I have a super busy day so I took my sketchbook (Moleskine pocket watercolour) to the gym and did sketches 79-90 there, and then I completed 91-101 sitting on a bench on my way home.
So 100 people completed – the fastest ever I’ve done this challenge, and all of them sketched from life. I plan to complete this page tomorrow and then go back to my Field Notes sketchbook to try another style of sketching people on the move.
As usual, pick which one you like best. I am having trouble choosing.
It was dark and cold once I finished, and my fingers had trouble grasping the pen because of my neuropathy. My original plan was to finish all 100 today, but I only got to 78. Tomorrow I have very little time to sketch, but I am getting faster and better and capturing quick moving targets.
I am using the watercolour “blobs” mostly as general guides for the size of each sketch. I create them first and then sketch over them later.
These were done on a Moleskine pocket watercolour sketchbook using Schmincke and Daniel Smith watercolours, a water brush and a Staedtler 0.3 pigment liner pen. They each took only a few seconds to sketch.
I went out for 45 minutes after work and sketched all of these as fast as I could. I only stopped when it got too dark outside. Yesterday’s sketches were done with a Staedtler 0.5 pigment liner on a Field Notes sketchbook. Today’s sketches were done on a pocket Moleskine watercolour sketchbook using a 0.3 Staedtler pigment liner, a water brush and watercolour.
First batch when it was still light outside
People moved by in the street so I had seconds to capture each figure (the more detailed ones stopped for a minute or two). As this is what normally happens when you urban sketch, I found this exercise to be very useful.
I didn’t have much time to sketch today so I only got 8 sketches done, but I’m more concerned with getting the sketches done from observation than with getting them done in time.
Another busy week at work coupled with a packed weekend means that this update will be bullet-point style:
I ran my first race of the year, a 10K in what turned out to be surprisingly warm weather. I’ve been using the Nike Running Club App’s 10k race plan, for both this race and the one I ran in Disney World last October and it’s proven to be fantastic. I wish I could say the same about the app, which has lately had annoying audio issues that have made it downright unusable at times.
In preparation for next week’s One Week 100 People challenge I’ve been using a Field Notes Sketchbook, and I’ve grown to appreciate its portability. It’s not suited for wet media, but for pen, ink and pencil it works well. All the sketch photos here were done on a Field Notes Sketchbook, and I’ll be reviewing it sometime in the future.
I’m down to only five inked fountain pens, and I’ll likely write one or two of them dry next week. I’ll be updating my pen rotation sometime late next week, possibly looking to add some more spring-time ink colours to the darker inks I currently have in use.
I’ve finished reading Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, bringing my February book count to three. The book was just the sort of cozy, light read that I needed at the time, and I enjoyed it enough to immediately buy the sequel (which is actually a prequel) Bookshops and Bonedust.
I spent an annoyingly long time downloading all of my kindle books to my laptop before Amazon locked that option out. I’ve also moved to using Kobo to buy eBooks. I will admit that it’s not as convenient as buying ebooks from Amazon, but I’m angry enough at them for the change to put in the extra effort required. I bought Bookshops and Bonedust on Kobo and then used the Amazon “Send to Kindle” website to transfer my purchase (it was easy because Travis Baldree, bless him, demanded that the book be DRM free). I also bought another book (a bit on that in the next bullet) that had DRM applied, so I had to do some Calibre work to strip it of DRM before sending it to my Kindle. Next time the whole process should take only a minute or two extra beyond the usual Kindle book purchasing process, and again, for me it’s worth it.
After listening to Oxford poetry professor Tara Stubbs’s wonderful Demystifying Poetry podcast (Apple Podcasts, Spotify) I bought my first poetry book in years, the anthology “Staying Alive”. Even if you’re not a poetry lover, give the podcast a listen. It’s well worth your time.
I mostly use fountain pens when I write. If not fountain pens then gel ink pens. I rarely write in pencil, but I often sketch with pencils, and sometimes when I plan, I pencil things in. Pencil is great for writing impermanence, even though pencil marks last longer than pen ones – unless erased.
Yet there’s always a ballpoint on my desk and in my bag. I don’t like writing with ballpoint – the lines are as dark as I prefer, even with hybrid ballpoints like Uniball Jetstreams, and they oftentimes streak and blob. So why do I have a ballpoint at hand at all times?
Because ballpoint pens are a useful tool. The ink is waterproof , they’re good for signing things, and they’re robust enough to handle being tossed into a bag or a pocket. Ballpoint pens are also good for sketching – you can get a decent amount of shading and character with them (providing you don’t use a Jetstream).
One of the best bang for your buck ballpoints is this pen:
Zebra 301A BP
So why do I like the Zebra 301 A BP 0.7?
It’s made from aluminium, so it’s light and ultra durable. It also wears really well.
I love the pen body design and colour.
The grip and click mechanism are good: well designed and well made. You get a decisive click from this pen, and the plastic grip has enough texture to it to make writing as comfortable as possible without all the lint gathering, stickiness and durability issues of softer grips.
No tip wiggle.
It comes with a good, dependable, black refill that is replaceable.
Clip and click mechanism
I like the Zebra 301 A BP enough that I bought a large box of them and I frequently give them away as gifts. People like getting nice pens and if you’re used to cheap, plasticky, disposable ballpoints it’s nice getting a pen that’s a grade or two above what you find in the office supply cabinet.
Grip
Here’s a quick sketch done with a Zebra 301A BP 0.7 on a Field Notes Sketchbook. Ballpoint pen sketching isn’t my favourite technique, but it is a very useful technique for quick urban sketching.
Earlier this week I went to a standup gig – a NY comedian was trying out new material, and it was an interesting (and funny) experience to see him work. Before the show I had about 5 minutes to sketch the people in a nearby cafe, so I sketched this couple using a Staedtler 0.5 Pigment Liner.
In terms of fountain pens the Parker Vacumatic is out of rotation, though I may give Diamine Writer’s Blood a try in another pen soon enough. I decided that I want to have the nib tuned on it, in terms of flow, though I don’t know who I’ll be able to find to do the tuning for me.
I also dumped out the Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo out of my Parker 51 as I couldn’t get it to not bleed and feather on practically any paper. I cleaned out the pen and refilled it with Waterman (Tender) Purple ink and it’s been wonderful to use since. Waterman inks are not only fantastically well behaved, beautiful, cheap and very, very easy to clean out of pens, they’re also dry inks. As Parker 51 generally have a generous ink flow, and this one is no different, a dry ink serves particularly well with this pen.
I’ve been reading Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (the British novelist, not the famous actress) and it’s a wonderful study of character, age and aging.
Next week is the Tel Aviv marathon, which is sold out for the very first time. There were no big local running events last year, and there’s clearly a hunger for them.
This week has been crushing from both a personal and a national perspective. I’ve taken solace in friends and in reading, but there have been times where it’s been a struggle. It’s at times like this when I need to remind myself to stop, take a breath, allow myself to feel what I need to feel, and only then pick myself up and move on.
Be kind to yourself and others, and have a great week.
I used to be a heavy Twitter use. I discovered the service pretty early on through webcomic artists like Scott Kurtz, and I found the challenge of crafting short tweets to be a fun writing exercise. Yes, I was among those disappointed when they raised the character limit – half the fun of the service was trying to be as clear and concise as possible.
When Twitter stopped supporting third-party clients like Tweetbot, and started becoming an unpleasant place to hang out, I left. It hasn’t gotten better in the interim years and as I have largely cut social media out of my life so I have no plans of ever going back. However, while I don’t miss Twitter (not as it is, not even as it used to be) I do miss the challenge of crafting short and punchy snippets of text: the haiku like nature of tweets. I also have a large pile of unused Field Notes pocket notebooks, and a not insignificant stock of really cool gel ink pens, rollerballs and ballpoints that are all seeing very little use.
Could I put these together to achieve an analog version of what I enjoyed most about Twitter?
The Birds and Trees of North America, Fall 2024 seasonal edition of Field Notes.
Yes, I could and I did and it has been glorious.
I selected a Field Notes notebook out of the the Fall 2024 “Birds and Trees of North America” edition because it’s a beautiful edition, it has lined paper (which I rarely have use for in pocket notebooks), and it seemed appropriate. I randomly selected a Retro 51 Tornado – The System limited edition one which has Uniball Jetstream SXR-600-05 hybrid ballpoint refill in it instead of the original Schmidt refill which I don’t like. Then I started writing down “tweets” in it throughout the day.
Rocky Mountain and Mexican Screech Owls Field Notes notebook (illustrated by Rex Brasher) and Retro 51 Tornado The System limited edition pen
I’m not dating them, I’m not counting characters, I’m just limiting myself to a few rows for each entry, and I’m writing them as if I would be publishing them. The writing style is therefore different than what I would write in my journal, and so far it’s also focused exclusively on things that I don’t write about in my journal (mainly reactions to things I did or saw or read). I have no intention of ever publishing anything in this notebook, but I do enjoy the challenge of writing it as if it would be something that I would post somewhere.
So I get to practice my writing skill in a new way, I get to use some of my wonderful Field Notes stash, and I get to use some of my great standard pens. All this without filling the pockets of various billionaires with my work, and without encountering the bots and the foaming hordes of professional haters and rabble rousers online.
I highly recommend this practice, whether you do it with a fancy Field Notes or just any pocket notebook you have on hand. Using a notebook of this size will remind you to keep your entries short, and it’s something that you can easily carry with you and use in waiting rooms, boring meetings, or when you need a little break between tasks throughout the day.
It’s nice to have new pens and inks in rotation. I’m enjoying Diamine’s Writer’s Blood more than I expected, Diamine Autumn Oak is fantastic with a Waterman superflex nib, and Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo is becoming one of my favourite inks.
Liz Steel and Marc Taro Holmes are hosting the OneWeek100People challenge again this year, and I intend to participate again. The challenge starts on the 3rd of March and officially lasts 5 days. I normally sketch from photos, but this time I want to see if I can do the entire challenge from observation only. It may take me more than 5 days, but I’m OK with that. Are you planning on joining the challenge?
I went to the local art museum again this week, to sketch models in the museum. This was the last time this event was run, and the place was packed with sketchers. I didn’t have the best of locations, but I made the most of it. I sketched with Faber Castell 9000 2B and 3B pencils mostly, and added a touch of colour with Faber Castell Polychromos. The ink sketches were done with a Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.5. The sketchbook I used was once again the French Pascale Éditions. The models did fewer 20 minute poses and more 10 minute ones, which meant scrambling a lot. I wanted to visit the museum after the event, but I was so tired from 3 hours of non-stop sketching that I just went home.
Harman Photo just came out with a brand new colour film, Harman Red. It’s a red-scale film, and I’m curious enough to try and buy a roll or two and test them out. I love the wild, wild results I got with Harman Phoenix and the Harman Red is basically Phoenix pushed even more into red-scale.
Here are the sketches from today, and I hope that you have a great week!
10 minute pose.10 minute pose.10 minute pose.10 minute pose – the hardest pose to draw because of the angle of the head. Had a false start on this one, so had only about 8 minutes for this. 10 minute pose – Staedtler 0.5 pigment liner10 minute pose10 minute pose10 minute poseThe three models. The pose started with just the two top models, and then the third one joined, and it was a 10 minute pose.A challenging composition, 20 minute pose10 minute pose. I like the composition on this one – I placed her on the side of the page to give her room for thought. Final pose, 20 minutes
I have finally written dry all of my Inkvent 2024 fountain pens, which means that after two months I get to write with a whole new set of fountain pens and inks. I normally don’t spend too much time selecting which pen and which inks I’ll use next, but this time I decided to use some criteria for the next pens in my rotation:
They need to include at least 50% vintage pens. I don’t use vintage pens with Inkvent inks, and vintage pens make up most of my pen collection.
All the pens need to be pens that I haven’t used in a long time (at least a year). It was time to mix things up.
The inks needed to be inks that are new to me, or that I haven’t used in years, and all of them need to be inks that I haven’t swabbed before. This was not only to mix things up, but to get me to use and swab more inks in my collection, instead of going again and again to a few select favourites.
Here’s February’s fountain pen lineup:
The pens from left to right: Leonardo Momento Zero Bohemian Twilight, Sailor Pro Gear Slim Graphite Lighthouse, Edison Nouveau Premiere Cappuccino, Montblanc 32, Mabie Todd Swan L2 Leverless pen, Waterman 52, Parker 51, Parker Vacumatic Standard double striped jewel.
And here are ink swabs of the inks that I’ll be using:
Ink swabs on Col-o-Ring cards
The Vintage Pens
Parker Vacumatic 1st generation Laminated Burgundy Pearl Double Jewel (striped jewels, striped section) – I adore Parker Vacumatics and this is a “use the good china” pen. The grip section is also laminated (and not plain black), the body is transparent, and the nib is a sharp extra fine gold nib with a bit of character to it. It’s filled with a brand new ink for me, Diamine Writer’s Blood. I never use red inks, but this got raving reviews and seemed dark enough for me to try. I bought the ink in Oxford last year, and the pen years ago from the late Henry Simpole (Henry the Pen Man) in London. I don’t think I inked up this pen since I bought it, as it was too precious, and I still won’t let it leave the house, but I am looking forward to actually using it.
Parker Vacumatic first generation burgundy laminated grip sectionCloseup on the striped jewel and the grip section of the Parker Vacumatic
Parker 51 Burgundy aerometric with a silver cap and gold filled arrow clip. I love Parker 51s, they are my absolute favourite fountain pens. I believe this cap is on the rare side, though it’s far from pristine or attractive (it’s blackened in specks, and there are a few scratches and micro scratches on it). The nib is a generous fine, bordering on medium, and like all other 51s that I’ve used, it’s magic. I haven’t used this pen since I bought it, so it’s time to give it a whirl. It’s filled with Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo, which is a lovely, sheening burgundy ink, one of the more popular inks in the Iroshizuku lineup. In hindsight coupling this ink with this pen wasn’t the best choice, as the 51 has generous nibs and Iroshizuku inks are on the wet side. It just means that I’ll have to steer clear of cheap paper with this combination.
Parker 51 cap and nib closeup
Waterman Ideal 52 Red Ripple fountain pen with a super flex extra fine nib – my word but this pen has the most glorious nib. The pen itself is elegant and pristine, and because of its age it doesn’t have the ebonite stink to it. The nib is why I bought this pen, and it effortlessly moves between extra fine and broad or double broad lines, with the feed easily keeping up with tines. Like all Waterman nibs that I’ve tried, there is some feedback, so if you like butter on hot pan nibs this one isn’t for you. This is the kind of nib that you can only get in a vintage pen, and it puts modern flex pens to shame. It’s only minus is that this is a lever filler, and I hate cleaning out lever fillers, which is why I rarely use them. This pen is filled with Diamine Autumn Oak, which I haven’t used yet (in bottle form at least – I have cartridges of it). I wanted a brighter ink in this lineup, so Autumn Oak was a perfect choice.
Waterman 52 cap and nib closeup. You know the nib is going to be fabulously flexy once you see that heart shaped breather hole and the slight bend down in the nib. Writing sample on Midori MD Paper. Notes written with a Platinum Preppy.
Mabie Todd Swan L2 Leverless L205/62? Not sure – Swan did a poor job labeling their pens, and I didn’t write down notes when I bought it. This is a lovely pen that I bought from Henry Simpole years ago because of the phenomenal Swan nib. It’s an oblique flexible nib with Swan’s gimmicky “Leverless” filling system (which is a lever system in disguise, but such were the ’30s – you needed a gimmick to sell pen). I haven’t used it at all since I bought it because I don’t remember the experience of cleaning it out very fondly – imagine all the bother of cleaning out a Lamy 2000, but with a piston that has just one twist of travel. I used Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao with this fountain pen, and it’s a gorgeous ink with a good amount of sheen with this nib. I love this shade of royal blue, and I haven’t used this ink in a while. Take a look at the Swan above – it’s almost 100 years old and works perfectly.
Closeup on the nib and cap of the Swan Leverless penWriting sample on Midori MD Paper. Notes written with a Platinum Preppy.
Montblanc 32 (1967) OM 585 nib – heavens, you can get a gold nibbed, piston filling original Montblanc with an Oblique Medium nib for less than a steel nibbed Pelian M2xx costs? Yes, you can. I love the design of this pen (you can read about it more here) and the nib is great… provided you write in the exact angle it expects. The Swan’s nib is generous in terms of the writing angles it accepts, and the Monblanc 32 is demanding: you will use the nib at the precise angle it is designed for, or it will not work at all! I only wish that the Montblanc Around the World in 80 Days ink was so exact. From the description and the illustration on the box I was expecting a brownish gold ink, maybe with a hint of green. In reality I got a dark, cold grey ink, with a hint of blue to it. No brown, no gold, nothing at all to do with the elephant illustration on the box. I had to double check just to make sure that I hadn’t landed on a bad bottle by chance.
Montblanc 32 semi hooded nib Writing sample on Midori MD Paper. Notes written with a Platinum Preppy.Writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper
Modern Fountain Pens
Sailor Pro Gear Slim Graphite Lighthouse H-EF nib – I haven’t used this pen in over a year, and I wanted a pen with a very fine nib, so that I can use it for note taking. It’s inked up with Sailor Black, a new ink for me and one that’s supposed to be water resistant. I’m using this combination for my certification study notes, and I may also try it out with some watercolours in a sketch, just to see if I can use Sailor Black ink as part of my sketching kit.
Edison Nouveau Premiere Cappuccino fine nib – I bought this pen in early 2012, before they did a run of seasonal limited editions of this pen design. I haven’t used in years, and the same goes for the ink in it: Lamy Petrol. This is a limited edition ink, one that Lamy issued with the Lamy Safari Petrol, and it’s a wonderful blue-black with red sheen.
Leonardo Momento Zero Bohemian Twilight fine nib – this pen has “only” been a year out of rotation, and it’s one of my favourite Leonardos. The colour of the resin is gorgeous, and it works very well with the Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo ink that it’s filled with. Tsuki-you is a bluish-teal with red sheen and a wet flow, and it suits the Leonardo’s fine nib.
Writing at Large 