Just wanted you to know I am a reader of your blog.I enjoy your posts very much.
I thought I had discovered you through a link from Mary Ann Moss's blog, Dispatch from LA, but I see you have Susan Branch in your blog roll, so I bet I linked to you from a comment on the SB blog.
I enjoy your sketches, and I am hoping to make a little sketch book for myself soon. I am taking my time, assembling some supplies.
I added you to my bookmarks because you are in Columbus, and I am in the SW corner of Ohio, Cincinnati.
I have checked in to your blog a few times, and I will continue to do so, to peruse your archives. I am loving the Waldorf Salad lettering play. I am looking forward to noodling around in your archives, to see what kind of experimenting you have been up to. I will also check out some of the Blogs you listed.
If you have some tips on getting started, I would love to hear. What kind of water colors are your using? What are your favorite creative supplies? Best to you, Carol A. in College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati
Hi Carol, good to hear from you! Glad you enjoy my blog. It helps a few friends and relatives keep up with our odinary days. Yes, I am a fan of Susan Branch's writing and drawings. I definitely encourage anyone who's interested to keep an illustrated journal. It helps you pay attention, improves memory, reduces stress, and maintains fine motor skills that are being lost wth keyboard use. I got started with Gina Rossi Armfield's book, No Excuses Art Journaling. I went on to books by Danny Gregory and Cathy Johnson. They both have blogs. You can learn a lot on youtube from Koosje Koene, Sketchbook Skool, John Muir Laws, and Gay Kreager. I have also paid for online classes from Craftsy ($19.99 sales) and Sketchbook Skool (too expensive, but fun). The Sketchbook Skool facebook group is open to anyone, and you can learn a lot there. (I am not on facebook.)
I started out with the Winsor & Newton Sketcher's Pocketbox palette. You can get it with a coupon at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon. It comes with a small travel brush. The Koi Sakura set of 24 colors is a good starter set, too. It comes with a water brush. Those are both student grade paints. If you want to paint away from home, you will probably want a waterbrush. Pentel Aquash are pretty good. You also need a small spray bottle for water, to re-wet the paint every time you set up. Plus a paper towel or an old cloth rag to wipe your brush on, or to squeeze your waterbrush into, to rinse between colors.
Once I started online classes, I bought too many supplies! I love Plaza Art Materials in Kenwood. They have good sales and coupons, if you sign up for their free membership. I use tube watercolors now. Some artists advise you to start with them, maybe just the primary colors, at first. It depends on how much you want to spend. Daniel Smith is the most popular brand of watercolor in the sketching community, but people are always trying new things. I slowly bought a few here and there, of various brands. I think most of the artist quality paints are good, but usually buy Daniel Smith.
I am now on my seventh sketchbook, and never use the same one twice, so far. Stillman & Birn is very popular, but Strathmore is a good brand, too. I started with their mixed media 9x6, from Hobby Lobby. Moleskine makes a watercolor journal. The orange dotted Fabriano is interesting, too. It is nice to have a few decent brushes, but I use the waterbrush almost all the time, if away from home. I recently joined Instagram to follow this year's urban sketching symposium activity in Manchester, England, and found many sketchers are very sctively sharing work there. Sometimes they do short video demos. (I am amitypilgrim on instagram.) Hope this is helpful.
P.S. I forgot to mention-- I started out drawing with Micron felt tip pens, and switched to a Lamy Joy fountain pen, with a convertor, many months later. De Atrametis archive or document inks are waterproof, and can be used with watercolor. Many sketchers also like Faber Castell Pitt pens. You can find the felt tips in Hobby Lobby and Blick. Goulet Pens is a good online fountain pen company. Brian Goulet has many educational videos about fountain pens on youtube.
Hello Pilgrim,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted you to know I am a reader of your blog.I enjoy your posts very much.
I thought I had discovered you through a link from Mary Ann Moss's blog, Dispatch from LA, but I see you have Susan Branch in your blog roll, so I bet I linked to you from a comment on the SB blog.
I enjoy your sketches, and I am hoping to make a little sketch book for myself soon. I am taking my time, assembling some supplies.
I added you to my bookmarks because you are in Columbus, and I am in the SW corner of Ohio, Cincinnati.
I have checked in to your blog a few times, and I will continue to do so, to peruse your archives. I am loving the Waldorf Salad lettering play. I am looking forward to noodling around in your archives, to see what kind of experimenting you have been up to. I will also check out some of the Blogs you listed.
If you have some tips on getting started, I would love to hear. What kind of water colors are your using? What are your favorite creative supplies?
Best to you,
Carol A. in College Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati
Hi Carol, good to hear from you! Glad you enjoy my blog. It helps a few friends and relatives keep up with our odinary days. Yes, I am a fan of Susan Branch's writing and drawings.
ReplyDeleteI definitely encourage anyone who's interested to keep an illustrated journal. It helps you pay attention, improves memory, reduces stress, and maintains fine motor skills that are being lost wth keyboard use.
I got started with Gina Rossi Armfield's book, No Excuses Art Journaling. I went on to books by Danny Gregory and Cathy Johnson. They both have blogs.
You can learn a lot on youtube from Koosje Koene, Sketchbook Skool, John Muir Laws, and Gay Kreager. I have also paid for online classes from Craftsy ($19.99 sales) and Sketchbook Skool (too expensive, but fun). The Sketchbook Skool facebook group is open to anyone, and you can learn a lot there. (I am not on facebook.)
I started out with the Winsor & Newton Sketcher's Pocketbox palette. You can get it with a coupon at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon. It comes with a small travel brush. The Koi Sakura set of 24 colors is a good starter set, too. It comes with a water brush. Those are both student grade paints.
If you want to paint away from home, you will probably want a waterbrush. Pentel Aquash are pretty good. You also need a small spray bottle for water, to re-wet the paint every time you set up. Plus a paper towel or an old cloth rag to wipe your brush on, or to squeeze your waterbrush into, to rinse between colors.
Once I started online classes, I bought too many supplies! I love Plaza Art Materials in Kenwood. They have good sales and coupons, if you sign up for their free membership.
I use tube watercolors now. Some artists advise you to start with them, maybe just the primary colors, at first. It depends on how much you want to spend. Daniel Smith is the most popular brand of watercolor in the sketching community, but people are always trying new things. I slowly bought a few here and there, of various brands. I think most of the artist quality paints are good, but usually buy Daniel Smith.
I am now on my seventh sketchbook, and never use the same one twice, so far. Stillman & Birn is very popular, but Strathmore is a good brand, too. I started with their mixed media 9x6, from Hobby Lobby. Moleskine makes a watercolor journal. The orange dotted Fabriano is interesting, too.
It is nice to have a few decent brushes, but I use the waterbrush almost all the time, if away from home.
I recently joined Instagram to follow this year's urban sketching symposium activity in Manchester, England, and found many sketchers are very sctively sharing work there. Sometimes they do short video demos. (I am amitypilgrim on instagram.)
Hope this is helpful.
P.S. I forgot to mention-- I started out drawing with Micron felt tip pens, and switched to a Lamy Joy fountain pen, with a convertor, many months later. De Atrametis archive or document inks are waterproof, and can be used with watercolor.
DeleteMany sketchers also like Faber Castell Pitt pens.
You can find the felt tips in Hobby Lobby and Blick. Goulet Pens is a good online fountain pen company. Brian Goulet has many educational videos about fountain pens on youtube.