A Tiny Sketchbook To-Go (To Meetings With…)

At last, while rummaging around in an art supply coop in Montreal last week, I found a tiny sketchbook that is proving to match, or beat, the Stillman &Birn sketchbook series for on-location watercolor sketching.  This is the Pentalic  3.5 by 5.375-Inch watercolor journal, which opens up, as you might figure, to about 10.5 inches.  (It has a tiny loop at the top for a tiny paintbrush too.) As someone who has experimented with many papers (including Arches, Bockingford, Saunders, Fabriano, Moleskin, Stillman &Birn, etc.), and continues to do so, this one has been a pleasant surprise relative to all other sketchbooks I’ve tried, including Moleskin and Stillman & Birn. It has 140 lb. cotton rag cold press paper with a nice light texture; really comparable to the big names in the field, so far.  It also has a nice quality hard binding, opens flat, and has an elastic band to secure it when closed.

There are huge advantages to going small when sketching, moreover, and–if you’re using water-based media– all kinds of good reasons to choose the best paper (as any serious sketcher will confirm).  This is a sketchbook that can literally fit in your pocket or a pocket of briefcase.  (You could even take it to a meeting without drawing (oops!) much attention, and sketch the participants as a way to pass the time.)

Illustration: Watercolor and ink sketch, “Market day,” by Black Elephant Blog author

Drawing small sketches can compel you to try to get those shadows on the faces or in the pulled-back hair of a figure with merely a dot of paint.  Drawing small leaves you with more energy for the larger pieces done later inside when it’s raining. So far I have three little watercolor sketches in my tiny Pentalic watercolor journal using M. Graham, Daniel Smith, and Yarka paints, as well as ink.  (It’s been very  hot and humid in this area lately so that people (and animals) are moving slower and generally are easier to sketch.)

Illustration: Watercolor and pen-and-ink by Black Elephant Blog author

The paper handles washes and heavier watercolor applications perfectly, so I thought I’d jot this down here while thinking about it. The sketchbook is only a bit bigger than my small travel palette, which measures 4.75″ x 3.75″.  So between the two of them and a paint brush, a bit of paper towel and some water, there’s a complete studio-to-go, unbelievably small and light-weight but with no compromise in quality.

Anyway, a small sketch kit is sure to make those meetings at work more interesting!  And hopefully the day is not far away when sketching in meetings will be regarded as a sign that you’re paying appropriate attention to the proceedings.  Sketching is a form of seeing, and clearly can enhance our powers of observation and sensitivity which anyone could tell you these days we all could use more of…

Quebec Watercolor Sketch

Now back at home under the ‘heat dome” enveloping most everyone in the USA, it’s a good time to finish off sketches started last week during a quick trip (in much, much cooler weather) to Quebec, Canada.

Illustration:  “Balloons over the rue du Petit-Champlain” in Quebec City in watercolor, gouache, and Faber-Castell white artists pen on Arches watercolor paper by Black Elephant Blog author.

Of course, lots of people had the same idea to visit Montreal and Quebec City last week but in general the crowds were quite manageable.  Though it was a short trip, there was time to listen to music on the Place Jacques-Cartier, check out some amazing waterfalls, see the mesmerizing “Pompeii” exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and buy some watercolor paper made by the “Bee Paper Company” in Canada to add to my small collection of watercolor papers.

The rest of the sketches I’ve made while on this short trip are still in pencil drafts but, with the heat dome effects  (100 degrees or more!) projected to last a few more days, it seems likely I’ll have a chance to get to them. So, until then…

 

 

Tragedy on the Promenade des Anglais

Tonight terror struck again in a favorite spot of locals, tourists, and artists alike–the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France.  May the families of those killed and injured find comfort somehow in the days ahead.  In memory of those who lost their lives, may we find the ways to (re)make a world in which our promenades, and our cities and towns, are again evocative instead of joyous and beautiful scenes, as artist Raoul Dufy, for instance, depicted…and welcoming and safe for all people to enjoy.

Illustration: Painting by French painter, Raoul Dufy, “Promenade des Anglais.” (Source: http://www.raoul-dufy.com/pages/actu01.html)

 

18th c. Watercolor Studies as a Source of Inspiration

Illustration: Painting of Hubert Robert (22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808) Source: Wikipedia

Inspired by the outstanding exhibition now on at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. featuring the ink sketches, watercolors, and oil paintings of French 18th century painter, Hubert Robert (22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808), I’ve gone back to experimenting with waterproof inks and watercolor more intensively than ever (as per examples included at the very bottom of this post.)

Illustration: Watercolor by Hubert Robert, 18th century painter (Source: Wikiart)

Hubert Robert’s fantastically detailed watercolors (including use of gouache) are astounding.  Accompanying  placards in this exhibition note that such watercolors tended in those days to be sketches done for more finished oil paintings.  In Robert’s case, however, the watercolors often were at least as detailed as the oil paintings he later produced based upon them.  (Modern urban sketchers will appreciate the fact that Robert filled dozens of sketchbooks (I’ve forgotten the exact number) and one of them is on display in this exhibition; every page, front and back, is filled with wonderful ink sketches done in a deft but loose style.)

In another innovative departure from the times, Robert inserted human figures in many of his paintings–to help give a sense of scale to the structures–and adapted the  fantastical “capriccio” style (or painted architectural fantasy) for his technique of juxtaposing paintings of ruins with other statues or bridges not actually co-located with the ruins in real life. In addition, he included more modern scenes,  including those of contemporary laborers, artists and sketchers, and occasionally probably even himself, at work in the ruins.

Robert grew up in the midst of formal world-class art instruction from an early age, and it certainly shows. During the French Revolution, when he was thrown in prison due to his professional associations with his aristocratic clients, he managed to keep painting (and also managed to survive the ordeal); one of his dinner plates from prison is in this exhibition, with the surface painted with an ornate landscape. In addition, his paintings provide a visual record of life in the prisons during the Reign of Terror; the exhibition includes his paintings of a prison warden, a member of the aristocracy in his cell, and families entering the prison to bring their relatives food.  Seeing paintings from this horrific time cannot help but remind one of the power of art, and wonder how much power still remains untapped in our modern times.

In addition, seeing such sublime art might make one want to throw in the towel, or the paintbrush, as it were.  But it’s just as likely to make you want to learn more…and more…

Illustrations: Ink and watercolor sketches, “Guanajuato with El Pipila Statue on Hilltop”, and “Washington, D.C.” by Black Elephant Blog author

Illustration: Watercolor and pen and ink, “Woman Adjusting Potted Plant on Her Deck” by Black Elephant Blog author

 

Even if most of us can never achieve a tiny fraction of such mastery, it is still wonderful to experiment with the elements of such imaginative painting as Robert’s, and envision the possibilities down the road.

Plein Air Painting in Leesburg, VA

On Independence Day weekend, there was time to get some plein air painting done in the historic district of Leesburg, VA before the rain and the Fourth of July festivities took over the streets.  Setting up an easel on the sidewalk in front of a courthouse can feel like a somewhat bold thing to do, and more fun in the company of another artist, as in this case.

Illustration: Watercolor, gouache, white Pitt pen marker, terracotta pencil, and white pastel with Platinum Carbon ink by Black Elephant Blog author

Leesburg has the distinction of having one of the best preserved historic districts in Virginia.  In addition, during the 20th century, General George C. Marshall, after whom the  Marshall Plan was named, made his home here. The Marshall Plan extended U.S. aid to war-torn Europe following World War II.  (In more recent decades, such assistance has become more controversial, but it’s useful to do a “thought experiment” and imagine what postwar Europe might have become without such American assistance.)

There was time enough to get a sketch in and a first wash, all the while enjoying an unseasonably comfortable breeze, before at last we felt we had dared the weather enough and packed up, just to be on the safe side.  But the rain never came, leaving more time to enjoy holiday weekend activities outdoors…perhaps the subject of a few more sketches coming up in future blog posts.  Happy Fourth of July!

A Bee-Pleasing Watercolor Sketch

Not yet into painting flowers, though aspiring one day to do so, I was experimenting the other day with a canvas covered with watercolor ground dried for about 48 hours when I tried to paint a pot of flowers nearby.  Distracted by something else for a moment, when I looked up at the canvas drying nearby, I saw this bee light onto one of the flowers I’d painted! Hence, this photo of a watercolor sketch with live nature right on top of it.  Who am I to question a bee’s taste in art? He or she flew off, apparently satisfied with the visit to this impressionistic floral scene.  Bees’ eyes see things differently, I know, but possibly something about the wet smell of the paint was more interesting than this sketch! Have to admit it.

Illustration: Watercolor on watercolor ground over canvas with live bee by Black Elephant Blog author