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Review: Clairefontaine Watercolor Sketchbook
Background on the Testing of This Sketchbook Earlier this year a Clairfontaine representative wrote and asked if I would like to test one of their new watercolor sketchbooks. Typically I buy all materials that I test and review on my website. This time, because I use many Clairfontaine notebooks and love them all I […]
In Context: Looking at the Arteza Watercolor Book Part 8
Again I didn’t write anything on this journal page, so it’s a bit weird for “In Context” but it’s one more in my series of mini review comments on the Arteza Watercolor Book. What I enjoyed on this spread was the manner in which I could get some delicate wash techniques. I was using a […]
Stonehenge Aqua Review Part 5—A Look at the Hot Press Surface
This is part 5 of a multi-part review of Stonehenge Aqua cold press and hot press. Please see this link for the first post in the series. Hot press paper is my paper of choice, so I’m going to spend more time testing a new hot press paper than I am testing a cold press […]
Stonehenge Aqua Review Part 2—Ink on the Cold Press Surface and Binding
This is part two of a multi-part review of Stonehenge Aqua (hot and cold press) 140 lb. watercolor papers. Please see part one (which contains a recommendation summary) at this link. While I may have started as a child with color pencils I quickly transitioned to pen and ink. As a result of that I’ve […]
Looking at Canson Heritage Watercolor Paper
This past fall I purchased a block of 140 lb. hot press Canson Heritage Watercolor paper. It is a 100 percent cotton paper with a non-animal sizing. (Yep, I am not happy about the sizing, but there you have it.) Since then I’ve been working on it to complete a project. I haven’t posted sketches […]
The Blackwing Notebook
Sometimes I simply can’t help myself when I find lined notebook paper. A few months ago I was in Wet Paint and they had small notebooks by Blackwing (the company that makes the pencils with the rectangular erasers—I use the soft lead version to do my daily sudoku). The notebook is about 3.5 x 5.5 […]
Part Four: Working in the Smooth Zeta Soft-bound Journal from Stillman & Birn
Today is part four of a multi-part series on the Stillman & Birn (S&B) smooth surface Zeta journals. You can read part one here. This post deals with some mix-media approaches and some pros and cons I discovered about this paper. You can read part two here. In this post I write a bit more […]
Part Three: Working in the Smooth Zeta Soft-bound Journal from Stillman & Birn
This is part three of a multi-part review of the smooth Zeta soft-bound journals from Stillman & Birn (S&B). You can see part one here. Yesterday I posted part two here. Working in Watercolor on the Smooth Zeta Paper I think it’s fair to say that most of my blog readers work with wet media—most […]
Part Two: Working in the Smooth Zeta Soft-bound Journal from Stillman & Birn
This is part two of a multi-part review of the Stillman & Birn (SB) Smooth Zeta Soft-bound journal. You can see part one here. Today I wanted to look at two approaches for which the smooth heavyweight Zeta is suited. Mixed Media Because of its weight the paper is particularly suited to collage and mixed […]
Working in the Smooth Zeta Soft-bound Journal from Stillman & Birn
A couple months ago I picked up a Stillman & Birn Soft Cover Zeta Book. I don’t use Stillman & Birn books. I don’t care for the way they make their hardcover books and their papers are either too lightweight, or in other ways not responsive to the way I work. With so many other […]