Trip to The East Coast - Part 1 (Slow Road to Trimming My Tools: Part 2)

When I got my tickets to visit New York and Pennsylvania in late October, I knew that I would like to apply my "let's trim my tools" mindset to choosing what would go with me. In preparation, I looked at the sketches I did during my last year's trip, and also remembered that neither a temperamental flex nib fountain pen nor bottles of acrylic ink are good ideas. But my experience with acrylic inks gave me an idea to think about some tools to make large shapes super quickly and simply - for this, I took some highlighters and a couple of markers. And experience with the pen I love gave me an idea to bring only writing instruments that I know well and that bring me joy by sheer use of them (pentel pocket brush pen and zig calligraphy marker).  And for adding texture and details, I decided to select some pencils. My choice of colors was heavily influenced by the colors I saw in my last year's photos, and also the idea that I will need to have something that would work on a wet surface as well as on dry, be able to work as a super dark color, but also be able to cover something else to make it lighter. Neocolor II crayons in this set were playing the same role of "have to be able to cover marks made by other tools to transform them into something very different". A little gelatti gouache stick from Faber Castell was something that I recently picked up, and it worked in the same capacity (instant sky). Here is how my kit looked like:

and packed:

I wanted to have a gouache set with me, and it proved to be a source of joy on many occasions - both for making large shapes, being super quick, and also for bringing textures and layering colors. Two waterbrushes were enough for this particular trip - one flat, one round, both capable of many marks, especially if you control the flow of water (for those little packable towels that Uma Kelkar got me into are invaluable!). My minimal gouache palette lives in a Pocket Palette from Art Tool-Kit and here are colors (addition of lilac was last minute and somehow I did not use it) 

I was also in a rare position when I was about to finish my sketchbook number 161 - so what do I want from my next sketchbook was a question I asked myself first. I knew that I would not have time for a proper watercolor painting, so paper had to be something that would work with a wide range of materials but would withstand some rough treatment. And since I knew that I wanted to pack light, I thought about making this a special sketchbook - about this trip only. In my collection of sketchbooks, there are a few hand-made, and this particular one I made under the guidance of my friend Gay Kraeger some time ago. Embarrassingly long ago, if I am honest. I liked it so so much that I frequently opened it up and considered, but was never sure what would be a good enough occasion to start it... I am working on transforming the "it is too good to be used" mindset, so this was a perfect moment to have something special for this trip.

Size: 5.5" x 7.5" Paper: hot press Fabriano Artistico 140 lbs.  

I also had my pocket printmaking toolset with a home-made sponge dauber and inks in a little tower, but I used both very little. Thinking back, I think I did not pack these tools into a separate bag that would be easy to locate in my backpack - something to think about in the future. 

I will make another post with some notes on what I missed and comments on some thinking behind my color choices to remember for the future and will add link here. UPDATE: here is a post and video of the whole sketchbook.

Trip to The East Coast 2025:
Part 1: Packing My Sketch Tools
Part 2: People, Bids, Animals and Apples
Part 3: Landscapes
Part 4: More Landscapes
Part 5: What Materials worked and what I missed
Video of the Sketchbook Flip-Through.

Slow Road to Trimming My Tools: Part 1

After some travels this summer, I made this sketch note to myself:

I've been there before and was usually able to remove extra stuff within one "re-packing" session. But this time, I noticed a resistance on many levels. I had so many things in my backpack I felt a need to separate different drawing tools into different themes/bags/boxes, and then I was not sure what was it what box and what exactly I liked or used the last time? And I kept getting some glimpses about "that great tool that once was amazing," where is it? After some time, I realized that I've spent more time looking at my tools and putting them from one bag into another than actually drawing, and that is when I knew that I was in real trouble. Because now I had more bags in front of me than before, and zero willpower to make any choices about what to use in my sketch. I ended up not drawing on that day (apart from the following doodle, which I did on my iPad after I upgraded to procreate, and saw all the new brushes, which did not help with the previous situation).

So I stopped and decided to look at what people are doing, talk to friends about this, give this transformation some time but make a log of what approaches I am trying, what is working and what is not and get myself out there sketching more. And I decided to share the process as I go - because I am sure I am not the only one and because this way I will have something to refer to.

First, I asked myself what are some of my favorite tools and what kinds of marks I am after in them. So I cleaned and refilled my Ackerman Pen. Here is a page created with it right after. 

This en is not an easy character to deal with - but I remembered that when I make it work, it brings me joy. Testing out what marks I can make and what I really liked, how different holds gave me different feels, was the most useful part of this experiment.

Next I took my Pilot Parallel Pen with a modified nib (I cannot believe I never made a post about making it! - not to self: make one!). So I took this pen to an outing and drew with it almost 100% blindly. I made a sketch I enjoy looking at even right now - because I remember looking at the scene without breaking eye contact for a longer than usual time and I remember this time and scene so vividly! 

And then a friend gave me a bunch of super bright acrylic inks, and I found one more to complement the trio, and I painted over this sketch - I had so much fun, I kept bringing those inks with me to a couple of outings after this. When I asked myself why, I realized that with these inks I can mix colors only by overlapping them on the page directly, and I can paint super fast, too. There are very few choices - I have only three bottles and a big brush.  

I tried overlapping these inks with other tools and made more notes:

I think the most useful part was actually writing down what I like and then trying to use that one particular thing on the next sketch I had a chance to do. I hoped to apply this thinking to my packing for the travel  but ended up with too many art supplies (as you can guess flying with acrylic inks or a leaky fountain pen in tow is a bit involved). So I took a different approach to choosing materials for the trip - and hope to tell you more about it in the next post!

Two more sketches from the Orchard Outing: Teaching Experiment

Last week I shared my sketch - spread over two pages of a new (to me) sketchbook (it is a Pith sketchbook - more about it soon as I continue some experiments). I made two more sketches at the same outing and it took me some time to scan them properly and think about what was working and not working for me. Mainly because I created these sketches based on the workshops that I will be running this summer. I will be teaching two sessions at the Chicago Urban Sketchers Seminar on July 11-13 and then a week later a little different version of the workshop but with the same technique - at the Sketcher Fest Edmonds. Two sketches below were a run through the process which I will be sharing. I know that Chicago is sold out but I believe some tickets are still available for Edmonds! 

A complicated start of my new sketchbook

I was hesitant to start a new sketchbook. Or rather I did not want the previous one to end. It was full of great moments. I started it in mid-October - it was a different era - the world was different - more hopeful, more reliable, with a different outlook - I miss that world. This sketchbook went with me on a couple of great trips - one on the other side of America, another on the other side of the world. It went with me on many drawing outings with friends and on some cool family hikes. It saw me through some hard days when only a tiny moment was spent drawing or only a tiny drawing could come out of me. So I was holding onto it quietly - I kept cutting sketches out of larger pages, taping and gluing them at the end - at the last few pages.

And then last week I went to draw with a friend and brought a single-sheet paper with me instead of a sketchbook, ready to add it (again) to my Sketchbook 158. As we drew, I talked about having a hard time finishing my old sketchbook and while I was listing all the reasons, I let go and decided to move on the very next day. Because there is no way to go back. And because drawing keeps me more hopeful and resilient. And because this different season means different tools and approaches are needed to shift my drawing practice forward. Plus I got super moved by looking at my friend's sketchbooks - they were living breathing stories with lots of color and texture and light and lines - and I knew that the world is better because of these drawings! And every time I look at great art I want to make some too and try a whole bunch of stuff that I kept "for the next sketchbook", "for when this is over", for "when I have a plan".

And so on the very next day, I made a little video weighing a new sketchbook and signing the number, and then I enjoyed drawing my traditional "what am I using now" tools on the opening page. After which I flipped the page and started on my experiment! It involved some monoprinting, a new type of ink and... it spilled all over and soaked my pretty first page - a disaster :) But such a pretty one :)

Thank you, Suhita, for sharing your amazing sketchbooks with me!

Here is my last sketch from sketchbook #158 during and a disaster reportage from the beginning of Sketchbook 159 :)

 

Rogue garden and ink shopping plans

A little while ago I reported on some fungi growing on my succulents - well, those are gone (thought we had a lot of rain so they might be back). But I realized that the area near my place where I "deposit" bulbs when they are done blooming in my patio garden became a garden by itself! 

I think more might be coming - but this is a report as of early March :) 

The lovely purple ink in these sketches is a Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa (iron gall) Ink. It will kill your fountain pen within 24 hours but it has such a great range of tones and works so well with fingerpainting that I cannot stop using it. I carry a little vial and apply it directly on my pen and I am seriously considering getting a gray-blue version of this iron gall ink from Rohrer & Klingner - called Salix though a close contender is For Gray Document Ink from De Atramentis. I just finished a bottle of that ink and it was a glorious waterproof ink suitable for both drawing and writing.

Orange spread in my sketchbook

Orange is one of my favorite colors. This, in addition to the fact that some of my favorite fruits are orange in color, means that this time of the year my sketchbook has lots of orange in it. This was an orange spread and some additional orange sketches sprinkled through my sketchbook: persimmons and tangerines (or mandarins?)! (oranges and carrots are next ;)

I painted these as large silhouettes with black ink and pentel pocket brush and then used gouache to add color, with some pencil over for additional tiny marks.

And these are some close-ups and details of more persimmons and tangerines - mostly painted with me CMYK pens (pentel pocket brushes filled with colorful inks:)

Persimmons and CMYK experiments with Pentel Pocket Brush Pen

The persimmon season is here and I attack the fruit with my brushes and pens as much as I do with my teeth! Below are some that I scanned already - but there is one sketch I would like to start with:

This image is made with the experimental technique that both Suhita Shirodkar and I are playing with. A limited palette of primary colors (pigmented Higgins inks - Carmine Red, Yellow, and Blue) filled in a pre-cleaned partridge of the pentel pocket brush pens. Plus the standard black cartridge.  

These are water-proof, pretty flat colors that are lovely in little quantities on a page filled with other things but might bore you to death on large surfaces. However, if you add some dynamics with water sprayed on the page, wet mixing, with the dilution of inks, overlaying colors, and using them with pointillism technique varying patterns and brushstrokes - the results are a lot of fun! 

I encourage you to look at what Suhita is making here: More on that triad of inks

Right now I dilute both blue and red - the current proportion is 40% ink, and 60% water but I think I will go to 30:70 on the next refill. Also, I am going to make purple and, possibly, orange pens as stand-alone tools - but continue playing with the CMYK separately. The illustration of these adventures are not scanned yet - so here are some persimmons done with acrylic markers, watercolors, and ink.