on the stairs looking at the dogs on the main level of the house, or sitting in the living room watching them sleep on the floor or furniture. The table didn't get used at all. And I didn't want to spill paint water in someone's house, so the brushes stayed in the box.)

Immediately upon arrival I took the dogs out for a bit of a romp. We quickly settled into a schedule: walks, feeding, sketching, walks, sketching, walks, sketching, walks, feeding, walks, sketching, pee break, and bed. Nan trains her dogs well so they are easy to care for. They have great personalities so they are fun to be with. And pretty much any dog I've ever known eventually will sit still for modeling if you walk him enough. So the weekend went great.

The weather on the weekend was a little odd, and I feel I should mention it just as a point of record. Friday and Saturday were coolish. Maybe in the 40s and 50s. (I didn't have my computer to check the temperature.) Saturday was foggy and raining all day, but pretty warm, in the 50s. I never put on my heavy coat. Sunday started out foggy and a bit chilly and then jumped to 70 degrees and humid (of course) by noon.

Since it wasn't raining on Sunday and I had a bicycling quota to attend to, I got my bike out of the car and hit the hilly country roads of Wisconsin in TIGHTS, because that's what I'd brought—I never dreamed it would be warm enough to wear shorts after the weather we'd been having. Let's just say it was an interesting ride. Ten minutes into the ride when a German Shepherd Dog charged out of his yard towards me and stopped dead in his tracks in the ditch I thought, "OH Shit, that's why I never ride my bike in the country." I flashed on bike rides with my college roommate in the hills of central Missouri—where we were frequently chased by very territorial dogs.

The German Shepherd Dog halted so abruptly that I'm convinced the angels of invisible fencing were on patrol. WIth a devil-may-care-attitude that I don't typically sport when it means putting my legs at risk to large teeth I peddled on. Soon it became apparent that farmers were keeping their dogs inside on this day. (I could hear barking as I peddled past farm houses.) Miles down the road I actually saw a couple standing in their yard, keeping their dog (another large German Shepherd Dog) close at their side.

Something odd was going on. Or everyone got the memo that this city girl was coming to ride this Sunday.

Half way home I heard the first gun shots. I can be so dense. Nan had told me that a neighbor was going to come to her property and set up a hunting blind down by the river and that hunting season was starting. We (the dogs and I) were wearing reflective vests on every walk, just out of habit.

The farmers were obviously keeping their dogs close to home so they wouldn't be shot. I am one lucky you know what.

I won't be going out riding in the country anytime soon. I enjoy the pleasures of the bike trails and paths in the Cities. But I will say that the hills near the Kinnickinnick River are steep and wild and with a bit of peddling and a 30 mph wind at your back (didn't I mention that part? Coming home was a lot easier!) you can reach some monster speeds even on the steep uphill climbs.

The dogs and I had a couple more walks and some more sketching after my midday ride. By the time Nan got home around 9:40 p.m. it was cold and it had started to snow. We talked about her trip for a little bit and then I took off for home. There wasn't much accumulation of snow, but it was blowing directly at me as I drove, hindering visibility, creating the impression of what it must be line when you hit warp speed on the Enterprise bridge. I saw one deer at the edge of a field (who decided not to leap). I arrived home around midnight without incident.

That's what I have to say about the trip. You can watch the video flip through of my sketching journal below. If "Three Days in Wisconsin" doesn't play embedded you can watch it here on YouTube. I hope all your trips are fun, productive, and filled only with friendly dogs!

Note: The video shows the case I made to contain my loose pages. You can see instructions for making this envelope type case with "boxy" sides here. I know I mention the link in the video, but I thought it might be easier for you to just click on it here when you're ready.

Daaa Dummm daaa DUM, Daaaaa Dummm daaa DUM: Paint By Numbers Perry Mason

Left: Sketch of Raymon Burr in "Perry Mason." Dry Stabilo All (orange) on Richeson Recycled watercolor paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

OK, it's not "paint-by-numbers" but it looks like the canvases for those kits doesn't it?

I drew this image of Raymond Burr when I had been fighting a killer headache all day (but really wanted to sketch something). 

I had been working in brush pen and NO ONE was looking like themselves. Dick came in after his swim to chat. I whined quite a bit about the sorry state of affairs. He shook his head and went to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.

I put down my pen and picked up an orange Stabilo All pencil. Since I hadn't been getting anywhere with the brush pen it was time for a change. I stopped the TV when Perry turned to look at Della…

I started with the right eye (on the viewer's left) and worked out from there, more slowly than I usually work, though the sketch was done in less than 10 minutes. 

It's essentially a contour drawing of all the different planes in his face. I worked very deliberately rechecking spatial distance before I put a line down. (I had to lower the chin after I drew it, but there is a plane of shadow there too, so that doesn't bother me.)

Black and white TV from this time period is fantastic for this. Everything was lit for drama. (I also put in the shape of his cast shadow on the wall.) (You can see an earlier sketch of Raymond Burr done with the Aquash Brush Pen here and read about my fascination with the TV show.) 

Part of me wanted to paint this right away. Part of me couldn't bear to cover up the lines. That second part of me won and I decided to keep it this way. It makes me smile. Which is a great result on a day like this.

Also slowing myself down and being so deliberate had the effect of breaking the headache up. I was able to get 5 hours of computer work done as if nothing had happened. Enough work that I felt it perfectly reasonable to go and sketch some more (this time peppers from the fridge).

But this sketch still makes me laugh. 

Experiments with NeoArt Watersoluble Wax Pastels from Caran d'Ache

Left: Life drawing with Caran d'Ache NeoArt watersoluble wax pastels used dry and wet on Magnani Annigoni Designo, 9 x 12 inches. The number 15 at the top of the page refers to the 15th sheet used in this drawing session. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Last fall (November 2012) I had a trip coming up (more about that on another day) and I decided that I wanted to take NeoArt watersoluble wax pastels with me. I wanted color that was in stick form that I could sketch with but still wet if I desired. And I wanted to work on toned paper.

I had a couple of sheets from a 9 x 12 inch pad of Magnani Annigonie Designo which had been on sale. (I prefer to buy sheets of this paper when using it for binding books, because the surface hasn't been compacted by the padding process, but I have trouble walking by really good paper deals.)

I took some paper, the NeoArts, a little tub for water, and a number 10 synthetic round when I went to the next figure drawing session. After all the short poses, it's time to set up and do two 20-minute poses (which you can also elect to do as one 40-minute pose because the model returns to the same pose after a break). I thought that was a good time to break out the testing materials. I did the 20-minute pose you see today using a blue and a red stick.

I sketched first mostly with blue and then added red in various places. Wet some areas, added some more color, pushed the dry areas around with my fingers to see if it would blend nicely for me. (I like to blend StabiloTones and NeoColor II (from Caran d'Ache) with my fingers when I'm working on the top, dry layers.)

Twenty minutes is a long time, but I had not counted on the extra drying time between layers, needed to get anything close to a finished piece. I realized that halfway through this sketch and spent my final 10 minutes of the 20-minute period messing with the shoulders and the breast area, seeing how the blending would work with this medium on this paper. And I also blended in the hair area for the same reason, paying attention to things like water drying time with this paper.

I spent the second 20-minute portion of this pose doing a pencil study from a slightly different angle.

But the 20 minutes I spent on this experiment experiment gave me the information I was looking for—I didn't want to take the Magnani Annigoni Designo paper because I could rub so furiously with my finger that I could rough up the paper (if it was still wet at all). 

I wasn't totally sold on taking the NeoArt sticks either. (They are blunt and to get a thin line you have to twist them and finesse an edge.) I decided that I would take both a box of the NeoArt sticks (15) and a small handful of the NeoColor IIs which I knew I could blend a little more. I can blend most easily with the Stabilotones, but they are a discontinued product and I didn't want to lose them in my travels—I wanted to save them for savoring at home.

I also decided to take a couple Stabilo All pencils—a white, an orange, a graphite, a red, and a black. These would satisfy my desire for thinner sketching lines but would also be watersoluble if I went in with the water—they would work well with my plans.

Normally when I travel I don't take a lot of supplies, but for this upcoming trip I was going by car (and taking my bike, so weight and packing wasn't an issue). And I wanted to ensure that I had old reliable media as well as test media so that I could keep working, regardless of the results. (And regardless of the taunting of my friend Bill who said, "I thought you always told people to pack light.")

I was going to have three days with two dogs…

Project Friday: Experiment with Metallic Pencils—A Little Bit of Fun

Left: A quick study of Kevin Bacon on cheap, textured drawing paper using metallic pencils. Click on the image to view an enlargement. Read below for details.

Since resuming life drawing once a week I've been using a lot more dry media again, because I can be messy and not worry about the dust at home. Then when I get home I still want to use dry media so I get out the colored pencils, a great non-dusty standby.

This sketch is made with two colors of Lyra's Super Ferby. It's an odd, fat, triangular pencil with metallic leads. It comes in at least 5 colors because that's how many I think I have, so there are at least that many. The colors are a bit odd and none are really dark in value, that's why I used a black Stabilo All in this drawing as well.

Note: A web search for these pencils turned up boxes called the "Waldorf" selection. Those are NOT what I was using. My pencils read Lyra Super Ferby and are all metallic leads; all purchased in open stock. The gold sitting on my desk right now has 89239 as a number. I was not using any "normal" colored leads. I contacted Tim at Wet Paint (where I got mine quite some time ago) and they are currently out of stock but they are coming in next week.

What I did in the sketch shown today:

1. Sketched in blue Ferby.

2. Added areas of red/pinkish maroon Ferby.

3. Went in with Stabilo All (black) for darkest areas and outline stated where I wanted it.

4. Colored in the background with random strokes of the blue Ferby.

If you enjoy working in colored pencils but want something a bit quirky (metallic colors) you might want to check out some Ferby pencils. I happen to think they look best on a slightly textured paper so that the line is broken up a bit—you get more sparkle from the metallic lead.

Be sure to pick up a sharpener that will take fat pencils. Not all the fat pencil sharpeners will accommodate the Ferby, so you might want to take your Ferby along to insert it and check before purchasing a sharpener, or buy the Ferby where and when you get the sharpener. I use the two-holed Staedtler Sharpener which you can find a photo of on my blogger picks page for tools on Wet Paint's site. (It's the fourth item on this page, blue with a tiny flip top over the holes.)

Note: Missed my "bloggers pick page" on Wet Paint's site? You can find the opening page here with items listed in categories. Click on a category and a bunch of products that I've had success with in that category will come up.

The picks listed are not exhaustive, simply because I feel I have to give Tim a break now and then and not constantly ask him to update it. The Ferby pencil isn't on there because frankly it's a pencil I've used for years, but only sporadically. You can see a blast from the past, a 2002 sketch I made of Dottie using the metallic blue Ferby here. The captions says "pen" but that's a writo, followed by the word "pencil," you get the idea. And you can see the lovely soft line it gives

I'm writing about the Ferby now simply because it's kind of fun and it's the holiday season and someone might need an oddball gift to give a pencil freak with every brand. Oh and I haven't finished my stack of books that I'm going to review—I'll get back to those books. 

The lead of the Ferby is soft, smooth, and because the pencil is fat the lead is also fat. You can really lay down some color quickly. And get a lovely thick line. You can sharpen it to a point and do some tighter work, but it is a relatively soft lead and too much pressure in your working hand may cause the point to splinter off. I think of it as a sketching tool, but I'm sure someone somewhere is making the most amazing tight renderings with it!

Of course you can use it with your other colored pencils (I use them with my Prismacolors typically, though on this day I used them with the Stabilo All). 

Don't be afraid to sketch with them and then add watercolor or gouache. Show the line and let it shimmer through the watercolor or hide some of it with the gouache, either way it's fun.

They are also fun for taking to figure drawing. And they give a subtle effect on toned papers like the Strathmore hardbound journal's tan toned paper or Magnani's Annigoni Designo.

Project Friday Assignment:
1. Get one or two Ferby pencils that appeal to you. (I recommend a cool and a warm, not just a gold, but get colors that suit your working methods and inclinations.)

2. Select 3 or 4 drawing papers that you enjoy working on with colored pencils. (Ideally these should be papers you have already worked on with enjoyment and success, but if you're new to pencil work here are some suggestions for papers that I love for this type of work.)

• Borden & Riley have some padded 100% Rag drawing paper that has a lovely tooth for colored pencil work.

• Stonehenge comes in a range of colors. I really like their white or cream for sketching with pencils when I'm not going to do intense layers and layers.

• Magnani Annigoni Designo or Strathmore's Tan papers are both fun for toned papers.

• Strathmore 500 Series Vellum Bristol is a wonderful surface for sketching with colored pencil.

• Fabriano Artistico 300 lb. Hot Press watercolor paper is great for mixed media work with pencil and wet media. If you want more texture the cold press is good. Soft Press is probably "just right" for a larger variety of effects.

3. Select a couple dark pencils of another brand. These should be normal leads, not metallic—a black Stabilo All, or a dark purple or indigo Prismacolor for instance would be excellent choices. Take these with you for adding value contrast and crisp line as needed.

4. Select a favorite model (e.g., you dog or cat or budgie), go to life drawing, go sit in a cafe, set up a favorite object in a still life—and sketch with the Ferby on the different paper surfaces.

After drawing for a couple hours with the Ferby ask yourself some questions: How did the pencil feel (smooth, rough, whatever) on the paper; did it drag or glide compared to what you normally use; could you get dark enough values; could you restate your lines in your normal fashion; did you like the addition of watercolor or gouache and if so why (being very specific); did you like the Ferby on each paper and why (again, being very specific).

Besides asking those and other working questions jot down your answers in your journal so you can find them in the future.

Next to wrap up, think of 3 projects in which you would like to use the Ferby as an experiment.

Here's an example I'm looking forward to—I want to do a sketch with acrylics (fluid) and then when the paint is dry, add Ferby lines for texture, metallic glitz, and plain old fun, just to see what happens.

Once you have your three ideas noted down in your journal get your callendar out and mark down your next Project Friday—the follow up! Work on those three projects you conceived.

What will you do with your Ferby? Let me know. Have a great Project Friday. 

Note: I have no idea how archival the Super Ferby pencil is. I haven't used it in finished art, I've just always used it in sketches. So if you get some finished pieces you really like, remember scan or photograph them and save a digital record, just to avoid disappointment.

Working with the Stabilo All Sketching People

Left: TV actor sketched with Stabilo All, used dry and then rubbed with my finger. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I've written about using the Stabilo All several times. It's a watersoluble wax pencil. This time I used it dry and smeared it with my finger.

Koh-I-Nor Tricolor Pencil Sets

Left: Sketch using Koh-I-Nor Tricolor pencil. All of the colors in this sketch came out of one pencil with a multi-color lead. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

There have been kid's colored pencils with multi-colored leads for years. Now Koh-I-Nor has brought out Tricolor Pencils—their version of a multi-colored lead with what they refer to as top quality pigments. You can buy these pencils in open stock or in sets. (Note: these are NOT the jumbo pencils that are triangularly shaped. I'm describing regular pencils with round barrels.)

(Of course I bought mine at Wet Paint in St. Paul, where they have both sets and open stock. You can order from them or look on the internet. I am not connected to Wet Paint, I'm just a happy customer—who spends a lot of time there.)

The leads in the pencils I purchased in open stock were what I define as hard. They keep a nice point, they are a little brittle, but not overly so. They lay down a smooth line, but unlike many brands of "soft" colored pencils with wax or oil binders the color line is a bit wimpy. 

What is fun, however, is that each lead is made up of three colors of lead and at any given moment you'll wear the lead down to expose another fleck of color and that transition will show up in your drawings

I found that the lighter value pencils (ones with mixes of yellow and other high-key colors) were disappointing in trial because there wasn't a lot of variation in the color line. The same was true with some of the analogous color leads when those colors were all roughly the same value. I had the most fun working with pencils that had disparate colors in the leads.

While I find getting dark values with these pencils requires more pressure than I care to use (hence one of the reasons I prefer other lines of pencils) I do think these pencils are great for quick sketches like the one shown in today's post. I have three of these pencils in my life-drawing sketch kit.

Steve DeLaitsch's Inspiring Work at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective

Above: Artist Steve DeLaitsch sets out his sketchbooks at the recent meeting. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Monday, October 25, 2012 artist Steve DeLaitsch spoke at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective about his travel sketching process and adventures. 

Steve showed us a slide show of wonderful sketches—people, buildings, landscapes, he did on site during his travels—in China, despite warnings cycling would be dangerous he went adventuring on a bicycle to get sketches.

Left: View of Steve's accordion book of sketches from California's Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. He used carbon pencils for these sketches to achieve the contrast and rich blacks. (The works were heavily sprayed with fixative to minimize smudging and smearing.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Steve works mainly in pencil in his sketchbooks. He uses a Berol lead holder because it frees him from having to sharpen his pencil—the thick lead can be automatically advanced; and by rotating the pencil in his hand various edges of the lead can be used and "self-sharpened" as he works. It is that variety of line, edge or full width of the lead that is Steve's main attraction to this type of pencil. Because the pencil is so think he can quickly lay in large areas of dark value. Also the pencil tip can be used in a variety of ways as it wears down allowing Steve to give personality to every aspect of his drawing—including each small figure he might add in a crowd scene. (I think he was using 2mm leads.)

Left: A look at some of the sketchbooks Steve brought to share with us. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Steve sprays the pages of his sketchbooks as well, to minimize the smudging of the graphite when the pages are opened and closed. As a student and young artist he worked on every page and finds that "those sketchbooks really need to be cleaned up and resprayed because of the smudging over the years of viewing or even being on the shelf." He uses an alcohol based pump spray adhesive (he didn't recall the name as he's had the same bottle for ages). Now he works on one page per spread to minimize the smudging.

Long before Kickstarter got going Steve used a personal version of patron subsidization to fund his art trips around the country and the world. In the early 1980s he and a friend went to Alaska to sketch and paint. Steve funded his trip by promising $400 in paintings for every $100 donated. Besides making the trip possible this mode of fundraising ensured that he had to paint every day, whether or not he felt like it. "Sometimes, on days when you're least inclined to paint you do your best work," he added, laughing.

The results were so popular people who knew the artist asked to be included if he ever did it again. He did. In 1985 he raised $10,000 to travel to China. Besides giving patrons art made on the trip Steve made a series of prints. Depending on the amount donated funders received a portion or complete set of prints. (The prints were made from sketches and etching plates done on site, when he returned to his studio.) Patrons paid $250 or $500 for $500 or $1000 worth of finished art upon his return.

"China was so damp during the rainy season that the graphite wouldn't work well on the paper," he reported. The audience could see that he compensated beautifully and continued to create stunning sketches.

Traveling to Italy Steve taught a watercolor class. For that trip he gave up working on large watercolor paintings and instead worked on smaller pieces, as well as working in a watercolor journal he purchased in Italy (handmade with paper he had to learn how to respond to on the fly).

Steve also showed us a photo of his studio—a building he's rennovating which will enable him to have printmaking, painting, and sculpting studios under one roof. It has been a lifetime dream and the emerging results look exciting.

It was great to see the work of this talented artist. His passion for finding creative ways to make his art happen inspired us all.