Today I got in my cream colored sketch pad and my 2 different brown inks (Pelikan Brilliant Brown for the fountain pen which hasn't arrived yet, FW Acrylic Burnt Umber for dip pen and brush). It's dipped below freezing the last 2 nights, while they were languishing in unheated warehouses, and they felt like ice cubes when I opened them, but were still liquid. And remarkably enough, they don't seem adversely affected at all.
Also remarkable is the way I managed to salvage the drawing I put on the first page of my new pad. I really want this pad to look good - like Vilppu's Old Masters sketch pad. And as carefully as I drew the pencils for it, the wash was looking pretty bad - but I layered more washes over it several times and actually made it look better each time.
I also hit upon the idea of posing the Ahab armature for it - the world's most poseable artist's mannikin. It came out looking a bit stiff and awkward - drawn too tightly, like I used to do my comic book stuff inthe beginning before I loosened up. I think it'll help to copy some more Master sketches and try to figure out how to draw loose and flowing like that in wash - it tends to freak me out and intimidate me.
I also think my work will improve once I get bold enough to bust out the new $85 kolinsky sable wash brush that arrived complete in its little case with a little lint-free towel and a bar of perfumed soap for washing it with (!!)I wqs having trouble getting good edges with the cruddy old brushes I was using (but they blow away the super-crappy one I did the recent Tiepolo copy with!!)
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