Watercoloring

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"Watercolor Table" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
 “Watercolor Table” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。Today I sketched a bit and did a watercolor of La Sagrada Familia. For my first watercolor in many years, I think it turned out ok. There are a bunch of things I would change, and I’ll probably do more versions of the same pic just to experiment. But it’s a good image to use for practice. And lots of fun because it brings back the memory of the great time I had in Barcelona!

"La Sagrada Watercolor" Cedar Park, 2017
“La Sagrada Watercolor” Cedar Park, 2017

For the painting, I sketched using pencil, then applied the watercolor. After that, I erased the pencil marks that were still on the white parts of the paper. I like the shape of the cathedral and detail, but the trees in front are just cloud-like blobs. I also should have extended the cathedral down a bit on the left side so that it looks more like it is behind the trees and not sitting on top of them. Still, I am pleased with my first attempt!

"Prisma Classics" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “Prisma Classics” Cedar Park, 2017

For this painting, I used a new watercolor set: Prima Marketing “The Classics”. It’s a compact tin, with 12 colors in half-pans. I was surprised at how small the tin is… it’s not even the width of my LAMY Safari! Before I bought the watercolors, I watched a couple of reviews, and decided on set by the same brand called “Tropicals”, but it was back-ordered at Amazon so I ordered the classics instead. There are a few colors that I don’t really like, or perhaps don’t know how to use, and a few colors I would like to have from the Tropicals set, so I’m not sure what I’ll do. Perhaps I will just buy some empty half-pans and tubes of paint. Thankfully Teoh Yi Chie has a review of the tropicals set and I can use that as a good reference as I build my palette.

"Pilot Kakuno" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
 “Pilot Kakuno” Cedar Park, 2017

Also, my Pilot Kakuno arrived! It’s such a cool pen. I love the fun design and blue color and it’s pretty compact in size, which I like. I’m going to use it as just a basic writer, with the black ink that came with it, but it’s a joy to use and gives me more pleasure than just using a generic ballpoint. Why not try to brighten up your life, even in small ways?

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

またね～

Trees and People

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"Trees and People" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO3200
 “Trees and People” Cedar Park, 2017

Hello! Today’s photo is of some small sketches of trees. I watched a Youtube video today about adding trees to architectural drawings and thought they looked pretty cool. The same person also has a video about how to sketch people which I also practiced a bit. They are in a photo from a few days ago. I think they look pretty good actually! As I sketch more, I think the figures and trees will come in handy. Especially the figures for people in the distance or crowds. Plus, they are fun to draw on their own!

I’m really enjoying sketching. When I was in college, I only took a few drawing classes. I didn’t have much talent in sketching, and so I gravitated towards painting and graphic arts. So, even though I have a degree in Studio Art, drawing is still a challenge. However, I’m finding it a lot of fun these days. It’s great to be getting back into creating like this!

I hope you had a nice Friday. I’ll leave you with a photo of the sunset:

"Sunset" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/600 sec, ISO200
 “Sunset” Cedar Park, 2017

おやすみ！

Some New Pens – LAMY Safari and Uni-Ball AIR

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"Lamy Safari" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/55 sec, ISO3200
 “Lamy Safari” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

At long last, I have a fountain pen that I love! It’s the LAMY Safari, with a broad nib. First of all, the broad nib is wonderful and suits my writing style. I mentioned in a previous post that I used to have a pen with a broad nib and that I wanted to find something similar. The LAMY fits the bill perfectly. And the design of the grip, which has two flat facets, is so comfortable to me and positions the nib at the perfect angle. Plus, I love the bright yellow color. It’s really a great pen.

I bought a converter with it so that I could fill it with my Sailor Souten ink, and it looks really nice. The ink’s color really shows with the broad line. However, I want to eventually get a brighter turquoise/aqua ink, which is the color I used to have with my calligraphy pen back in high school. But that can wait. I’ll enjoy the Souten for a while. 😀

The second pen that I newly bought is the Uni-Ball AIR. It’s also fantastic. It too has a very broad line, so of course, I think it is great (my other favorite pen is a 1 mm Zebra Sarasa). I am using the AIR for sketching and it works well for that. It glides over the paper nicely, probably the smoothest pen I own… the design is so sleek and it just gently comes to a point, and since the tip is black like the body, it looks really sharp. I did a sketch tonight using the AIR, and I think the pen worked nicely. The sketch itself is not so great, but I had fun drawing. I’ll probably draw the same scene again (from a reference photo) and try to improve it. By the way, I read that the AIR’s ink is waterproof, so it is good for putting watercolor over it. That’s the primary reason I bought the AIR, actually!

"Sketch" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
 “Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017

So, back to the Lamy Safari. It’s very different from my Pilot Metropolitan, and I can now form a better opinion about the Metro. I think it’s competent pen, and writes well, but to me, it lacks personality and charm. Simply put, it’s boring. I don’t really have a desire to pick it up. I guess my taste in pens is for something more fun, quirky, and eye-catching. Which is why…

I ordered another “fun” pen: the Pilot Kakuno. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be similar in writing quality as the Metropolitan (although with an even finer nib) but it just looks so fun. The nib even has a winky smiley face on it! How cool is that? I just want to pick it up and write with it.

You know, with cameras, they say the make and model doesn’t make a huge difference in picture quality. But if you find a camera attractive, you’ll want to pick it up and use it more. And if it can get you out shooting more, that’s a good thing! I guess it is the same things with pens. The Metropolitan doesn’t inspire me to take the cap off and write/sketch, but the LAMY does, and I am pretty sure the Kakuno will as well.

Ok, enough pen talk! I’ll let you go. As always, thanks for reading!

おやすみ