She fought her way to Chris in a torrential downpour because she wanted to live.

She was feisty and she was willing to fight for what she wanted.

She was little, maybe 5 weeks old, soaked to the skin and cold as ice by the time Chris picked her up.

We didn't know if she'd make it home. She did. She was chewing on my metal jacket zipper pull before  long.

We had no idea she was white until we cleaned her up. She looked to be grungy gray at first sight.

It didn't take long before she had us both wrapped around that furry little foot.

You seldom wondered what her opinion was because she was only too happy to share it with you. And she always had an opinion.

She was vocal about what she wanted. She'd put others in their place (vacuum included) if they dared to cross her.

She could be temperamental and if you were going to be around her, it was best to learn the signs and give her wide berth when she was in a mood.

Her love for us was bottomless.

Her spirit was so incredibly strong....over 20 years strong.

However, her body was not. It simply gave out on her.

We have a cat-shaped hole in our hearts, and yes, we grieve.

Still, we're so glad she chose to spend her twenty years with us.

Booger June '92 - October '11

Bye, Boo Girl, you'll be missed for sure......

Pamplemousse BFK Rives Paper Watercolor with white and brown-black ink Click to enlarge

I don't know about you, but I've been around citrus all my life and I'd never heard the word "pamplemousse." Today, when I needed a subject for a quick paper test, I decided to use some grapefruit that were sitting on the kitchen counter.

I was rather surprised to find that pamplemousse is French for grapefruit!

After I did the kitten in the prior post, I decided I wanted to test out the BFK Rives paper a bit more. I really wanted to see what it would do with just watercolor without a lot of ink. Since I had also purchased some new waterbrushes (Pentel Aquash) and some new pens (Uni•Ball), I figured I'd test them all at one time.

First the paper...if you click to enlarge, you'll see some odd marks on the large (whole) grapefruit. I'm guessing that's something to do with sizing. Look at the edge of the fruit...see how the edges bled and feathered? I'm not sure if that happened because the paper wasn't totally dry or if it's a characteristic of the paper. Either way, I'm no liking it overly much.

The pens are both Uni•balls, one in white and one in brown-black. The white was great for reclaiming the lost highlights and section lines in the cut fruit. The brown pen was used for the journaling and border. No problem with bleeds or feathering on this paper.

The Pentel Aquash waterbrushes are fun to work with if you like long pointed brushes! I primarily used the large one and find it very generous with water. A little to generous at times. All the same, I'll probably be taking those to NOLA Live!

I'm going to try testing the paper one more time, but if I had to decide today, I'd have to say it would be staying home!

So what fun new art toys have you played with lately?! Do share!

Kitten and Yarn Watercolor and Carbon Black Ink BFK Rives 175 g paper

With the upcoming trip to New Orleans getting ever closer, my search for a sketchbook paper that makes me happy is picking up pace. The kitten above was sketched in carbon black ink and then painted with watercolors.

The BFK Rives is a printmaking paper and accepts watercolor well. The paper has a very soft finish to it that allows for wild and varied results from the pens I normally use on location. (It always pays to check how your favorite tools act on a new paper!) I finally used a flex nib fountain pen with the Carbon Black ink to sketch this. My Lamy (with the same ink) bled and feathered to the point of distraction. Not pretty!

I've also found there isn't too much correcting on this paper. If you click to enlarge the kitten, you'll see I had difficulty with his mouth. I like the paper and I think it would work well on location, but I'm still searching!

I also tested out Cartiera Magnani Acquerello watercolor paper and knew as soon as I started out with my color swatches I wouldn't be taking this paper. The paper has a very distinctive pattern to it that become very evident when I put down my washes. Not unpleasant, just not what I'm looking for in my sketchbook!

Tombow Lightfastness Test

Autumn arrived in Florida on October 1st with much cooler temperatures and lower humidity! I didn't need much more of a reason than that to get outside and get in some sketching.

Osprey Drive Park Stillman & Birn Sketchbook Watercolor and Ink 7 x 7 inches Click to enlarge

I didn't get a particularly early start, but it didn't seem to matter. I went to one of our local "no-name" walking/biking paths and set off with my sketch kit....and the requisite travel mug of coffee!

Lots of people were out with the dogs, getting some fresh air, roller blading, biking, running or just sitting on the benches to enjoy the day. I wasn't hopeful of spotting much wildlife with so much activity and figured I'd working on capturing a landscape.

I wasn't more than an eighth of a mile down the path when I noticed the Anhinga doing his thing up in a tree by the pond. More of a bush really. He bobbled and bounced as he went through his grooming process.

He seemed to have a very itchy neck! He would start scratching right above his chin and then work his way up to to as far as he could go. His neck would get longer and longer with the effort.

The bird was quite busy moving around, but every once and a while he'd just freeze as if he'd seen a bug floating by. Or a ghost. I didn't see him snap at anything so maybe he caught a smell of danger or .....who knows!

Further along the path, I just happened to catch a small movement out in the left field of my peripheral vision—it was the swamp bunny! I totally missed his shape, but this was drawn from mostly memory because as soon as I took an interest in him, he took an interest in leaving—two hops and he was gone!

The little Downy Woodpecker was about 15 feet up a palm tree. Unfortunately, I couldn't see his face in either of the fuzzy snapshots I took of him, so I must assume it was a Downy rather than a Hairy Woodpecker which is similar in plumage but larger in size. The body shape isn't quite right...like most critters, he was busy going about the business of his life and didn't have time to pose for me!

A glorious morning altogether! And I'm off to do it again today!

Imagine my surprise when I happened to glance at my waterbrush the other day and saw all these black floaty things INSIDE the barrel of the brush! Yuck!

Click to enlarge

I usually wear the point off from the brush tip long before I get gunk in the barrel of a waterbrush. This brush has a very small tip that is used for detailing and I don't use it often. That may be the reason why I have the yucky stuff in the barrel.

Besides not wanting to contaminate my paper or paints with mold, this kind of trash will also plug up a waterbrush, rendering it useless because the water can't flow through to the tip.

Click to enlarge

I used a chenille stem, folded in half and twisted, to get down into the barrel and scrub out some of the sticky offending black spots. I didn't use any soap as I didn't need it to remove the gunk. If you choose to use soap, please make sure to use something like dish soap that doesn't have oils and moisturizers in it. (Oil and watercolor don't mix well and the soap could leave a residue!)

Click to enlarge

No more nasties! I'll keep an eye on this brush to make sure that all the gunk has been removed. If it comes back, I'll rinse just the barrel with a very, very weak water and bleach solution, dry it out thoroughly and then refill it. (Don't get bleach on the bristles!)

I'm not so concerned this will ruin the brush, even though it could, as I'm concerned I could contaminate my paper and paints. I'd had to find mold growing in a sketchbook sometime down the road!

Check your brushes!

Stillman & Birn Sketchbooks Beta Series on the left; Alpha Series on the right Click to enlarge any and all photos

There has been a lot of discussion about the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks on several blogs and FB groups that I play with, so I decided to order a couple and see what they were like.

I purchased a 7 x 7 inch (17.8 x 17.8 cm) Beta Series with extra heavy weight paper and a rough surface as well as a 6 x 8 inch (15.2 x 20.3 cm) Alpha Series with heavy weight paper. Both papers are Natural White in color. When compared to Arches, Winsor and Newton, Fabriano and Strathmore, the paper was very close in color to these watercolor papers with some being a little lighter and one being a bit darker.

The paper in both books is alpha cellulose which is a wood pulp that has been processed to remove lignin and other impurities. It is consider to be a very strong paper that is acid and chloride free.

Beta Series

Beta Series Daisies Test Page

My first test page in the Beta Sketchbook was a sketch of some daisies. The sketch was done with Copic marker and I had no trouble with the pen skipping. The paper surface is very much like you would expect from Arches cold press watercolor paper with slightly less tooth.

Things to note: while you can lift (see daisy shapes in the background) it is nearly impossible to go back to white. If you do, the paper surface is damaged and it becomes difficult to paint over the area without it being obvious.

I found priming the paper with water was necessary to get a good flow to the paint rather than painting a straight wash. The paper tends to grab the paint quickly making it difficult to get a smooth was without hard lines or edges.

Please forgive the crooked scan Private journaling has been blocked at the top of the page

The paper is 180 lb. weight so there was no bleed through to the daisy page. Even with the heavy application of paint and water, the paper still dried flat with minimum buckling. The food collection is the backside of the daisy page. I found no noticeable difference in the surface of the paper after the earlier saturation of the front page.

I also did an eraser test on another page to see how easily the paper erased and whether the paper surface changed. I noted no damage from the erasing and the pencil lifted easily.

Alpha Series

Alpha Series Daisy Test Page

To keep my testing fair, I decided to use the daisies again. This paper has far less tooth and texture than the first. The weight of this paper is 100 lb. and the buckling was much more pronounced (as would be expected of a lighter weight) when I created the background wash. There is little room for correction and even less lifting ability on this paper. I used the same Copic marker to draw the daisies.

Backside of the daisies page Note the buckling

When I started to draw on the backside of the daisies, I immediately noticed the paper surface had been altered by the heavy background wash. The ink feathered and the buckling was so pronounced that I finally dug out my binder clip to hold the page flat.

Notice the binder clip on the left of the book

The "Let Go and Grow" page is a mixed medium page of watercolor, marker, ink and a touch of colored pencil. There was bleed through to the front daisy page, however the scans do not show it well. It wasn't bad, but there was definitely bleed through. I also noticed that when I used pencil and then erased, it left an impression on the page, sometimes making it difficult to lift the graphite. The surface did not seem altered by the erasing.

Food Sculpture by Chris Ferlita Click to enlarge

We had a family celebration last night, and of course, there's always lots of hugs, laughter and mischief going on. Chris contributed one of his (in)famous food sculptures. This is made of lemon, zucchini, tomatoes and rib bones.

Don't you want to come and join us for our next dinner?

Oddly enough, the waiters and waitress always seem to remember us.


Our normal programming will return tomorrow......

Well, actually, I think maybe the humidity has just dropped as the high for today is suppose to reach 92º! Still, you can see and feel the changes....you just really have to be paying attention. Some of you though, have really begun to feel the chill and see the changes.

And all this means it's time to start preparing for An Imaginary Visit to Autumn's Garden! This class is scheduled to begin on November 18th and run through December 16th. There will be one assignment each week.

For more information and to register for the class, please click here. If you're interested in registering, I suggest you not wait as this is one of the really popular classes over at Imaginary Trips!

Front Detail Click to enlarge

Inside Front Click to enlarge

Outside Front Click to enlarge

Pockets Galore! Click to enlarge

More Inside Pockets Click to enlarge

Outside Pocket Detail Click to enlarge

Bag Back Click to enlarge

Sam's been a busy gal! We just finished this art bag up last weekend. It's colorful, fun and functions super well—just what the muse wanted (almost)! For new subscriber's to the blog, Sam is my muse. She makes periodic appearances on the blog. Usually when she's gotten me into a mess of trouble!

The overall size of the bag is 10 inches tall and 9 inches wide by 2.5 inches deep. Style-wise it's called a vertical messenger bag. It has a padded pocket so I can easily carry an iPad tablet as well as a 10" x 7" sketchbook with room left over for supplies, keys, iPhone and the like.

The back pocket is handy for an umbrella, maps, and souvenirs. The strap is adjustable so that the bag can be worn cross-body as well as over the shoulder.

And while this bag is close, it's not yet quite right and so the muse has been playing in her fabric stash, putting together some new ideas for a fall colored bag with a few modifications on to this one.

The girl just doesn't know when to quit!!