Tenser, said the tensor, the hoarding has begun.
There’s something about Da Vinci that I like. In both shops, the floor space isn’t that big, yet there’s enough variety on the shelves to keep me interested.
They recently started distributing ArtGraf “watercolour graphite,” which seems to spread more easily with water than the water-soluble graphite sticks. The clincher for me? It comes in a pan. No more grubby pencil cases from still-damp sticks.
This is one of the prettiest paper samplers I’ve seen, the Fabriano Bouquet. There’s a good review over on FPN.
I can’t wait to have fun with these Speedball Steel Brushes. Now I have no choice but to work big. These are not for the timid of shoulder or hesitant of wrist. Steel brushes, like poster pens, were used by professional poster artists when most everything was still produced by hand.
Lyra water-soluble pencil, synthetic squirrel hair brush, oblique holder, bamboo pen and brush combination. My hands are happy.
I’ll bring the watercolor graphite tomorrow and see how it plays with the rest of my sketch kit. It looks promising.
