Lamorna Cove Cornwall

I took the Sennelier USK sketchbook to Lamorna Cove for a couple of days with family.

I'd never used this sketchbook before and was a little concerned about the rough surface of the paper on one side and how my fountain pen would deal with it.

However, I felt it was such a light book it would be more comfortable to carry around as my little dog Kinx was coming with us.

 

I purchased a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen to tackle the rough paper with, another new challenge for me to cope with...but hey...it's good to step out of your comfort zone now and then right?

 

I handled my first spread fine, I was at home and felt in control.

Whilst on location though, I found the paper frustrating at first and the Pentel Pocket Brush clumsy....then things began to click once I realised I needed to work with the equipment rather than expect the usual and just let go...Then I had fun!

My sketches are very quick and expressive, more so as they go on and I began to enjoy the change. 

 

Our holiday was cut short due to the death of a family pet which we are still recovering from.

 However, we did have an amazing two days in Cornwall's beautiful rugged landscape.

Grafham Water and Zeta

 

Took the dogs for a stroll at the lovely Grafham Water and broke in my latest sketchbook purchase...The Stillman and Birn Softback ZETA 8.5 x 5.5 and....

 

THIS IS THE ONE!

FINALLY!

 

It's a format I am more used to and remains quite rigid at this size and scans in an A4 scanner.

The paper is thicker so no wrinkling at all.

It lies flatter (imo) than the hardback version, so scanning is easy.

It's more affordable than the hardback version.

It's lighter than the hardback version so location work is going to be easier on my shoulder.

 

It is perfect!

Really!

I'm so pleased to have finally found a resolve for a daily journal. It's annoying having to go through version after version, never mind expensive, to find what you are after...I just want to sketch!

 

Thank you Stillman and Birn, you have answered my prayers!

 

 

Kinx

 

My gorgeous baby is not the best model in the world, it's hard to catch him without a blanket covering his entire body and head...but I persist!

 

The Stillman and Birn softback 8x10 Alpha is proving to have glitches for me. *sigh*

 

-While the paper is beautiful I'm discovering that it is wrinkling more at this size, with no hard cover to help flatten over night, and proving tricky to scan.

-The size along with the fact it has no hard cover is making it all a little too floppy for me to be entirely comfortable with it.

-I've had to work on individual pages rather than work across the spread as I like to do so I can scan it on my A4 scanner

 

I do see advantages to this softcover though

 

-It is so much lighter to carry than a hardback

-They take up less room on my book shelf which is getting very full

 

So,

I've ordered a S7B softback ZETA in  the 8.8x5.5

I love it's dark blue cover and it feels great in my hands. I know from using both Alpha and Zeta before in hardback that the paper is slightly thicker so hopefully this will eliminate any wrinkling.

 

God I hope this is the one, I don't like having half or part full sketchbooks lying around taking up space.

Westminster Attack

Devastating!

 

 

This is the book I have decided on to replace the W&N Ebony as my daily journal.

The paper is amazing, more like card, and it does indeed lie flat. It's also affordable and very lightweight. The cover is white but is a shiny kind of plastic you can wipe clean.

 This is the small (approx. A5 size) they also make a larger version.

 

 

 

Jacksons Watercolour Sketchbook

 

So as you may have read earlier in my blog, I've been experiencing problems with the sketchbook I use as my daily journal The WinsorNewton Ebony Hardback. The company have been really helpful, supplied me a stock of books to try and insist their paper hasn't changed....but it has! So, for me it is no longer suitable.

I'm heartbroken!...It ticked all my boxes

I've been trying to find a replacement and came across the Jacksons watercolour book. I thought it would be nice to work on 'proper' watercolour paper in my daily journal.

I have only tested one page but so far I have experienced extreme buckling and I'm not a huge sloppy washy type of gal!

The paper, while sized, is very thin and I wouldn't attempt to paint on the reverse of this page for fear of it seeping through or causing tears. Since I enjoy spreading my daily sketches across both sides of a spread I can't see it becoming a daily friend to me.

 

 

The book itself is quite heavy and the cloth cover is already showing trauma after one use in my home...not sure it would combat location well.

 

Above are the specs!

 

Eaton Socon Lock-Up

 

Built in 1827 to hold local miscreants before being taken before the magistrate in Bedford.

 

This sketch is in a Daler Rowney A4 Ebony sketchbook.

You may remember that I experienced problems with on of the A5 books not reacting to paint the way I've been used to for years. You may also remember that I wasn't happy that the lab never got back to me with my query about a change in paper, as promised.

Well I contacted DR customer service again to let them know the lab let me down and they couldn't apologise enough. They sent me out 2xA4 sketchbooks and a box of designer gouache (I was given a choice of paint)

A few hours later the lab contacted me to apologise also and offered to send me out some books. I informed them that CS had already offered compensation but they insisted they wanted to send an apologetic gesture also. I got a delivery the next day containing 10 sketchbooks; 2xA4, 4XA5 portrait, 4xA5 landscape.

WOW!

Took a while and a bit of reminding but it appears DR really do care about their customers after all!

Impressed!

 

The paper still feels different to the touch, it has DEFINITELY changed in my opinion. I've worked with these books for a few years now and I could feel the difference in touch immediately. I am really surprised that the people dealing with the paper at the lab haven't noticed a change, it was so obvious to me.

However, so far this one has held up, it hasn't bled through and it hasn't mottled like tissue paper sucking up the paint ...Yet!

Still...I don't think I'd trust it not to bleed if I worked the reverse side of the paper as I'm used to, so I am going to have to tred carefully with it while I sketch my way through the 12 freebies I now have.

 

Chatteris, Cambridgeshire UK

 

Arrived a little early so sketched while waiting to deliver work to a client


*An update on the Daler Rowney sketchbook saga.
I left a message with my original contact on messenger when I couldn't get a reply from the lab yesterday and they got back to me and were very apologetic. Later the lab rang me too and apologised.
They are sending me out a sketchbook to try for myself to see if the paper operates the way I am used to.
Hopefully this current book was just part of a bad batch.
We shall see!

Amy

 

My latest Daler Rowney Ebony is not responding the way I am used to. The paper is super absorbant and reacting more like tissue paper. This has never happened before, I've been using these sketchbooks for ages. It feels different too, to touch, thinner.

I am gutted!

I love these books for many reasons and get through quite a lot of them in a year and generally order in batches to avoid big postage costs. Obviously, I am now worried about ordering a batch incase it's something new they have done with the paper that now doesn't suit my pen and wash activities.

So...

 

I got in touch with Daler Rowney on messenger on 8th June and they put me in touch with their paper lab. I explained everything to Donna Richards who said she would look into it.

I was a little surprised she didn't offer to send me out another book to experiment on, the ebony are very reasonably priced and £5 would surely be a small price for DR to pay in order to keep a customer who orders at least 15 of these a year!

 

I rang Donna a few weeks ago and was told she was looking into it.

I rang Donna again this morning and no one was in the office

(Yes, you are quite right, she hasn't been in touch with me once since I originally spoke to her on the 9th June)

 

So, it would seem I need to find a different journal to work my daily sketches into.

 

I cannot understand bad customer service

New Palette

 

I have been using the same COMPACT PALETTE for six years now and I LOVE it!

 

It is just perfect in every way:

Reasonably priced

Lots of mixing space

Lightweight

Holds plenty of paint choices

Robust

Easy to clean

 

I carry this palette with me in my handbag EVERY day, it's been to the coast many times, Rome twice and Spain several times and it still looks brand new...It's amazing!

 

I ordered the large pan one and filled it with empty half pans before squeezing my colours in. You can see how I originally filled it HERE

 

 

 

I've made very few changes to my palette colours in that time and recently decided a change may do me good...Just to mix it up a little...I feel I've grown and I'd like a new more technical, transparent palette to go alongside my existing one. Also, I've been meaning to order another COMPACT just in case they stop making them or something silly like that!

 

So I ordered another COMPACT and some nice, new, juicy Daniel Smiths to fill it with. This time I went for the half pan model and squeezed the paint right into the wells direct.

Above is the sketch of how I have filled it so far.

 

* I added an extra pan for the Opera Pink I was deciding about

*I'm still deciding what to add next to the Opera Pink to even things out. Serpentine Green perhaps?

*I've omitted Yellow Ochre...a bit of a daring move for me!

*I had to keep a little Buff Titanium for those times where cream is needed...I couldn't help myself!

*I'd forgotten I wasn't keen on DS Burnt Sienna until I'd ordered and squeezed it into the palette, it's so FLAT. I do however LOVE the Quin Sienna and will probably not refill the BS after I've used it up, replacing it with the QS completely.

* Anthraquinoid Scarlet is new to me and replaces Organic Vermillion from my old set up. It's a delicious colour, I love it!

*When I squeezed Ultramarine Violet from the tube to make this chart I loved it but since it's dried in my palette I'm finding it hard to get a good amount of pigment on my brush? May replace with Amethyst Genuine, that looks delicious. Anyone tried it?

Indanthrene Blue....ahhhhh....what a colour!!!

*Jadeite Genuine is a full tube I had sitting around that I've never really used

*Cobalt Teal is new to me...No excuse, I just liked it and went for it!

Mang Blue Hue is my replacement for cerulean. I've never been a Cerulean fan but I absolutely LOVE this colour!

*Hansa Yellow Light is new to me too and a perfect 'lemon' for me, not much of a lemon yellow user. The HYL is a tad warmer than lemon but lacks enough red to be useful in it's place.

*I changed Aliz crimson with PERM. Aliz Crimson....What a difference! It's like velvet in a tube!!!

*Although slightly different Opera Rose and Quin Pink are similar and after the initial fill is gone I'm not sure I'd replace Quin Pink. I keep hearing things about Transparent Pyrrol Orange, maybe I'll give that a run.

 

 

Along with my Lamy Safari fountain pens(of which I have many and have NEVER cleaned, yet they still work perfectly even after being left for months at a time in a drawer), this is the best art material purchase I've ever made.