The end of 2022 was was a bit exhausting for me. And I made some spur of the moment decisions all because of how much I love working on Strathmore 500 Series Mixed media paper.
You can read about it by clicking on the image.
Sometimes we speed up to slow down. And sometimes we speed up to slow down, but also move.
And then sometimes we don’t move at all. The downsizing and relocation didn’t happen in January as I’d hoped. While I had phase two of a dental implant other impediments continued to crop up.
This idea to fill the whole journal of Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper in only a few days because I loved the paper literally saved my sense of balance and humor.
Sometimes when an idea keeps coming up, even if the context and circumstances you’re in pull you to say no you really need to listen and just go for it.
The energy this project generated for me has kept me going strong into 2023, long after I closed the book, finished on December 31, 2022.
Sometimes we need more on our plate to realize that everything already there isn’t too much.
Say yes to building your momentum.
I am a believer – Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper is the best all around paper still made today. From my first class with Roz in 2014 (Sketchbook Skool) I think I tried every paper she ever mentioned over the next three years and found this paper to be the best all around paper I could ever hope for. Later, in her bookbinding class I bound over two dozen sketchbooks with that paper and am still using them today, and have never bought another commercial sketchbook since. I work mostly in ink and watercolor, but frequently use graphite, pastel pencils, gouache, acrylic or casein. They all work with this paper, and I am still grateful to Roz for introducing it to me.
Ted, you were by far my most productive binding student! And I’m glad you’re still having fun with the books and that paper. I love a lot of different papers, but I actually remember the day I first tried this paper as a surface on one of their illustration boards and called the company and asked when I could get that paper in sheets (not boards) because I needed to bind it into my own books…I love that paper even more today than I did that day because now so many other good papers are gone and we have to really focus on enjoying the good ones while they are available to us. As you mentioned, everything works on this paper. (Dip pen too! is about the only thing I’d add to the list, and you did list ink.) My favorite brush pens love it—the list goes on and on. I’m glad the paper was such a happy fit for you too.