Melbourne Sketchbook and Pen collection

April 16, 2015 | 4 Comments

 
Back home with a sketchbook to scan (the last two days were so productive that the book is almost full!) and yet again, a lot of new ideas and thoughts.

One of the things I am thinking about is how many fountain pens to take away on a trip. I took a big collection to Tasmania in February and didn’t use them but this trip I took 6 pens and used all of them regularly – the raw sienna less than the others but it is so small that it doesn’t matter!


I also took spare black, mixed grey and brown ink (go to Current Sketching Tools for a link to a blog post on travelling with ink). I wished that I had taken some more fog grey as I really liked the blue grey drawings. I am loving using the fude nib pens but they use up a LOT of ink. I checked the state of my pens every night and in general had to refill every second day. On a number of occasions I longed dark green ink and a cyan … but there is a limit.

The rest of my kit was the standard stuff – see Current Sketching Tools again for details on that.

I made the decision to use an everyday book (Alpha Landscape sketchbook) rather than my preferred trip sketchbook (Moleskine watercolour A4 book). I will discuss my views on this decision later, but in essence, it was the right thing to do for this particular trip.

Anyway, my other ‘post trip’ thoughts to follow shortly.

4 Comments

  • RosC says:

    I subscribed to your newsletters fairly recently and have been enjoying the information immensely. I've had a life-long love affair with tools, fountain pens amongst them. Truth to tell it's been a secret… until now! I'm in peril of buying more of them and finding suppliers of interesting ink. 🙂
    I've always subscribed to the idea that generosity and the business you love are highly compatible so many thanks for all that you share and teach.

    Ros.
    (just outside Melbourne)

  • I have simply GOT to start sketching! I am so bereft of ideas, even after seeing your work every day. Sigh…Or I do a bad page and lose my mojo. One of these days. I hope.

  • Liz Steel says:

    thanks Ros – I won't share your secret!!!
    I love having a blog so I can share generously in a random way but also really love the structure of a class. There is no doubt that my own work has benefited hugely from sharing my work and thoughts here on my blog!

  • Liz Steel says:

    yes Sherry- just start. There will be 'bad' pages but just keep going. The 'bad' pages are an important part of the journey… and we all have them all the way through!

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