Tool Report: Nomadic PN-91 Sketch Kit Case

The PN-91 Top Open Pencil Case is one member of a family of useful and well-designed sketch cases made by Nomadic. This model has a deep mesh pocket in the top and an interior hinged flap with five elastic pen slots. The bottom compartment dimensions are about 7-3/4" x 3-1/4" x 1" deep. There is a dorky little pocket at the top of the main bottom compartment, but thankfully it does not interfere much. And can even hold a handy eraser, as you can see.

Here it is with 14 Caran d'Ache Supracolor watercolor pencils in the bottom compartment, 4 pens in the central flap, and two waterbrushes and a retractable X-acto in the left hand mesh pocket. It can easily hold twice that number of pencils (or pens or whatever) in the bottom compartment. If you are so inclined.

PROS:
-- Nice deep mesh pocket on the left and good sturdy elasticized slots for pens on the flap.
-- Well-made and padded throughout.
-- Can distend to accommodate stuff slightly bigger than the "resting" interior dimensions. See pic below showing my 8-1/4" long x 1/2" thick watercolor box all alone in the bottom compartment. It will zip closed with that in it!
-- Weighs nearly nothing empty.

CONS:
-- The innermost elasticized slot on the central flap is practically useless, because if you put a pen in it, it won't stay flipped over to the left.
--It's not inexpensive.

Possible Modifications and Customizations:
-- Add another strip of elastic slots to the backside of the central flap. This would hold oft-used pens up out of the bottom compartment. But it would diminish the capacity of the bottom compartment.
-- Add an elastic strip to the bottom compartment, across the full width of the compartment. This would hold all the pencils more snugly in the lower compartment. The pencils tend to roam around inside the case.

BOTTOM LINE: I like this case! It feels good in the hand, the neon green is a nifty color, and the interior layout and dimensions suit me.

• Pictures and more information here on Jetpens site.
• Review:  Nomadic PN-01 Two Layer Pencil Case, from Gourmet Pens (2011) The PN-01 appears to be an earlier and skinnier version of the PN-91
  

Umbrella

About 15" x 10", done with pastels

Sculpture Garden

This is about 4" x 11-1/2" on 800-grit UArt sanded paper, done with pastels.

The Stupid Heads

They
are
e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

"My Number One"

Congrats to Roger. He has regained "his" #1.

Pear and Strawberry

Wayne Thiebaud, Pear and Strawberry (1985)
pastel on paper

Renoir

Film of Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting. And talking talking talking, parce qu'il est un homme français, ya know.

I wonder who that other fellow is. I wonder what they are talking about.

Your Renoir quote of the day, on Leonardo da Vinci: He bores me. He ought to have stuck to his flying machine.

Tool Report: Pilot Razor Point Pen

The Pilot Razor Point pen is one of my most useful sketch tools. I recommended it to a few folks in the last few days and so I thought it might warrant a new, more thorough review. Hence this tool report.

First, a more precise description: The Pilot Razor Point "Marker Pen" is one of those cheap plastic pens that you can find in any office supply store. There are a few different colors, with different colored inks loaded. The one reviewed here is the black ink version. It has a hard fine 0.3mm fiber tip. The black ink version has a grey plastic sparkly body with silver lettering. It has a little yellow button on the end of the cap. Alerts have circulated among artist devotees, on and off for a few years, that Pilot may discontinue making it, but these alerts have -- so far! -- been false alarms. It remains on Pilot's product list.

I was first introduced to the Pilot Razor Point as a sketching tool many years ago by Kath Macaulay, during a "Pocket Sketching" workshop she taught, and continues to teach, at the Sedona Arts Center, in Arizona. I was tickled with how nicely the water-soluble ink washes! And the wash color is a cool neutral grey with no surprising hidden color components. Recently purchased versions of the Pilot Razor Point perform as well as the first ones I tried years ago.

USE: I have these pens all over the place! I keep one of these pens in each sketch kit that I have, one in each pocket of each bag that I carry, and one in the rear zip pocket of my Midori Travelers notebook. I use this pen on the bouncing bus or any place where might be danger to nicer pens.

A compact waterbrush + the Pilot Razor Point pen = a complete sketch kit!

PROS:
 ---> Inexpensive! If you lose it, damage it, or drop it on the floor of the bus and it rolls away, replacement is not a burden.
 ---> Contains a cool tone black water-soluble ink, that can be washed into nice shading effects.
 ---> Light weight and portable.

CONS:
 ---> Disposable, so not very eco-responsible.
 ---> Lightfastness of the ink is not great. Test results here. Recommended for use inside sketchbooks. Not for pieces to be framed and hung.
 ---> Runs and bleeds when used with watercolors. Depending on your aesthetic, this can also be quite delightful.

LINK:
 -- Twelve-minute How-To video by Kath Macaulay is here.

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Example: In Strathmore's 'Visual Journal' (90lb mixed-media paper), with a little Caran d'Ache Supracolor 'Burnt Sienna' watercolor pencil:

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Example: On Strathmore Aquarius II watercolor paper:

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Example: On Rives BFK "Tan" paper, with a little Caran d'Ache Supracolor 'White' and 'Burnt Sienna' watercolor pencil:

Freak3

I had forgotten that visitors are not permitted to wear a backpack in full 2-strap backpack position at NGA. (It can only we worn slung over one shoulder.) I very much enjoyed my visit, but balancing the backpack on one shoulder while sketching was a little awkward.

And so I came home to re-pack my current lightest-weight kit in a shoulder bag that I could wear across my chest, messenger bag style.

I got out the Maxpedition Neatfreak Organizer and slid the Midori into one of the large pockets. The un-zipped and open Cubix Round Zip Pen Case fits into the opposite big pocket. (I was happy not to have to unpack it.) Both the Midori and the Cubix fit with room to spare!

And I can reach all of the tools down in the Cubix with the top part of the wraparound zipper of the Maxpedition open and the bag hanging across my chest. Huzzah! No more juggling!

As you can see, there are a wealth of other pockets available for use. In the interests of weight, I left them empty. (Such self-control!)

Now all I need is the temperature to drop below 100º so I can go back, ummm, outside.

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Bonuses!

Do this: Buy the Derwent Academy Watercolor Pan Set for ten bucks, throw away the plastic insert holding all the cheap Derwent paint (or give it to a handy child), and fill the empty box with good quality paint in pans, using magnets. The Derwent box is thinner and lighter than my medium sized three-fold travel palette and it has almost as much mixing space in the lid. And it holds more pans. It is a little flimsy, so more testing is in order.

I got the Kuretake No. 13 Fountain Hair Brush the other day. Nice!  I filled it (using a converter) with J. Herbin Perle Noire ink, which is a lush black. I intend to practice more with this brush pen.

This is a great logo for a Clown Question t-shirt. I love the geeky little maple leaf hat on the clown. Excellent.

Light vs. Shadow

A visit to the NGA and some experiments with using dry pencil to catch light and shadow on tinted paper.

With Signor Condottiere Astorgio Manfredi, I wanted to take the stern look home.

And looking up at Madam Monet, the Woman with a Parasol, I can feel the wind and hear the sound of petticoats rustling.

It was a nice not-too-hot day, but the museum was eerily empty, despite this being the busy season. In any event, I couldn't find Girl with the Red Hat, so I have to go back tomorrow.

I did go and say hello to that ole scamp of a trollop Ginevra. And I paid my respects to Mr. Turner's sunny and watery Mortlake Terrace. Which may look familiar to some of you . . .

Corrugated Persica

Imaginary fruit. About 5" x 3", gouache and watercolor pencils on Twinrocker 'Simon's Green' paper.

Spanish Patio, Italian Sculpture

NYC, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 534, Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco

More.

Make a Signature / updated 13July2012

So I don't lose these excellent links:
 -- Booklyn Artists Alliance: The Pamphlet Stitch Instruction Sheet (PDF)
 -- TJBookarts: How to Make a Pamphlet Book (video)
 -- Comfortableshoesstudio: Make a Pocket Notebook or Journal with the Figure 8 Stitch (video)
 -- Lisa Conrad's Pamphlet Book Template (diagrams; illustration here is from Lisa Conrad's webpage)
 -- MUCH more complicated, using the Coptic stitch:  --  Midori Travelers Journal Watercolor Refill Tutorial, from refalo.com

Summer = Peaches

Paul Cézanne, Quatre pêches sur une assiette (c. 1890-1894); Barnes Foundation.

Buh bye, Bahston. Hello, World.

Boz says so.

"When it was over, they’d given the Red Sox their first interleague sweep in 10 years."

Yes, I admit: I am a shameless, unblushing Bandwagoneer.

Greetings from Home

Taking time to be a tourist in my own town. New eyes, new ears, new angles.

June Day, Nats' Park

E on Excursion

The 37 Express, on a weekday evening.

Blue Street

It looks better larger. Click on it to see the larger.

Interior

Dreaming past the weekend.

Peindre que les voyages?

Est-il gouache? I dunno.

On the right is a gouache travel kit (the latest of many attempts). The palette is in the snap-on, air-tight lid and the few tubes are in the bottom part of the container. It's 6" x 3" x 1-3/4", 12 oz capacity. A rigid piece of plastic separates the palette from the tubes. So the tubes don't get all gooey.

Est-ce que cette version voler?
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Question of the Day: Was Jack Kerouac totally, or just partially, full of hot air? Let's contemplate his 30 Keys: Belief and Technique for Modern Prose. Maybe it's just me. Although #3 "Try never get drunk outside yr own house" remains excellent advice.

Brock Davis

See Brock Davis' Make Something Cool Every Day

See also his Banana Peel Truckers Hat, which is brilliant. I want to be an artist!

[Brock Davis on Tumblr.]

Pear and 友人

About 8" x 8", on St-Armand watercolor paper, with gouache and ink

No Man

Thinking about my travel kit.

Gouache? Yes.
Gouache? No.
Gouache? Maybe.
Gouache? How?

Pix Stephen Wilkes

Day to Night Gallery: Cool pix combining dozens of separate photos of the same view at different times of day.

This is Flatiron.

Coney Island is quite fine too.



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Young Guns Hat Trick = W