After a hiatus of a year and a half, it looks as though our Life Drawing sessions will start up again in early September. Here’s hoping the rising variant numbers don’t interfere with that.

In the meantime, I’ve been gearing up by getting back into practice mode and collecting supplies along the way. I’ve had plenty of time to experiment with new materials over the past 18 months, so my kit will be a little different from what it was when we last got together in March of 2020.

The biggest change will be paper. Be forewarned – this is a deep dive into options, probably best suited to those of you who draw.

Before the pandemic I had been using Canson Edition paper exclusively. It’s 100% cotton and acid-free with two deckle edges and two distinct sides, one smooth and the other slightly textured. It’s a good workhorse that accepts a variety of media. For my purposes, its greatest asset was in capturing the marks of my ultra fine (.03) graphite. The downside is it doesn’t show off colored pencil as richly as I might have hoped.

This past year, working smaller & mostly in sketchbooks, I discovered several new options as I began working more with watercolor in addition to ink and graphite.

Stillman & Birn makes sketchbooks with eight different types of paper. The Beta Series is my favorite. It has a lot of great qualities: acid-free, bright white paper that handles ink and watercolor beautifully and, despite being cold press, has a surface that my pen seems to glide across effortlessly. Each page has some real heft (180 lb) so there is no rippling and it stands up to erasing without damage. Plus, it’s a good weight for stitching if, as with my garden paintings, I choose to go that route. Happily, it’s also available in 22 x 30″ sheets, giving me lot of flexibility with size.

I’ve also been experimenting with toned paper.
Strathmore 400 Series Toned Mixed-media paper (acid-free, 184lb, 9×12″ sheets) takes ink and other wet media well, while its smooth surface amplifies the marks of colored and pastel pencils the way I like.

I also just bought, but haven’t yet tried, a Stillman & Birn Nova Series beige-toned mixed-media sketchbook. The 90lb paper will take ink and light washes, so I expect it will be good for general practice, as is my Global Hand Book sketchbook.

Experimentation is half the fun, and it’s great to have a few new options. Whether or not we actually make it back to meeting in person – and I really hope we do – it’s exciting to think about as I get prepared.

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If you aren’t one of my newsletter subscribers (you can sign up here), you will have missed my notice that next week I will be participating in a panel discussion with 3 other artists who also have work in the ongoing exhibition Hidden Messages: Old and New, on Wednesday, August 18th @ 7pm. I hope you will join us – the details and link to registration are below.

Signify: A Conversation about Meaning and Technique

will be moderated by Leslie Roth, with a panel of
Jennifer Davey, Marya Lowe, and yours truly.
The presentation is free and open to the public; register here.

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Instagram of the week:

It doesn’t have to be all about fancy, store-bought paper. Check out the work of @peter_rush_drawings. He often draws on the inside of cardboard packaging – a novel take on toned paper!