January Sketchbox - All About Ink

It's Sketchbox time!  When I opened up this box I was excited and scared all at once because it was all about INK:  

I'll admit that at first glance, I was very excited by the fact that we had three primary colors AND a boss looking fine liner to start out with.  PLUS, the paper looked to be quality as usual, so I was excited!  

I ended up having a LOT of fun and mixing some really vibrant colors, and ended up with this Yoshi:  

He isn't my best work by any stretch, but after a LOT of struggle he turned out better than expected.  

I'll start by laying out the contents of the box and what I thought of each item:  

Swatches

Color Mixes from the Inks

1.  Sketchbox Signature Plastic Palette

This was a perfect little palette to accompany these products.  As shown above, it allowed for secondary mixes and cleaned easily after the project.  I love having little palettes like this around my art space for all sorts of wet media projects.  

2.  Caran d'Ache Grafwood Pencil, 3H

This pencil was a fabulous surprise in this box!  I've never used fancy pencils before (always just been an HB girl), and so I found that I absolutely LOVE sketching with this pencil!  I've already used it to sketch several other pieces and it's got a home in my main stationary bag.  This was a great item!  

3. Dynasty Dagger Brush, 3/8"

I found this to be a very high quality dagger brush, better than the one I've been currently using! For the size of the paper pad, this brush seemed a little bit large at times, but the pointed end did allow for a decent amount of detail.  I will say that having this size of a brush made me think that this in should be able to lay down large wet on wet areas, which I found to be very frustrating with this paper/ink combo.  

4. Staedtler Pigment Liner, 0.3 - 2.0mm

Again, another fabulous addition to this box.  I loved the chisel tip on this liner and thought it worked fabulously.  I did have smudging in a few spots but that was because of my own impatience!  Overall, this liner layed beautifully down on top of the inks and didn't bleed if you let it dry before applying water overtop.  

5. Inks: 

Holbein Acrylic Ink, Naphthol Red 

Speedball Acrylic Calligraphy Inks, Primrose Yellow and Indigo Blue

I greatly preferred the packaging of the Holbein ink, and felt like I wasted way more of the other ink by having to use and clean droppers to put it into the palette. In all other ways I felt the inks could be talked about together.  

When I saw these colors I was SO excited, because they were vibrant and I knew I could get good mixes with them!  They did not disappoint in that department.  HOWEVER, as someone that works primarily with watercolor, I had a hard time with these inks on this paper.  If you layed down color, it DID NOT MOVE.  And yes, they are inks, it's to be expected.  BUT, I wanted to get gradients or looks that were a little more muted and so I watered down the inks to achieve this.  That *seemed* great until I realized that the inks were feathering on the paper WILDLY.  So, if I put them straight onto the paper I got really bold colors with very little buildup ability, and if I used water to lighten the colors I had much less control than what I wanted.  If you look at Yoshi, you can see that on his back there was definite feathering.  I even ended up using a white posca pen to cover over the white details to make them look cleaner in the end.  I don't usually do that but I was too far into the piece to start again and I knew using a Posca would fix the feathering issue.  I am not faulting the inks for this, but the paper.  

6. Magnani Cotton Pad, 140lb Cold Pressed

This paper seems AMAZING for typical watercolor and I'm excited to try it for that purpose in the future.  But I really REALLY think with the supplies that we were given that we should have been given either hot pressed paper or mixed media paper.   This would have slowed down the absorption of the inks on the paper and allowed for watery ink mixes to be applied with more control.   This Yoshi was my second attempt at a picture and I do not think this paper made working with the acrylic inks "fast and easy" as described by Sketchbox.  

**UPDATE** - I tried this paper with my watercolors and also had HUGE feathering issues with wet on wet techniques involving layers. It still feathered after letting the paper dry for a really long time, and so I think that I either got a bad paper pad OR that there is something wrong with this paper.  I watched several videos where people did not seem to have a problem with the paper, so I'm wondering if it's just my pad.  

Overall, I do feel like box was worth my money and I'm looking forward to using these inks with a calligraphy pen for fun AND maybe on some different types of paper to see what I can do!  I'll use the watercolor paper, pencil, liner, brush and palette for other projects too, so this box will definitely get plenty of use in this house!  My daughter did a picture too where she used a much more pigmented version of each color and I love how her rainbow/pot of gold/sun picture turned out!  Here is her piece, posted with her permission:

We always have a lot of fun working together on these boxes, so thank you Sketchbox for another fun challenge!  

What would you have drawn with these supplies?  Do you think I should redo Yoshi on a different paper?  Let me know in the comments below!  

2021 Plans and Quick Valentines

 Happy Tuesday readers!  

I started this blog last year as a way to have a place to expand on my artsy Instagram endeavors.  With that, I've been doing art box and product reviews and showcasing certain ideas and tutorials and I've been having a blast!  So I've decided to set up a more structured posting schedule!!!  

When will you post? Every Tuesday and Saturday! 

What will you post? They will include, but not be limited to: 

• Bullet Journal Journey
• Sketchbox reviews
• Other supply reviews
• Tutorials for watercolors or cardmaking
• DIY Projects

So I'm really looking forward to this as we go forward!  I hope you will visit on Tuesdays and Saturdays and check out what we have to offer!  

And now, onto the quick Valentines post!  

I made these cards last year and wanted to share a way to stretch your valentines stamps while also using them to make an easy card!  

I love small, clean and simple cards sometimes, and so I'm a big fan of 4-bar envelopes.  These cards were created to fit into 4 bar envelopes, but you could just as easily apply the concept to a traditional A2 sized card.  For my purposes, I cut out three strips of cardstock that were 3.5" by 8.5" and scored them to make 3 cards that are 3.5" by 4.25".  

I used my favorite Valentine sentiment stamp set from Lawn Fawn - My Silly Valentine.  I have gotten so much use out of this one stamp set over the years!  If you have any stamp set with love sentiments on it though, you can make it work! 

Next, I colored in my images very simply and used a solid colored piece of grosgrain ribbon across the bottom as a finishing touch.  Then I cropped the bottom edges of the card for a rounded look and took a scrap piece of patterned paper and glued it inside to finish the top inside edge.  I love doing this on a card and think it's a simple technique that really makes the card looked finished. 

The thing I like best about this card is that it is subtle.  I didn't use a TON of red and pink and chose a sentiment that could apply anytime of year as a thinking of you card.  These cards churn out quickly and easily and you can save them for anytime of year if you don't send them all in February!  I absolutely love having quick, flat, easy to mail cards at any time of year!  

One last thing, I'm only linking this stamp set because it's one I've used over and over again and it's very versatile in my opinion.  If you have supplies that can work with this, please use what you have!  I'm going to try this year to be more mindful of using the supplies that are already in my stash instead of buying new ones every month.  

I hope you enjoyed this short, easy card tutorial!  What are your favorite go-to quick cardmaking supplies?  

Christmas and Birthday Art Supply Haul!

Because my birthday is the same week as Christmas, I end up with quite the haul by the end of December!  This year, I asked for a lot of art stuff that I won't buy myself but that I knew I really wanted to try!  

***Disclaimer: I know that I'm extremely fortunate to have people in my life that support my hobby and buy me artsy things.  This is not meant to show off or brag, I just simply want to showcase some of the artists, authors, and companies that I am excited to learn from and test out in the upcoming year.***

Here are all of the supplies I ended up with:  

1. Etchr Cold Press Watercolor Sketchbooks

So I have to say, my husband knocked it out of the park!  He always gives great gifts, but this year he got me some fab art supplies that I wouldn't have bought myself.  I have wanted to try these books for almost a year now.  This was a 3 pack variety set, and you will notice that the picture is missing one because I already opened it and started painting in it!  So far, I'm in love!  These sketchbooks are really quality and seem to be exactly what I was looking for in a watercolor sketchbook.  

2. Prismacolor Col-Erase Pencils

I have a nice set of Prismacolors that I've been enjoying for many years, but I really wanted to buy and try the Col-Erase pencils!  My parents got me this set, and I think I swatched them within 24 hours!  They are vibrant and blend beautifully and they ERASE so cleanly!  I know that's what they are supposed to do, but I definitely was surprised at how well they work.  I also think the color selection is exactly perfect for a 24 set and matches my paint palettes beautifully.  I'm very excited to play with these more! 

3. Posca Pens

These were a beautiful surprise!  I have a set of less expensive paint pens that I enjoy using, and I have gotten a few posca pens here and there in art boxes.  I love the vibrant colors in this posca set, and these have small nibs for details!  Since my bullet journal is thick paper that can handle paint pens, I'm very excited to start using these in my monthly layouts!  

4. Artist Books

Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE to read, and so I've been staring at several art books online for the past year, thinking I'd get around to buying them eventually.  My parents and sister/bro in law bought me THREE new art books and I've already been pouring over them, learning so much!  I also bought one with a birthday gift card that is set to arrive in January.  The art books I got were: 

• Draw With Jazza - Creating Characters: Fun and Easy Guide to Drawing Cartoons and Comics by Josiah Brooks
• Everyday Watercolor: Learn to Paint Watercolor in 30 Days by Jenna Rainey
• The Joy of Watercolor: 40 Happy Lessons for Painting the World Around You by Emma Block
• No-Fail Watercolor: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Painting with Confidence by Mako

Now, it might seem strange that I wanted all of these beginner books.  But let me start by saying that I still consider myself a beginner in my art journey!  I also think that since I've never had any formal training with painting or drawing that books like this are great ways to learn basics or revisit skills that I might want to try to refine.  As a teacher myself I'm a firm believer that we can always learn something new, and so I'm really excited to work through these 4 books over the next few years.  So far, I have tried one tutorial from the Emma Block book and it was awesome!  

5.  Travel Paintbrushes

My genuine hope is that in 2021 we can actually go on a vacation again or do fun things!  Right now, my travel art supplies never go anywhere because I'm always home, BUT I'm so excited to get a chance to use these travel brushes!  It's a wonderfully high quality set that has all of the round brush sizes I love!  I'm so excited to have this set!  

6.  Tombow Calligraphy Pens

I love these pens!  I have several of them and I'm always excited to get more of them.  These are my favorite liner pens, I like the bold tips and I feel like I get better lines than I would from a traditional fineliner.  They also work really well with watercolors and so I like not having to worry about bleeding when I use these over or under watercolor.  

7.  HANDMADE WATERCOLORS!!!  

Again, my husband TOTALLY surprised me with a set of handmade watercolors from Greenleaf and Blueberry!  They are SO pigmented and he bought me a beautiful set for landscapes and muted tones!  I would never have tried these on my own because they are pricey, but they are amazing! 

I swatched them and did a landscape picture with them (I literally couldn't wait to paint trees with that Pthalo Green!).  Here's the picture below done in one of my Etchr books: 

So I hope that you enjoyed this tour through my new art supplies!  As I get familiar with some of them, expect to see reviews on some of these.  Did any of you get new supplies or books for the holidays?  Let me know in the comments!  

2021 Bullet Journal Journey - January

Happy New Year!!!  I've been so excited to share with you my 2021 bullet journal!!!  I decided after last year to jump into bullet journaling with a blank journal this year after my year with the blank calendar format from 2020.  I did a LOT of research, and decided to go with a book from Archer and Olive.  It has thick pages that hold up to just about any type of brush marker or paint pen, which gives me a LOT of options to decorate the journal.  Here is the one I picked out:  

I've decided that for each month, I'm going to start with the following basic format: 

- Month intro and goals spread

- Monthly calendar spread

- Monthly mood tracker and budget spread

- Weekly spreads with a spot for notes and menu planning

For January, I went with a cool, blue/purple theme.  I also miscalculated my pages and so I ended up combining the calendar and monthly goals spread.  It turned out really nice, but the calendar is definitely smaller than I'd like and I'll fix that in upcoming months:  

I really enjoyed using my mildliners, clean color dot pens, and posca pens to create these pages!  I'm also looking forward to trying out several weekly spreads to see which type works best for me in this journal.  Last January, my mood tracker was a scarf on a snowman, and so I thought this cozy hat would make a cute mood tracker for this year!!!  I can't wait to see it once it's finished!  I also really missed out on adding a watercolor strip to this month.  I could still add one under the January calendar.... we shall see.  But overall I love the thick pages of this journal and how easy it is to format.  

Are any of you taking the bullet journal journey this year?  Let me know how you formal yours in the comments!  

December 2020 Sketchbox - WOW!

 Guys - I was excited about this Sketchbox because I knew it was water-soluble products and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT!  

Here is my swatch card and my thoughts on each product in the box:  

1. Sketchbox Signature Watercolor Pencils

These were beautiful!!!  I really loved the color palette this month - the earthy and muted tones were beautiful and screaming for a landscape. These pencils colored beautifully and dissolved into a fabulous lighter version of their scribbled color.  I really enjoyed using them - they are as good or better than my mid-range watercolor pencils. I loved using them!  

2.  Marabu Art Crayons - Terracotta and Caramel

These were a huge surprise - and I LOVED them!  I didn't expect to like them, they didn't seem like something I would enjoy but they were lovely!  They added a great texture to both of my pieces, especially for woodgrain and terrain.  They dissolved really nicely but with pressure the texture was awesome too.  I might pick up a set of these in the future I liked them so much!  

3. TCW Watercolor Sparx Powder

I have worked with Ken Oliver's watercolor powders before and I love them - but this powder was super quality and vibrant.  I loved that it had several colors in the bottle - that added so much dimension!  I can't wait to have more fun with this powder in future projects.  This was easily the star of the box for me!

4.  Holbein Artist Gouache - White

This is a fabulous white gouache. I love all of the Holbein gouaches and this was a perfect highlight on the toned paper. I have complained for two boxes about not having a perfect white highlight medium - so I was so glad to see this in the box.  Great addition to the box!  

5. Custom Hahnemuhle Toned Watercolor Pad

I thought at first that this paper was going to be too thin to hold up - but it was surprisingly great!  I have never bought toned watercolor paper and was super excited to try it - and I totally understand why people like it.  After my first landscape picture I knew I wanted to do a dancer because I wanted to try a person with the toned paper and I really loved how that turned out too!  

6.  Marabu Fluid Arts Brush - 3pc Set

These are water brushes - and they were decent brushes!  I'm not a huge fan of water brushes.  I'd always rather have a regular brush than a water brush, especially because we always seem to get water brushes in these boxes.  I'd argue that most people have water and a container available, so I'd always rather have a regular brush. 

7.  Derwent Line Maker - 0.8 Black

This is a great fineliner but THIS IS NOT A WATERPROOF PEN!  It was the one thing in the box that was a disappointment because I wish the box had clearly indicated that this pen was not waterproof.  The card simply says - "try layering it over your watercolors!"  which to me did not indicate that it wasn't waterproof.  I just about ruined my dancer picture because of this - though I pivoted and I think my idea was a good one!  This is a great marker but I would have really liked a waterproof addition to the box for line work.  

So these projects turned out really nice!  I had a lot of fun trying different techniques on both pictures.  

Tree Landscape

Ballet in the time of Covid

Did any of you get this sketchbox?  What did you think about the products! Leave me a comment with your thoughts!  

Watercolor Paper Roundup and Review

 This week on an Instagram post about progress, I talked about what a major difference your watercolor paper can make! There are a LOT of factors to consider when choosing paper, and so I’m going to talk about some of my favorite papers here and why I like them!  

I first want to lay out some criteria that I use when looking at paper.  

• Cold Press vs. Hot Press

Cold press is generally my type of paper UNLESS I’m doing an illustration.  If I’m doing an illustration I will use hot press paper OR mixed media paper.  Otherwise, if you are planning to do bleeding and wet on wet techniques of any kind, cold press is the way to go.  

• Cotton vs Cellulose

The #1 thing I look for in watercolor paper is that it is 100% cotton.  This definitely makes the paper more expensive, but there are some more affordable options out there to achieve this.  The 100% cotton paper keeps wet longer and tends to lift less.  

• Affordability

Obviously, price matters.  While I LOVE some papers, they are not always affordable and I try to get them on sale when I can.  I’ll discuss this as a pro/con with each of my options

• Accessibility

Being able to get the paper or sketchbooks is of course important.  I can only talk about accessibility from my point of view, in the Eastern US.  

•  Binding

I really *really* like papers that come in a sketchbook.  I tend to find myself working out of sketchbooks most often, at least when I first try something.  It’s a bonus if the sketchbook allows me to remove the pages!  

Ok, so what are my go-to brands of paper?  

1.  Bee Creative Watercolor Paper

Pros: 

 

• 100% Cotton and Cold Press
• Comes both in a sketchbook and as loose pages
• This is the MOST affordable high quality paper I can get
• Bee ALSO has a wonderful mixed media paper that doubles as really good hot press watercolor paper! 

Cons: 

• This paper has become increasingly hard to find!  I grab it whenever I can get it, but I’ll be sad if this company just disappears because their paper has been my ABSOLUTE favorite for awhile!  

2.  Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper

Pros: 

• 100% Cotton and Cold press - amazing quality
• Arches is the absolute gold standard of watercolor paper, and it shows.
• I can easily get Arches just about everywhere I shop for art supplies

Cons: 

• It’s expensive.  I can sometimes find it on sale locally, and when I do I grab it up!  But the quality definitely comes at a price
• They do NOT offer a sketchbook binding option.  For me, I would love an option like this because I tend to do better with using and storing a sketchbook than a large pad of paper.  

3.  Arteza Expert Watercolor Paper

Pros: 

• 100% Cotton and Cold Press Paper - with pretty great quality
• Arteza is very accessible
• Decently affordable paper - more expensive than their other watercolor papers but still a bargain for the quality.  

Cons: 

• There are several brands of “Arteza Expert” paper listed, and only a tiny section of it is 100% cotton, so be careful when buying.  (I think they do also have greeting cards and postcards that are 100%)
• The do NOT offer a 100% cotton sketchbook!  I wish they did because I would definitely buy it if one was offered!  

Honorable Mention: Paul Rubens Hot Press Sketchbook

I love this for illustrations with line work!  Cold press paper will ruin your fineliners and other black pens pretty fast, so I try to work on smoother paper when I’m doing an illustration.  This and my Bee Creative mixed media paper are my favorites for these purposes!  They are both high quality and affordable!  

I’d also like to mention that I’ve not tried paper or sketchbooks from either Etchr or Stillman & Bern.  Both of those are companies that I’ve seen great things about and would like to try in the future!  Etchr is a pricier option mainly because you have to buy the books in bundles.  Stillman & Bern isn’t local to me anywhere during the pandemic, but I could order from them in the future!  

** I also want to note that NONE of these companies are paying me anything!  I’m just a person who loves buying and trying art supplies!  I bought all of these with my own money and my opinion isn’t influenced by anything other than my personal experiences with the supplies!** 

What are your favorite brands of paper?  What is most important to you when you are purchasing watercolor paper?  Let me know in the comments!!!  

December Bullet Journal Layout

I know this is a few days late, but I'm finally getting around to posting my December layout for my bullet journal!  

Bullet journaling is a new hobby for me this year - though I have always had a planner that I detail and decorate!  I finally decided this year to take the plunge to a completely blank planner and to use it as a bullet journal. 

This is the planner I chose, and I love it for many reasons: 

1. The calendars were perfect for me

2. The pages are relatively thick - not quite thick enough for paint but really good

3. The layouts were pretty perfect for a beginner journal.  I wanted more pages month to month, instead of a big block of pages at the end, but for a starter journal this was great.  

In truth, next year I'm going with something else because I have more confidence now, but this was a wonderful starter for anyone that likes to bullet journal!  

Each month, my usual journal setup is to watercolor a strip for the calendar, and then follow up with a monthly goals and inspiration page and mood tracker.  This month's theme is pretty predictable, but I think it turned out super cute!

I made the watercolor strip with my Paul Rubens watercolors and Strathmore Black Mixed Media paper.  On the bigger layout, I use some go-to products each month.  One is my Kuretake Clean Color Dot pens - I'm OBSESSED with these pens!  They make beautiful dots and come in vibrant colors!  They are also great for coloring the mood tracker.  I also love my Zebra MildLiners - they are the perfect, affordable brush pens in beautiful, muted colors.  I also love my stickers from Scribble Sticker Co, Plannologie, and Happy Blue Tree - all businesses on Etsy.  All three shops offer amazing quality and affordable products!  

If you have any questions about my bullet journaling journey, please feel free to leave it in the comments!