Roz Wound Up

APICA Notebooks: Possibilities…

Above: Poorly lit photo (sorry, no time to get out the grey paper and put up lights) of some new paper and notebook options I found at Wet Paint the other day. On the left is the APICA 5-signature soft-bound notebook, on the right is the red "Scroll" (it has a scroll pattern on the front cover) one-signature soft-bound notebook, in the center under these is a test painting on the paper of the red "Scroll" notebook, and in the front, some highly acidic, but really fun (and thin) airmail paper. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Some papers appeal to me because they speak to the student in me, still lingering on, who remembers what it was like to work in exercise books, write reams of notes, and scribble on any slip of paper regardless of the line or grid pattern that covered that paper.

So if you've still got a connection to that inner student in you the APICA notebooks might just be something to look into. They just arrived at Wet Paint (I had begged them to call me as soon as they came in so I could run over and buy some to test out.)

Oversized Thumbnails and Studies: How I Start Thinking about Making a Dog Portrait

Above: My favorite German Shepherd Dog: Dozer. Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and Schmincke Pan Watercolors on Quattro gridded paper (8.5 x 12 inches). Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Visitors to my blog know I visited Dozer's home on Sunday to check out the new addition: Tucker, an 8-week old puppy! Well even though there is a lot of cuteness floating around in the air at Roseanne's household that doesn't mean I'm immune to the handsome features of Dozer.

When I returned home and finished my work I took a look at the photos I'd taken at Roseanne's. I had several nice photos of Dozer's features so I threw the images up on the computer screen and sat back with my 8.5 x 12 inch Quattro gridded pad and a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and did a bunch of quick sketches. I consider them giant thumbnail sketches. They make me think about composition and organization of those features.

I threw watercolor washes on this sketch. The problem with painting a portrait of Dozer is that lovely sable coat of his. (It's no accident that I love black and white Malamutes.) This color study is all about finding a visual vocabulary to map, model, and represent that coat. It will be followed by many more color studies before I ever get to a final painting. I'm leaning towards using acrylics.

And I'll have to go back and visit Dozer to do some sketches from life—oh and isn't it convenient that I'll get to see the little guy! (A cunning plan if ever there was one.)

Irodori Antique Watercolor from Holbein

Left: Swatches made in 2006 in an Aquabee spiral sketchbook. (That's a pink Post-it Note at the bottom right that I forgot to remove before scanning.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I was talking about using limited color palettes in watercolor a week or so ago (actually I'm always talking and writing about this) and someone asked for recommendations if only three tubes of gouache paint were to be purchased. I can't find that note and the person's name, or where I addressed it in the comments, but what I can say is that when I shut down the computer that night I got out an old sketchbook to check on something and I found this yummy chart of a test of three Irodori Antique Watercolor paints from Holbein.

Whoa—I'm not suggesting you run out and buy these paints. I'm posting this chart as an example of one of the many experiments you need to do when you are testing out new paints and trying to ascertain where they will fit in your palette (if at all). 

Before you buy this or any brand please make sure that the pigments used in the paint meet whatever standards you have for lightfast properties and other component characteristics.

If you paint transparent watercolors you'll find that the three colors selected here will all be too heavy for most of your applications. Also these paints don't rewet well at all (there are warnings about only putting out what you need for a session in every sales brochure on them) so they aren't a useful candidate for making your own pans of color. But if you like to play with different textures in your watercolors or work in the studio or field from tubed paint you might want to look at the Irodori Antique Watercolor line from Holbein. (The colors in the line are colors used in "ancient" Japanese and Chinese art, hence the use of the word "antique" in their name.)

Regardless of what brand of paints you're using you need to take some time to explore the blending possibilities and see what you really can do with simply 3 paints—in this case a red, blue, and yellow. I would be quite happy working with this lot in the studio as I can get my Malamute Gray.

Serendipity—Sort of

Above: Yet another page spread from my "weirdo" journal. This spread involves sketching on graph paper as well. Read more below. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Seems to me if I put it in my journal it happens in life. Hmmm.

So if you watched the video of the partially completed pages of the "weirdo" journal you would have seen the textured paper across this spread's gutter and the cockatoo sketch (Pentel Pocket Brush Pen with Schmincke Pan watercolors, on Quattro graph paper).

After that the spread sat for a couple weeks as I worked towards it. One day I added some textured paper along the bottom of the spread. Then last week I added the collaged text: It did not seem to matter now—the slight sharpness, the mocking note that sometimes crept into her voice.

Finally, on November 3 off we went to vote. (I like to save my "I Voted" sticker to put in my journal; since I work alone, wearing such a sticker doesn't help anyone else remember to vote.) And then of course I noted down what happened on voting day.

There is a serendipitous connection between the collaged text and the event which happened later and fell on this page. I will have to explore this phenomenon more purposefully. And with great care.

Going with the Flow: More on Mixing Sketches with Collage

Above: yet another spread from my “weirdo” journal. I discuss this below. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

In an on-going attempt to show you what is going on in this journal, and give you a sense of the working method in the hopes that you will experiment and discover a working method that suits you, I thought the above image would provide a useful example. Here’s the breakdown of what happened, with a little bit of editorializing:

Sketching and Collage—just 'cause

Above: a page spread from my "weirdo journal" which I've been posting about the past few weeks. Read more about the sketching and collage below. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

If you viewed my short video of this journal when I was just starting it, you will have seen this page partially completed. Here's what happened in the building of this page:

Journaling Superstitions #11: You Must Keep Your Watercolor Palette Clean

Above: a closeup of my Schmincke pan watercolor palette (these pans are factory filled with Schmincke paints). This is one of several watercolor and gouache palettes that I use at various times depending on the paints I want to use. I selected this palette for the today because I think it clearly shows how individual pans are getting “contaminated” from my brush while working, shows the spatter of colors in the channels between the pans, from quick working, and shows a fun mix of “turkey” brown (blue and orange) with individual pigments still visible. (The palette working space is something I typically clean off at the end of a working session.)

I’m not saying that everyone who has a pristine palette doesn’t use it, but in several decades of teaching I will tell you that every student who comes through one of my classes with a clean palette is more hung up on doing things “perfectly,” or not messing up his paints, or not contaminating his colors, than he is concerned with painting, with creating. It becomes something those students have to work through if they are actually going to spend more time painting than worrying about rules, or perfect palettes, or a myriad of non-painting things.

Paper Choices: Strathmore Illustration Board for Wet Media

Left: Pigeon test sketch on the new wet media illustration board from Strathmore. Approx 5 x 7 inches. Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils. This is a pigeon I met at last year's State Fair. I drew it using sketches made at that time for reference. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

The Minnesota State Fair starts today!
Go Sketch!

One of the fun side effects of getting yourself organized for the State Fair—and no I don't go on Opener (as I like to call it to the consternation of fisherman everywhere) because I like to let the food vendors get the kinks out before I show up—is that you have the perfect excuse for trying out new paper. (OK, I don't really need much of an excuse. It just has to be a paper that might prove useful to me.)

Strathmore creates some excellent papers that literally make my work possible. I love their 500 Series plate Bristol for pen and ink work (2-ply) and for painting (5-ply). Many of their drawing papers are suitable for binding into journals used by visual artists. Their 500 Series is their top of the line paper. Now they have an addition to this series: Illustration Board for Wet Media.

Looking into the Promised Land: Gate 5 at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds

Above: Sketch of Gate 5 at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, using Staedtler Pigment Liner (0.7) and a Nji waterbrush with Daniel Smith watercolors. This is my new journal, which I started today. It's 6.5 x 8.25 inches and has Gutenberg for text pages so the pages are a light oatmeal color, not white. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Last night I actually got to go into the Fair Grounds to see a preview of the fine art exhibit at the State Fair. (I'll write about this on another day when I collect my thoughts.)

I thought I might drool all over my friend's car as we drove through the grounds, up and down the various streets—it's like a small city. But luckily for me only a few vendors were open and serving food to workers so the smells of the Fair weren't really in full force.

Today, on the way back from my acupuncture appointment I decided to swing by the front gate and sit and sketch. Biting ants invaded my bus bench so I worked faster and faster (and took a shower when I got home just now). Still it was fun to sit and gaze in. I wasn't avoiding drawing people, most of the action was taking place inside the gates.

And for people familiar with this intersection, yes I left out the street light on the left—my concession to the invading ants! 

Minnesota State Fair Prep—Part 3: MCBA Visual Journal Collective's August Meeting!

Above: Crowded Skyride line at the Minnesota State Fair. Pen and ink sketch ©Roberta Avidor. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Note: This post continues the State Fair prep series begun August 12!

Monday, August 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis, the MCBA Visual Journal Collective will meet to PREPARE FOR THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR!

Three guest speakers will give tips on sketching at the Fair!