Sketch of the Day - Santa Lucia Coffee Company

“At Santa Lucia.” Ink and Pitt Brush Pens in a Stillman & Birn
3.5 x 5.5 Zeta softcover sketchbook. Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2016.

Today’s sketch comes from the lovely Santa Lucia Coffee Co. in Centralia, WA. The café closed before I was done, so I took it home for finishing touches. This is my first color piece in a while. It's nice to be back to color. The other thing that's nice about this piece is that it's the FIRST completed in the studio of my new house! The room feels great to work in and that makes me very, very happy. Studios are like good gloves, either they fit or they don't. And if they don't...you'll always feel uncomfortable in them, never able to truly relax into your art. (At least that's my opinion. I realize that it might not be shared by all.) Contrarily, I can draw just about anywhere. But my studio is HOME and needs to feel really good. This one does, which is great because I intend on using it for a very long time to come.

Carousel Camels and Other Things

Here a few drawings from the day. Both pen and ink, created in a Banditapple unruled notebook with a Noodler’s Konrad flex pen and Noodler’s black ink, as well as Pitt brush pens for the solid blacks.

"Carousel Camel on the Loose" Copyright, Sara Light-Waller

This first drawing shows a Bactrian camel, decked out in carousel regalia, galloping through the desert. I’ve never drawn a camel before and thought it might be fun to dress him (or her) up for the occasion.

"Horse and Rider collage" Copyright, Sara Light-Waller

The next piece started out as a simple pen and ink drawing of a horse and rider, but after some happy accidents in my photo manipulation program — voila! I now have something much more interesting that looks collaged. I so love happy accidents!

Which are my favorite sketching tools right now?

Hands on hips, this was the question I asked myself the other day as I took stock of the many types of pencils, paints, markers, etc. that I saw lined up before me. For outdoor sketching adventures, I’ve created several small kits that I rotate through depending on what I’m feeling like that day. My three favorite sketch kits are 1. a small pen & ink and watercolor kit, 2. a small fast-sketch kit with various stumps and graphite pencils, and 3. a watercolor pencil/Neocolor II kit (my most recent favorite.)

I thought I might further refine my sketch kits further based on what tools I’m having fun using right now. But how best to check on the fun level for each tool? I decided to create a test of sorts for myself. I started by drawing a new coloring book page that I would then color with different tools. That would show me which tools would best fit my current needs. This also would also help me organize a new palette of colors for the kinds of outdoor places where I tend to sketch (horse farms, local NW scenes.)

It was a fun exercise.

Here is the line drawing I used. I photocopied the image several times onto heavy, white cover stock pages for my test.

A new pen & ink image to color.

Coloring page #1 - Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Pitt Design Pens (magic markers). I liked the look of this colored image. I thought it was very cute. I think that markers might give my sketching scenes something of an illustrative quality.

This image was colored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Pitt Design Pens.

Coloring page #2 - Neocolor II watersoluble crayons. I liked the look of this page too but there’s a problem with using crayons in the Summer…they melt in hot cars! Frequently, my sketch kit sits in the trunk of the car for hours until I get a moment to sketch.

This image was colored with Neocolor II crayons.

Coloring page #3 - Inktense watersoluble pencils. Inktense pencils are really cool for several reasons. The first is that their pencil leads are made of watersoluble ink. After the ink has been wet once it will never be watersoluble again. So you can build up your image without moving or changing the underlying layers. I find that the transparency of the Inktense colors also works especially well with pen & ink drawings. As another fun feature, the colors are extra bright.

This image was colored with Inktense watersoluble pencils.

Coloring page #4 - watercolor pencils (Cretacolor and Supracolor). These are the pencils that I have been using in one of current sketch kits. They are very user friendly, travel well, and lay down good color either dry or when wet with a waterbrush. Although the look isn’t as bright as with the Inktense pencils they are more versatile for many subjects.

This image was colored with Cretacolor and Supracolor watercolor pencils.

So which ones where the most FUN to use?

The results were an essential tie! I have to give the nod to both the Tombow/Pitt markers and the Cretacolor/Supracolor watercolor pencils. I think both will serve my needs very well and are very fun to use.

Evening update!

I have since created two new sketch kits – one with the markers and one with the colored pencils and I’ve bundled them together into the same little carry bag. Now I feel ready for all sorts of new adventures! Tally ho!

Delay in Horse Life leads to doodling

"It's been a long week!"

For the past week I having been working hard to finish up some commissioned illustrations. Of course, this required me to put all non-paid art on temporary hold. Hence the lack of appearance of Horse Life this week. It will be back, and soon, but not for a few more days.

Last night, in a late night stupor of being awake but not able to do any more “official” artwork,” I started doodling notes for future Horse Life comics. Truly, it’s a case of too much information! I have anecdotes that could keep me busy for years! *chuckle* I am also working on finding my stride as far as the characterizations for the comic. Studying established and popular cartoonists like Norman Thelwell and Charles M. Schulz, (creator of “Peanuts”) is both enlightening and helpful. As I sketch, I learn and process. Eventually, I will find my own stride, just as they did.

In that spirit, here are three of my pony sketches from last night when everything seemed “up in the air!.” ;-)

"Reaching new heights"

"The Star Player"

"Putting on Airs"

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. :-)

Noodling around today (no pun intended)

I am really enjoying my new Diamine Sepia ink. I love the color and I especially love using it in my Peewee Banditapple Carnet notebook. Somehow, because it's such a little notebook (3.5" x 5.5"), it encourages me to freely sketch unimportant and yet fun things. Here's what I came up with today. Silly, but fun! ;-)

The Search for the Perfect Brown

I've found my brown ink!

For a long time now I have been searching for a good brown ink to draw with. My color model is a brown used by artists of the past. (For example, Beatrix Potter used a brown ink in her illustrations quite frequently.) That brown color, which I have always thought of as Sepia, is a reddish-brown, sometimes leaning towards Golden-Brown. I know that I’m picky, but I have already tried a number of inks and have not yet been able to find the perfect one. Here’s a list of the inks that I have already tried - Noodler’s Golden Brown, Noodler’s Polar Brown, Noodler’s Whaleman’s Sepia, Noodler’s Cayenne. It sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Fortunately, the nice folks at Goulet Pens sell ink samples so you can get in and get out really cheaply.

I realized that it was time for another round of ink tests and ordered some new samples from Brian and Rachel Goulet. My newest batch included - Diamine Dark Brown, Diamine Sepia, Diamine Ancient Copper, De Atramentis Ochre Yellow and Private Reserve Copper Burst. Online I could see that all the inks appeared to be in the right color family. I had a brand new Noodler’s Flex pen in the Arizona color primed and waiting for her new brown ink.

Brown ink comparisons on Bee paper

I tested all the new inks with a dip pen and although it was a close race between the Diamine Sepia and the Diamine Ancient Copper, the Sepia pulled it out to win! (So it WAS a Sepia ink all along!!) It was exactly the color I’d hoped for. What’s more, it paired perfectly with a Pitt #169 (Caput Mortem) Brush Pen. And so voila! A new pen and brush set ready for drawing! I’m very pleased!

Ink tests with Diamine Sepia in Noodler's Flex pen and Pitt brush #169 on Bee paper

Ironically, now that I have the perfect ink, I’m having some trouble with the Arizona flex pen. I have several Flex pens that I keep filled with various colors of ink. This one, as I have said, was ear-marked for the brown ink. Two of my newest flex pens come from a later manufacturing batch and just aren’t as good as my three earlier flex pens. They’re alright but the nib doesn’t sit as deeply into the pen and they just doesn’t write/draw as well for me. But it does an OK job as you can see in the drawing samples. Perhaps in the future I’ll find another individual Noodler’s Flex pen that writes a bit better to replace it. But in the meantime, I love my new ink color!

Sepia ink in Banditapple Carnet Notebook

The ink samples are shown in a Bee Pen Sketcher’s pad and in a Banditapple Carnet Peewee notebook. I have to take a moment to say the Banditapple Carnet notebook is very impressive in that the ink did not bleed through the page as I would have expected. It’s really a sweet little purse notebook for $3.50. You can find them at GouletPens.com.