Sketchbook Confessional September 2023

In September I was able to go to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico - I’d never been before! It was a friendly and fascinating place to go. During the same trip I went to Santa Fe, which I’d been to before and seems to have not changed much - still incredibly charming. I suppose cities that are hundreds of years old are like that.

On the way to Ghost Ranch I definitely recognized the mountain that Georgia O’Keefe painted often. It felt a lot like my trip to Paris, where I would turn a corner and recognize paintings that I’d seen for years, but never in person.

September’s first friday in Nobo was a hit! It was very toasty but I did end up surviving! It was great to meet everyone at this First Friday.

I finished several dragon bookmarks in September. All of these were fun to make.

I also finished a few oil paintings of Mt. Elbert in September.

I had a goal to make three large-ish Mt. Elbert Paintings between July and October 1 and I ended up getting them done all at the end of the personal deadline I had set up for myself.

Some small-ish paintings I made - each is about 5 x 5 inches:

Most of these are Mt. Elbert but one is kind of a mystery.

Reading:

In September I finished reading Calde of the Long Sun. I loved this book, there’s little more to say at this point since I’ve been reading Long Sun all year and I’ve posted about it in a few of my other monthly recap blogs. It’s been a fun series to both read and finish. I like how the world of these books slowly materializes. It’s like a painting that slowly fades into view, becoming sharper with each stroke. It’s going to be a good re-read in that way. Maybe a lot of art is like this, it’s a bit confusing the first time we see it, then if we read 1000 pages about it, it has a different feel. It’s almost like two different works in this way. It’s like the difference between seeing Starry Night at age 12 and Starry Night at age 36.

I’m still reading The Aeneid and The Letters of John Steinbeck. I thought I would finish these sooner but it seems like I fly through books a lot faster on Kindle, and I have both of the above in paper form.

After reading The Aeneid’s depiction of the underworld in Book 5 or 6, Dante’s Inferno makes a lot more sense. There is an order to everything in The Aeneid’s underworld, different people go different places, and not all of it is about punishment, as there is a heaven-ish place as well. I found this pretty interesting.

Running:
I’ve been taking a break from running this summer but with the cooler weather, I think I’m ready to make a comeback! We will see how the fall goes.

Sketchbook Confessional July 2023

It’s July 2023’s Sketchbook Confessional! The Sketchbook Confessional is a blog where I review all of the art that I made in a month. Rather than a ‘to-do’ list, the Sketchbook Confessional is a ‘done’ list, where I can objectively see what I made.

In July I worked on quite a bit of paper art, including making handmade paper for backgrounds for pieces.

I enjoyed making these hummingbird pieces and am happy to say they are all shipped out of my home, either to collectors or to Harperrose in Leadville. I’ll be sure to make more soon.

In July I made a few ink drawings in my Traveler’s Notebook of scenes around Boulder, which have been very nice to look at this summer, with more flowers and taller grass than I have ever seen before.

To make these, I’m still using the Watercolor paper for the Traveler’s Notebook, and a double-sided Kuretake pen. It’s really the only pen I need lately. Usually I don’t get too excited about supplies or gear but this is a pen I will be buying again and again for the future. I think they’re about $5 each if you buy a pack of three of them online.

To make some of the smokier elements in these drawings, I am using Chromatek water brush pens to draw out the ink of the Kuretake ink pen and make grays. I had some watercolors ready to go for these, but I decided I liked them best in black and white.

I haven’t gotten out for any plein air painting lately as it’s been a bit too hot. I can only slap on so much sunscreen before I feel like the extra-close Colorado sun melts it off and I’m getting too toasted. My goal for August will certainly be to find more shaded places to paint.

Playing:

In July I played quite a bit of Octopath Traveler 2, I enjoy the set design of this game quite a bit, and I get attached to the stories as well. They’re a fun way for me to spend time when I am taking it easy from art, running, or baby care. Here are some of my favorite moments, there aren’t too many spoilers in these other than what the scenes look like.

I’ll get excited about the little houses and things like that in this game. I think the details are very easy to appreciate. Even the wallpaper in the shot above is a nice moment.

Running:

I’ve been taking it easier on running ever since finishing the Leadville Heavy Half in June. This has been great timing because it’s been a bit too hot to run most days. Now I’m usually just hiking or taking Baby Jewell out to playgrounds to play. Also, Baby Jewell is now 1 year old! He’s 25 pounds so he definitely keeps me strong as I lift him dozens of times a day and carry him around town for all of our errands. I can safely say being a mom hasn’t slowed me down at all, in fact it’s probably made me fitter than I was before, even in 2021 when I was doing things like half-marathon distances every weekend.

Since I’m taking a break from running and plein air, my process for July was very much about going on hikes and getting photos to draw later. It’s been a fun way to work, which I hope to continue.

That’s what I got for July 2023! Catch you next time!

Kuretake Ink Pen - Double-sided Brush Pen No.55

When I visited Tokyo I happened across a pen I really liked, and luckily it has many variations. The pen was a Kuretake brush pen, though it took me a little while to figure out what it was, as almost nothing on the pen was written with roman letters or English.

The Kuretake No.55 is an excellent double-sided brush pen. I like how it was a bit smoky, it was a lot like drawing with water on a Buddha Board. Here is a detail photo of a warmup drawing I did, where you can see the smokiness of the ink pretty well:

I went on to make this drawing of lupine with the pen:

What I really like about this pen is that the two nib sizes are about all one really needs to make a good drawing. The ultra thin brush is nice to do detail work, and the larger brush on the other end is good for shading or blacking out large areas, and larger linework. And it’s just one pen, so it makes working much quicker.

The ink does take a bit of time to dry so it’s a good idea to work from left to right in a drawing (if you’re righthanded like me, if you’re lefthanded, the opposite of what I just said), or to not draw on the right and then switch to the left quickly, because the ink got on my hand pretty easily. But I actually like that it dries slowly. I think it’s what gives the ink it’s smoky, pretty look.

Here’s the other Kuretake pen I’ve used that I really liked - it was an impulse buy when I was in Tokyo. I didn’t know or understand anything about the pen, something about it just felt right and it looked cool, and it wasn’t so expensive that I felt it was out of reach, so I picked it up:

This is the other kuretake pen I’ve tried, a. much thicker, darker pen with very black ink. A very nice pen to use for drawing. Making finer lines with this pen requires a very gentle, delicate touch

Kuretake offers many other pens, and they also make eyeliner pens and other cosmetics? (Seems like a fair enough product diversity offering). The pen I got in Japan was a single-sided deep black pen, but I liked this double sided pen quite a bit more. It felt more versatile and is smaller, so easier to use.