Windy Day Cachet Watercolor Journal 7 x 10 inches Watercolor & Coptic Ink Click to enlarge

You'd think I would have more sense than to go out the day after Hurricane Irene passed through and try to paint on location. You'd be wrong. I wanted to test out a new stool I'd purchased the weekend before. So off I went on Saturday morning.

The winds were stripping the crape myrtle blossoms off the trees and cascading them through the air onto the surface of this very dirty pond. At times, it looked like pink froth!

The winds were steady with periodic gusts up to 40-45 mph.

Did I have a clip to hold the pages? No, but I had my new stool.

Did I have a band to hold the pages? No, but I had my new stool.

Did I have a grand time juggling my pages and my palette in high winds? No, but I did get to test out my new stool!

The new stool is a Byer Tri-Lite Stool. I'm testing out various stools for the upcoming trip to New Orleans! Click here for more information.
I don't recommend this stool for sketching. It is a bit unstable even with the additional leg support and twice, I thought I was going to tip over! The weather really played no role in this tipping nonsense. Both times I was either stretching or reaching for something.

Too bad it didn't work out as it's quite light and folds up to 13 inches! Not bad! I have a new stool on order, so I'll let you know how that one works out.

A couple of weekends ago, hubby and I headed up to Ocala where they have two stores that Tampa does not—a Gander Mountain and a Hobby Lobby! Something for everyone! It turned out to be a nice day away as Ocala is horse country with lots of rolling hills and gorgeous oak trees. We managed to get "lost" once and didn't even bother to turn around because we were enjoying the views so much.

Anyway, while wandering the aisles of Hobby Lobby, I stumbled across a Sharpie® Liquid Pencil. Hmmm, I thought. I gotta give this a whirl. I mean liquid pencil—would it smear like regular pencil? Would this eliminate the problem of broken leads let alone having a sharpener? I could see potential here so I chucked one into my basket.

A few aisles over, I stumbled across the Chatterbox Journaling Genie which is a fancy name for a stencil. A stencil used to draw lines quickly on the journal page so that your text will be straight! These have apparently been around for the last 10 years, but I just found out about them.

I liked the idea of a quick way to get lines on the page without having to get a ruler and measure each line, especially for when I'm traveling. What I wasn't liking was the full page of stencils. So, I did a little surgery.
I even rounded some of the corners so they wouldn't scratch me and I could use the shape of the stencil as a  template to draw boxes on my journal page. The last thing I did was to glue an envelope in the back of my sketchbook so I could stow the templates and take them out as needed.
As for the Sharpie Liquid Pencil? Don't bother! It looks and writes more like a pen than a pencil. It leaves an indention in the paper with even the lightest of touches and it requires an even amount of pressure to get the liquid "lead" to come out.
The stuffed puppy on the right is a baby toy and he barks when you squeeze his tummy. For some reason, he reminds me of my sweet cinnamon girl, Gatlin, that I lost to cancer a few years ago. You can see the stenciled lines in action over on the left with a Copic® gray marker.

The one thing I will say for the liquid pencil was that I was able to erase most of the lead after the watercolor was complete. I tried some more tests with it on other types of paper and different paints, but did not have similar results. Oh well! You don't know if you don't try!!

As promised, here is way too much information about my addiction to palettes (all photos are clickable). It's a long and littered road.....

Lipstick or Stealth Palette Business card included for scale

Stealth Palette closed

This is the Stealth Palette, formerly a lipstick sampler from Trish McEvoy. I use this when I'm sketching out in public and don't particularly care for anyone to know. It is the size of a thick credit card. I spray painted the mirror area with white gloss enamel for a wash area.

Angora Palette Business card included for scale

This little palette was given to me. The paints that came in it were like chalk so I tossed 'em and put in my preferred colors. Since it didn't have enough wells, I altered it by adding my own. The top was painted with white gloss enamel to make it easier to see the paint colors in a wash. If you look at the lower right hand corner, you'll notice the broken corner. That's one of the downsides to plastic palettes—they do break! (But it's still functional!)

Daler-Rowney Palette Empty and Unaltered

Altered and filled!

Altered Quarter Pan Palette Note the "legend" of paint names in the upper lefthand corner

27 Half-Pan Palette

Leaf Meditations in watercolor handbook • watercolor • journal 3.5" x 17"

I looked up with a start when I heard Chris ask "Did you get lost? Again."

I was in the studio, but for all intents and purposes, I had been lost. In my own little world. Painting leaf meditations.....

Close up of image above

These were painted with an Escoda® Travel Brush (in the first image), Series 1214, Size 6. This brush came home from the trade show with me, and I have to tell you it is an absolute pleasure to paint with! The brush is only a size 6 but holds as much water as some of my larger brushes. It also comes to a razor sharp point (which I love) that allows me to get to the small details without having to change brushes.

These brushes are made in Barcelona, Spain and the company has been making brushes for 75 years. This is particular brush is made from kolinsky sable and is on its way to becoming my favorite brush. I recently read over on Wet Canvas that when someone had a question on an Escoda brush and emailed the company. Ricard Escoda replied with an the answer—I find that remarkable in the age of Big Business.

Bottom section of top image

All of the leaves were painted loosely without pencil. The pigment was allowed to move "outside of the lines" to give the impression of movement. To further the impression of movement, no cast shadows were added. For me, there is something very zen like in painting these little masterpieces of nature. If you're interested in learning how to paint this type of artwork, please join me for an Imaginary Visit Through Autumn! The trip leaves on October 21st! Please click here for more information.

Okay, finally! We're going to talk about art supplies that were demoed around at the Florida Watercolor Tradeshow.....

First up:
Fluid Watercolor Paper and the hand•book watercolor journals were spotted at nearly every vendor selling supplies. Interestingly enough, the hand•book watercolor journals are made from Fluid Watercolor paper though you won't find that info on the label. The paper has a finish similar to a laid paper finish. It is not as obvious as a true laid finish but the resemblance is there. Both the Fluid paper and the hand•book journal company is represented by Global Art Materials in the US. The web site is rather short on information about the products.

Fluid watercolor paper is a wood pulp based paper rather than a cotton rag. It has cut edges rather than deckled edges. [Life has been seriously cutting into my exploration time and] I have yet to put the paper through its paces. I did cut down one sheet to see what kind of fold I would get for bookbinding. Happy to say no cracking or tearing. Oddly, the grain ran opposite to most of the papers I have been playing with here lately.

The paper comes in 22 x 30 inches (55.88 x 76.2 cm) sheets as well as blocks and pads, all in various sizes. It is made in the US. More on this product as I get more time to play.


The cover on the hand•book journal is absolutely gorgeous! It has a wonderful touch to it and seems quite durable. Time will tell. I've read where a number of artists have had trouble with warping of both the cover and the paper. So far, I can't make that claim. Perhaps because of the humidity in Florida? Or maybe in spite of it? I don't know, but it's been sitting in open air for over a week without the slightest of changes.

Westfield Cypress and Pond Watercolor 3.5" x 8.25"

This is my first attempt at sketching, plein aire,* on this paper. Let me preface all of what I'm about to say with a disclaimer—this was not a fair test to the paper. Why? Because I was out painting in much cooler temperatures than normal with gale-force winds (not really, just breezy, but when you're trying to paint the wind seems much stronger!)

The paper seemed to be resistant in places and not in others—uneven sizing or those crazy winds? There was a good deal of buckling when I was painting, but the paper has dried fairly flat with a bit of curling to the edges. No better or worse than other papers I've tried. I didn't really notice any oddities with the pigment or settling of the granulation, but then, I was fighting with the elements more than the paper so it's hard to say if there were any issues.

Two other sizes are also available, both larger. The hand•book journals are made in India. Whereas I am not thrilled with this book so far, I will continue to experiment and play with it to see what it can and cannot do.

More art supplies to come!

*This pond is situated between a huge mall and a 10 lane interstate just beyond those trees. I could see the glint of metal as the cars flew by on the roadway. It was more than a bit disconcerting to hear the sweet song of a Red-wing Blackbird against the nearly overwhelming roar of the cars, both on the interstate and behind me as the shoppers arrived at the mall. A small piece of paradise tucked away in an unlikely spot. These days, I find my bit of paradise where I can!

The paper testing goes on.... (more here and here)

I am still working in the Pineapple Journal with the Canson Edition watercolor paper and I must say I am enjoying it quite a bit. The colors are bright and lively, the paper does NOT buckle under repeated washes and it dries fairly flat as well.

Detail of corrected area

This is a partial slice of the page and it's partial for two reasons....one, it's not finished nor is it likely to be and two, it based very loosely on an image I've seen out on someone's blog and until I have it in writing that they will allow me to use their image I will not post it in its entirety. It's about copyright law and respecting other artists' rights. That's the first tale of caution. It's way easy to get caught up in an image and forget to ask!

The second tale of caution is if you look closely at the brown area you may be able to discern two areas that were "corrected." If not, take a look at the next image.

Detail of attempted correction

See the two dark "lines" of pigment? One curves to the left and one to the right? I wanted to add yellow petals in this area so I lifted the color as lightly as I could with a scrubbie. Once dry, I attempted to add color back over the area. Yuck! The surface was very fuzzy with no sizing left and no amount of burnishing would repair the damage. The only thing I could do was to put the heavy brown pigment back. It is far more noticeable on the actual page than in the scan.

It would seem that the Achilles heel for this paper is that you do not make significant course changes or correct large mistakes. Once the pigment is down, it doesn't come up easily nor does the paper accept pigment back over the corrected area very well. I also tried using a correction using clear tape. No good there either as it lifted the paper fibers when I lifted the tape.

In short, this paper is not Arches and does not take a repeated beating. However, as a watercolor sketching paper to be used in bound/stitched books, it's has Arches beat hands down for the lack of cracking of the paper, warpage and ease of use!

Accordion Fold Journal - Canson Edition Watercolor Paper

Thanks to Ann at BlueBird Hill and Pam at South Carolina Low Country blogs, I have a new paper to play with and the first results are posted above! Ann and Pam both highly endorsed Canson Edition Watercolor paper and as luck would have it, the art store had two pieces in the 140 lb. weight left. I told them to stick my name on them, I was on my way!

First four panels with the "cover" still blank

I picked up the paper late on Saturday and torn it down for a journal that evening. I had a scrap that was a little over 2 inches (5.08 cm) wide and 22 inches (55.88 cm) long. I created an accordion fold with 8 panels. The images I painted are random things that cropped up over the weekend. Wildflowers, a new mug (which you saw yesterday), more flowers, a slice of cake (which you saw yesterday) and some tomatoes from an outdoor market we went to on Monday.

Close up of middle panels

Results: the paper folds well with no cracking. Again, it seems the pigment sits up on the surface of the paper with little seeping into the fibers as I was able to remove color with little trouble. The colors are very vibrant on the paper and this may be part of the reason! Corrections were easy as it allowed me to erase with little or no trouble. I still want to test it a little further though.

End of the journal with final panel blank

If you purchase this paper, you will notice a definite, marked difference in the textures between the front and back of the sheet. It isn't something that will bother me as I don't paint across the page that often, and I like the idea of having a rougher texture for some subjects. The decision will have to be made to either work in page/date order or to skip around if you want to choose the best paper surface for the current subject matter. Since my journals always tend to be a little erratic anyway, this hasn't proven to be an issue yet!

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with this "scrap" journal and I highly recommend this type of "play" if you are testing out a new paper—it provides spontaneity without the usual threat of a brand new journal to "break in." I hope to have the sketchbook/journal put together later today and I'll post it tomorrow if it is done in time! As I continue to test out the papers (Stonehenge and Canson), I'll post the info here.

She is victorious!

She is joyous!

She is proud!

She is loud!

Front of bag with pocket

Sam has a new bag with all of the desired features!!

After several skirmishes, Sam decided it would be acceptable to make the bag out of scraps—from the curtain panels in the studio.....IF she could add a touch of "glam." Hence the beads across the top of the pocket where I stash keys and lipstick.

Back of bag

The back panel is Sam's favorite as she really likes this material best. We didn't have enough left over to make the whole bag out it, so we created the side panels out of the striped material:

Side and Back

And below, is the interior with all the appropriate compartments for sketchbooks, watercolor kits, camera, cellphone, camera, wallet and other necessities with (plenty of) room to spare.

Inside compartments (click to enlarge)

In case you're wondering why she's loud, it's because she dislikes the handles. They're a bit too girlie for her. She's loudly insisting we go find some other handles.


She's....I'm just glad to having something marked off the to-do list!

I recently paid a visit to one of our art supply stores in the area to pick up some open-stock Stonehenge paper. I've read on several blogs and on the Stonehenge web site as well that the paper is good for watercolors so I've been very curious to "see" and touch it for myself.

To say I was skeptical when I first handled the paper is an understatement!

Still, being a glutton for punishment (not really...I just didn't see how that many people could be wrong), I purchased a sheet of white and a sheet of gray that should be called putty as it is not gray. Not by a long shot. I purchased it with the intention of building a sketchbook. However, before I put in all the work of putting together a sketchbook I wanted to find out what the paper could or would do with regard to watercolors.

I tore down both sheets and with the scraps left over, started to play.......

Watercolor Samples on 90 lb. Stonehenge Paper

The very top sample is about .75 inches (1.905 cm) wide and is the white Stonehenge and surprise, surprise! Not only did it NOT turn to mush in my hands when I added water and pigment, it didn't bleed through nor did it warp. Yay!

Summer is just flying by. Ridiculously so. What is the hurry, I keep wondering. Well, since I can't do anything to slow it down, I might as well scribble in my journal a little bit faster!

I will never forget the summer we went on vacation with two of my aunts and uncles, all of their children and my grandparents. We stayed in this big old house on Lake Junaluska (North Carolina) and it had three floors! Of course, stairs were so enchanting to a four year old that I could hardly contain myself! At the top of the stairs, in my parents bedroom, were windows that looked out on a Mimosa Tree.

That tree was constantly covered with hummers! There must have been hundreds of them and they were so tiny and perfect flying bloom to bloom...something that made an incredible impression on little me. I've always wanted to go back and find that house and stay there again to see the hummers, but I'm sure the house, the tree, and most certainly the hummers, are probably gone. So they will live on in my memory and my journal.

This little beauty was sketched for the Artful Journaling Explorations class currently going on. In this lesson, we explore getting more out of the common rollerball gel pen. Another starts on September 21st for anyone who is interested in exploring alternative materials!

I stepped into my studio last evening just in time to see this scamp darting across the floor with my favorite sable watercolor brush! When I told Chris about him, I called the little guy a gremlin. This led to a discussion about what makes a gremlins vs. mischievous faeries vs. hobgoblins vs. evil elves. I was perhaps calling him by the wrong name as I do believe he is more of a mischief maker than an gremlin. Besides, he wasn't green and I didn't see any warts.

Interestingly, Chris informed me he didn't have any of these mysterious creatures in his studio. He seem to think they were all mine and visited his studio when they became bored waiting for me to discover something missing. He also said if they were anything like him, they'd forget where they put stuff so he hoped they didn't take anything too important!

I regretfully informed him that as far as I knew faeries had no territorial boundaries, came and went as they pleased, and were not assigned nor attached to particular humans. It had far more to do with who they liked—or didn't. Fortunately for me, this guy dropped the brush as he rounded the trash bin and disappeared from sight. He didn't seem particularly scared of me. He just knew the game was up. This time.

On a more serious note (if you've made it this far), this was painted in the new watercolor journal from Hobby Lobby. So far I've learned that it does not take to repeated erasing very well. It tends to mar the paper rather easily. The journal also has a textured page and a less textured page. As long as you know this you can either plan ahead if you want to do a two page spread, or make your mind up it's not going to bother you if you want to stay in date order.

The only thing I can say so far is that when these are gone, I won't be making another trip to replace them. I still prefer them to Moleskines, but I really think I'd rather just make my own and be done with it. So close.....but then, that's probably what Mr. Brush Snatcher thought too!