Red Pear
Pentel pocket brush pen and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on 140 lb Canson cold press watercolor paper
Category: Art
Bartlett Pear
Bartlett Pear
Sharpie pen and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on 140 lb Canson cold press watercolor paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
Banana
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on Canson 140 lb cold press watercolor paper
5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
Pinky Pear
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on 140 lb Canson cold press watercolor paper
7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
Blue Green
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on 140 lb Canson cold press watercolor paper
7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
I cannot get enough of this greeny blue color. Or of pears. Obviously.
Blue Pear
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on paper
8 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches
Yes, more of that godawful linty paper. I tore a piece of it in half, and I think it has Tyvek fibers in it. It’s very odd stuff.
Bosc Pear
Pentel pocket brush pen and M. Graham and Schmincke gouache on paper
8 x 6 inches
This may be the worst, most inappropriate paper for water media. I have no idea what it is. It looks like faux “handmade” scrapbook paper. It’s got an obvious screen imprint on the surface and is embedded with pieces of plant fiber. Which isn’t awful on its own, but the surface is treated with some sort of sizing that makes it initially water repellant, and the paper itself is soft and linty and disintegrates if you add more than a couple of layers of paint to it.
It took me four attempts to get something sort of finished without the surface of the paper falling apart. Fun times!
Three Pears
Pentel pocket brush pen and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on 140 lb Strathmore mixed media paper
7 1/2 x 11 inches
I normally prefer cold press and even rough paper, but this paper has a vellum finish that I’m enjoying.
Brush Pen Fix
If you use brush tip felt pens, this might be helpful. When the tip gets mushy or worn or frayed, but there’s still ink left in the pen, try pulling out the tip and reversing it. I used my bare hands, but if you don’t want to get ink on your fingers, you could use tweezers or needle-nose pliers to gently remove, flip, and reinsert the tip.
If you look closely, you can see that the tip on the right end is worn, but the tip on the left end is in pristine condition.
I remember doing this with cheap felt tip markers, when I was a kid. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to do it with “grown up” felt tip pens. (Via Roz Wound Up, a blog I a million percent recommend if you have any interest in arting.)
Green Pepper
Faber-Castell Pitt brush pen and Schmincke and M. Graham gouache on 140 lb Strathmore mixed media paper
7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
ETA: Some day I will pretend to be a grown-up, and on that day I will work on scanning the backlog of arty crap I’ve been taking horrid cell phone photos of. I mean, for crying out loud, this one isn’t even in focus!
red paper boat 