American Road: Stories and Music

David reading about his bear encounter

Last night Matt and I went to an author-sponsored event at the EnlightenCafe in Ballard. It was an evening of music and stories on the subject of the American Road. An eclectic series of performances, the evening included banjo music, interpretive dance and readings by authors.

Of course, it gave me the perfect opportunity to sketch. I was experimenting with a series of waterbrushes filled with (1. Higgins Black Magic ink, 2. Noodler’s Blue Nose Bear, 3. plain water), a graphite pencil, and Inktense black pencil.

I was also wearing my new tan pants!

As David was reading about his experiences with a bear encounter while on a motorcycle trip, I managed to spill a few drops of Blue Nose Bear from the cap of my waterbrush onto my pants. Yikes! Funny thing as he had been repeating the word “bear” several times just before the spill. Subliminal suggestion? I wonder… ;-)

Maureen performed interpretive dance. She was dressed as a demon-girl.

The next semi-disaster appeared a few minutes later when I realized that my Ahab ink pen had leaked (!!! – bad pen!!) in my pen case! While cleaning it up I got Platinum Carbon Black ink all over my hands. (Fortunately not my clothes!) For a few minutes my hands looked like a coal miner’s! Carbon Black is harder to remove from your hands than many other inks. I still have some stains on my fingers this morning (the next day) to prove it. Argh!! Once cleaned up, my Ahab worked fine though. I have no idea why it leaked. It never has before.

The bonzai sketch in the right upper corner of the sketch above was a pen test to see how it was working after the spill. Oddly - fine.

So, overall, I would rate the evening as “so-so.”

The Konrad Flex Pen and “Rome Burning” Ink – A Preliminary Review

Noodler's "Rome Burning" ink and Konrad Flex pen

As mentioned in my last blog entry, I recently won a brand new ink and pen as prizes in the Noodler’s Ink 2011-2012 International Art Contest.

As I unwrapped the package and looked over my prizes I thought, “hmmm, I wonder how the pen will write?” The ink was less of a question for me. “Rome Burning” is a brown ink with a couple of tricks to it. I LOVE the theme behind the ink – as Noodler’s CEO Nathan Tardiff describes it – “ ‘Rome Burning’ has a bulletproof patrician core color of Caesar’s purple with the colors of the inferno that wash away from it with excess liquidity.” So it’s a brassy-brown with a golden-yellow halo (similar to the halos seen in “Swan in English Roses” which is red, or in “Blue Nose Bear” which is blue) which when washed turns into a bulletproof purple color. Very cool! Since the purple part of the ink is bulletproof it would be superior to use as a writing ink for secure documents like checks. (I currently use Noodler’s Bulletproof Black or Kung Te-Cheng for check writing.) But as I always evaluate my inks for drawing first and writing second, “Rome Burring” doesn’t really do it for me.

Golden Browns are not my favorite browns to draw with, I much prefer reddish-browns like Diamime Sepia (see The Search for the Perfect Brown.)  The fact that the initial color washes out to another color is interesting but not as valuable for my uses. Despite that, “Rome Burning” is a welcome addition to my ink collection and will most likely be relegated to the category of writing (and not drawing) inks. No shame there.

Meanwhile, what about the Konrad Flex pen? The one I received as prize is the “Red Mesa” color which is a lovely red tortoise-shell.

First impressions –

The Konrad is a lovely feeling pen. The weight and balance are very good. It also looks very professional and sharp. It certainly looks like it costs more than its $20-$24.00 price. The Konrad has a lovely feature of a safety cap that screws on the back of the pen which prevents you from accidently twisting the barrel and letting out ink when you don’t intend to. When filling the pen you remove that little screw-on cap and can then twist the barrel to fill the pen. The filling mechanism is a slide piston fill converter that works very easily. 

Writing (ahem, Drawing…) -

This is a very smooth writing pen. One of the things I loved about the Ahab was the nib, which has a wonderful feel to it. It’s springy and well-constructed and makes a line with what I think of as “character.” The Konrad nib has a similar feel to it, but with the added bonus of being packaged in a medium-sized body. One of the things I like least about the Ahab is the size, which is really too big and heavy for my hands, especially posted. The Konrad is still a bit heavy for me posted but when unposted is a bit short.

Konrad pen tests

My biggest problem with the Konrad is the width of the nib. I much prefer a fine/medium width nib for drawing. My Konrad is most definitely a medium width nib. Although I prefer a medium nib for writing I find it a bit thick for drawing. Interestingly, the Ahab has a good nib width for me for drawing, as it runs thinner than my Konrad’s nib. I say “my Konrad” as I have no certainty yet that all the Konrads have exactly the same width nib. It’s quite possible that there is some variation in the nib width between pens. If there is, there could be a fine/medium width Konrad nib out there that I would find just perfect.

The nib flexes wonderfully and will produce a fine line with a very light touch. Perhaps that was my problem with the line width, I was applying too much baseline pressure. I suppose time and more experimentation will tell.

Summing up –

So what do I think of the new Konrad Flex pen? Overall, I like it. It’s a lovely, smooth writing pen with a wonderful nib. It seems quite well-made and is very attractive. It’s a good starter even after a few days off. The line, though a bit thick for my tastes, might be made thinner with a lighter touch.

Will I use it for drawing? Absolutely! (Although I think I’ll switch back to another ink…maybe good-old Bulletproof black.) Am I happy to have it? Yes! Would I recommend it to other artists? Yes!

I am a complete pen snob when it comes to drawing pens. As a pen & ink artist, I have to be. So I am very picky about my pens. But I would certainly recommend this pen to both artists and writers. I think it might be the best flex pen that Noodler’s has yet produced. If you’re looking for only one affordable flex pen then I would recommend this one, especially if you’re a gal with medium/small-sized hands like me. It seems perfectly made for us!

Cheers everyone and I hope you enjoyed these reviews. :-)

Sketching in Seattle Thursday

I love the fact that Seattle has so many lovely old Art Deco theaters. The Guild 45^th II is conveniently located right outside a convenient Tully’s Coffee – which was very beneficial yesterday as it was raining and I could see the theater right through the window. The original Guild 45^th Theater was built in 1919 and is two doors down from this facade which is technically the “Guild 45th II.” Although the Guild II was built in 1983 it was designed to look similar to the original building.

The original façade is painted pink/salmon and the new one is painted teal. Although both theaters look a little worn, both still have great neon.

If you know this street, you will notice that I have omitted certain details including the power lines and the tree that is growing right in front of the facade. On a nice day perhaps I'll paint the companion theater, "The Guild 45th" to complete the set. :-)

Adventures in Writing Part 2

Today is Howard Pyle’s birthday. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, he was an extraordinary “golden age” illustrator who was, among other things, quite masterful with pen & ink. In his honor, I have chosen today to give my new Namiki Falcon fountain pen a test run.

I was most interested in the Falcon as it has a unique nib. It appears to have a “beak” that curves down to the paper. It is also made of 14 karat gold which gives the nib added spring, allowing for some flexibility of line. As this was my first gold-nibbed pen I was curious to see how it differed from the steel nibs in my other pens.

Namiki Falcon nib with its "beaked" shape

Here it is in its box. As both Pilot and Namiki are the same company, the presentation boxes are similar. Although I have never been overly impressed by pens coming in “jewelry boxes,” I have to admit to something of a thrill seeing it presented so nicely when opened.

My new Namiki Falcon

This is a black resin pen with a SF (fine) nib. The resin pen is very light and I really like light-weight pens. I find them much easier to hold for long periods of time. The filling mechanism is similar to my Parker Sonnet and was easy to use. I have filled it with Noodler’s Bulletproof Black, an ink I know very well.

I began with a test page of practice strokes. I found that the pen holds a line very well, perhaps the best of all my pens. It also is light enough to “skip” well, very important for gradations of line in pen & ink. I liked using it posted (with the cap on the back of the pen) as I thought the balance was quite good that way. Without out it being posted, I felt that the pen was too light.

Varying line widths can be achieved with the Falcon by pressing straight down with it and not flexing it at all to the side. Although not as flexible as a true flexible nib pen (Noodler’s Nib Creaper Flex or Ahab for example) it is still flexible enough to create a variable line.

Scribbles and other miscellaneous marks felt good. Then I tried some stippling. Stippling is a mainstay of pen & ink work. Back in the day when I used “regular” pens, as my old illustration teacher used to call them, we would choose a nib like a crow quill, stick it into a nib holder, and stipple away.  I was curious how the Falcon, with its unusual nib shape, would handle stippling. I found it to be quite excellent. I also did comparatives while I was at it with several other of my most popular “working” pens. Of them all the Falcon and the Noodler’s Piston Fill fountain pens performed the best. Bless the little Piston Fill, it really does perform well. :-)

But back to the Falcon. Preliminarily, I have found that it writes quite smoothly and its delicacy and consistency of line makes it a most excellent choice for pen & ink work. The nib in some ways reminds me of a crow quill. The crow quill created really fine lines that led to quite delicate work. The problem with it, as I recall, was that it never held enough ink and would quickly run dry. Not so with the Falcon. With its ink reserve inside it’s likely to produce quite a few marks before needing to be refilled. ;-)

Next test for the Falcon is a real piece of artwork. I’ve got that under way now and will post it here when complete.

P.S. For those of you who might be interested in those sorts of things, for paper I was using a Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook.  

Daily sketches

I have always been fascinated by the texture of trees, especially in the medium of pen and ink. There are so many ways to show the play of light and shadow using the pen. The key for trees is to put in the foliage first and then add the “solid” features like the truck and branches. That way you preserve the lightness of the leaf mass.

Bricks can be a big problem until you realize that you don’t need to add every single brick. To do so in an irregular wall is to make the wall uniform and uninteresting. By adding only a few, the play of light and shadow can be highlighted.

The interesting part of this fence drawing is that some of it is defined by dark (left side) and some by light (right). The negative space becomes as important as the positive. How do you show negative space? By defining what’s behind it. In this drawing the plants “create” the fence.

By the way, I am loving my new Stillman and Birn Epsilon sketchbook. Previously, I had been using the Bee Paper Company’s Pen Sketcher’s sketchbooks. Although that paper is good, I am finding the heavier Stillman and Birn paper clearly superior. I also like the heavier cover to protect the drawings inside and the fact that it’s spiral bound for ease of use. These things may sound inconsequential but it’s the details that help make a drawing experience even more pleasant.

Fun with Frank

While at the University of Washington’s bookstore in Seattle recently I found a pen and ink book that I had never seen before. I was surprised to see it, since it was new to me and I am a huge bibliophile - especially for art technique books. It’s called “Step by Step: Pen and Ink Sketching,” by Frank J. Lohan and was published by Dover in 1983. After flipping through it, I realized that it could teach me quite a bit and so bought it. Once I got it home, I realized that it was the second book in a series and I set about finding “Pen & Ink Techniques” published in 1978 by Dover. I found that one at Dick Blick in Seattle. That was a surprise to the store's staff as they didn’t know they had it! ;-)

I have decided to go through Frank Lohan’s excellent exercises and absorb what he has to teach. I’ve set aside a 5” x 7” Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook to work in. The Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbooks have heavy, smooth paper and are perfect for pen & ink. For pens I am using Pitt Design pens (“S,” “M,” & “B”), Noodler’s Nib Creaper Flex pens, and a Noodler’s Ahab Flex Pen.

Here are the first two drawing exercises in my sketchbook.

Thus far I'm quite enjoying Frank Lohan's books. It's always nice to add some new techniques to my pen & ink repertoire.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I can barely believe that we’re half-way through February! Time seems to be moving particularly fast at the moment.

So what’s been up at the studio? Well, as you all know, I have been posting weekly horse comics in a series called “Horse Life.” This has been a true delight for me and now that I’m into the 6^th comic I feel right in the swing of things. Today's comic is a Valentine's Day special and you can see it here.

Ever since the demise of “Privateer Princess” a few years ago, I have missed cartooning. However, since more practical (and lucrative) things usually take precedence over cartooning, I tend not to do do it. “Horse Life”  has given me both some well-needed closure from our failed web comic and a new focus for something fun to add to my repertoire. They say you should write/draw about what you know, and boy, do I know the horse world! I’ve been in it since I was 4 years old and have seen so many changes. It’s really remarkable to think about.

In other news, I have been doing some pen & ink practice based on Frank Lohan’s books, and have been having a wonderful time with it. More on that in a future post. But speaking of ink and pens, I recently caved and bought a Noodler’s Ahab flex pen.

My new Noodler's Ahab flex pen

These pens have been incredibly popular since they first came out a few months ago. I just had to try one. As I have mentioned here before, I have been loving the Noodler’s Nib Creaper flex pens and have been using them almost constantly for most of a year now. I was wary of the Ahab as it's much wider than it’s predecessor and I have small hands. 

Comparison between the Ahab flex and the Nib Creaper flex pens.
The Ahab is on the top and the Nib Creaper is on the bottom.
Note the size difference in the barrels.

So far I am a bit torn about the new pen. The Ahab definitely has a superior nib and the pen holds much more ink in the chamber. But I need to use it unposted as with the cap on the back it’s too heavy for me for comfort. I also find it a bit awkward for detail work. Ironically, Matt loves it (he has big hands) and thinks he’ll buy one for himself pretty soon complete with fast-drying Noodler's Bernanke Blue ink. ;-)