I had already used nib pens on Moleskine sketchbook paper. And it works better with fountain pens or fineliners. I have used other papers and the nib flows perfectly over them. On the other hand, the ink goes thought the paper. It had already spoiled some of my old drawings and I watched videos where it also happens. It is a 160 gsm paper. Surely I will be buying new sketchbooks soon.
I was testing the Moleskine sketchbook paper with different media. I was reviewing the sketches and basically I used ink and watercolor so I have started the series with graphite. The paper is smooth enough and it gets the graphite particles very nicely. I used Faber-Castell pencils (from 2H to 6B). I had to use a kneaded eraser only because I got in troubles with a vinyl eraser in my latest sketches: it erases the graphite and the yellowish paper color. There are several techniques that involve erasing in graphite drawing, therefore it is an important drawback.
Holy cow! I am absolutely rusty! We bought a set of 2 mm color leads and I was checking it out. I was warming up with some simple blocks. Did you see those spheres? They look ugly and completely dented… I was able to do it much better two years ago!
On the other hand, I am starting to consider different papers. Does anybody use Moleskine sketchbooks? I like the book design with its ribbon and such, it is very easy to find in each store around the world but I guess there are better papers in the same price range. It is quite expensive! I will be testing new alternatives. I will keep you all informed.
Last year I decided to buy a new house… and possibly it was the worst decision of my life. I started to make some repairs and to build a new room for painting and my other hobbies. Almost seven months later I do not even imagine when it will be finished… As the raven used to say: nevermore.
All these past few months, I was doing several things not directly related to drawing and painting. I got back to play music regularly. I play my guitars every then and now but this summer I was playing piano again. I studied piano many years ago so I was refreshing some old songs and pieces that I already played. Music is a lot of fun.
Each drawing of my Loring Art Calendar 2012 is a tribute to one of my favorite artists. As I said it is a way of thanking them for uploading their artworks to the Internet. While they are sharing their work for free, we are enjoying and learning.
The June sketch is inspired by a drawing by Leslie White. It was not easy to select a Leslie’s painting, all of them are fantastic and very inspiring. I chose a watercolor of the Empire State Building on a mixture of gesso. The painting looks awesome and the whole post is very interesting. Leslie, thank you for sharing all those wonderful experiences. I used a photo by Ben Bunch as reference.
I keep with some exercises from the book Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur L. Guptill with the same nib pen, the Gillott 404. In this case it has to be controlled the hand pressure and the length of the lines. The idea is to leave some lines unfinished. According to the book the drawing will be more realistically suggestive.
The painting course is over and this is the final version of my first oil painting. There are not important differences with the previous day either. I was adding some shadows and lights to the grass area and some leaves to the trees, I had added too much sky color between the trees, while the teacher explained how to perform the reflections. Practically I redid all the water area. First I used browns for the water, I painted from the bottom to the middle of the water, approximately. Then, I added the reflections over the fresh paint and some dark greens in the shoreline. Finally I blurred the reflections and added some shadows.
We asked to the teacher if we could take several classes more. Some of the students were very interested on it. He will answer in the next few days. It seems he has an exhibition and is working on his own paintings. I am not sure if I am interested on these extra classes. I am partially satisfied with the course and I am not sure if I want to start a new painting. I will wait to the teacher’s answer to make a decision. Keep you all informed!
