DIY Pochade Box

Mini quest Complete!

   Sometime in January 2016, I decided to make a multi-purpose pochade box that I can use with oil, acrylic or gouache. I estimated I would be able to finish it within a year and even started documenting the process. Sometimes life happens and goals are met with resistance, priorities took over and the project was temporarily set aside. Fast forward to today, with some elbow grease and perseverance, I was able to finish the box and am now writing this article.

     This box is mostly inspired by existing designs from all over the net, especially the Alla Prima Pochade Box.

DIY Watercolor Easel Update

     Sometime in 2014 when I was just starting my art journey, I've made a post regarding a DIY watercolor easel. It served me well for my purpose, and it is still being used up until now. 
     As preferences and style of working became clearer, I realized that it is still possible to make the setup lighter by getting rid of the plywood board and replacing it with something to hold my support board which in most cases I always bring. Let me share with you the updated version  of the ease

The old board was replaced with a wooden arm and the tray is made of aluminum sheet that is lighter and easier to remove.

Learning to Control Watercolor (Part II)

     This post is long due. I have started this experiment right after the first part of this post, but I've become to busy painting that made me wonder if this is still relevant when someone can gain this knowledge through practice and observation. Just the same, I hope somebody might find it useful.
     One of the watercolor concepts that has always eluded my understanding is the "wet on wet technique" The are many tutorials online and most of them simply describes it as an application of  wet paint on still wet paint on paper or sometimes an application of wet paint on paper pre-wetted with water. I've also read about avoiding applying wet paint on damp paper since it will produce unwanted effects. Some text even mentioned to watch out for the shininess of the paper. The question still remains with me: how much wetness should the paper have? What should be the water to paint ratio in the brush? Is there any scale to measure paper wetness? With these questions I've set out to do an experiment in order to find out what I could measure, in order to at least, get consistent results we want when painting.
     This experiment is  to determine amount of dispersion the watercolor solution will do on wet paper. My initial thought on this is if I could "measure" the drying time of the paper then I would know when to apply the paint. I was wrong.

A- 10mins, B - 1 min., C- 3 mins.

     My first test shows that even on the same area size, the time it took to lose the shininess (indication that there is water on the paper surface) varies from 1 minute to as much as 10 minutes.

Trying to read the paper wetness in stages I can identify

Quick and dirty perspective tool for the rest of us

     If I can help it, I will always try my best not to use any drawing aids for training's sake. But the last sketchwalk had me realize that there are still times I'm struggling with perspective especially if  the subject is something really up close. There are also times when I get pressure to come up with something really fast, and the view is to distracting.
     These gave me an idea to come up with some solution. What if there is a tool we can use to ease things up?
     Again,I was thinking of something portable, and if possible can be inserted between the pages of a sketchbook. So, I've made a viewfinder. Nothing new here. The internet host a lot of different versions that are easy to make. This version is just a piece illustration board cut to size.

Noodlers Konrad Nib Mod

     Further into the exploration of fountain pens led me to the discovery of "flexible nib" fountain pens. These are different from most modern fountain pen which is mostly referred to as "nails". A fountain pen with a flexible nib allows variable line width by applying different levels of pressure as you lay down your stroke. These pen are rare these days, always too expensive and mostly available online. Fortunately, Noodlers company came up with an affordable user-configurable flex fountain pen and it is available in the Philippines though Scribe Writing Essentials!
    There are mixed reviews about the pen on various forums and blogs. The owners either love the pen or hate it. I have decided to get one. Out of the box, the pen provides variable line width but requires a considerable amount of pressure. That is if you really want a huge difference between your thin stroke and your thick stroke. In my case, in attempting to write in copperplate/script style, my hand will be tired after finishing the pangram, "The quick brown fox..." . For normal writing, I think you'll be mostly fine. The ink flow is smooth and the nib glides smoothly.
     I'm really interested to learn how to white in copperplate/script style so my search led me to this thread from Fountain Pen Network. Its about how to modify your Noodlers nib to ease the flexing capabilities.
     This mod suggest that a portion of the nib be removed to reduce the amount of pressure required to achieve the widest possible stroke.

The tools you need for the mod.Clockwise from top left: eye loupe, another eye loupe with a different magnifying power, A Dremel with a grinding stone, some nail buffs for smoothing the nibs.

Learning to Control Watercolor

     I'm trying to do understand the relationship between the amount of water on the paper, on the brush, the amount of paint and the different stages of dryness of the paper. Its easy to understand in theory, but in actual practice, there's a lot of things going on. I find it overwhelming.

Painted using 4 colors : Madder lake, Cad Red, Cad Yellow D, Cad Yellow Lemon on Arches 7' x 10' CP

     This leads me to another basic idea that I must be familiar with the behavior of the paints I'm using and how they react to paper. Is the paint transparent, staining, or granulating? How strong is the chroma? Does the color have a warm or cool bias? With these thoughts, I think I understand why we have to make color charts and why they are important.

Winsor  & Newton paints on Saunders Waterford. The black vertical bar on each swatch is a tool to determine the transparency of the pigment. The top swatch is painted with a thickest mixture possible(pan watercolor), the bottom swatch has been diluted with more water.

Different brands of paints on Arches CP 300gsm. The swatches are painted  from masstone (dense form of the paint from the tube) to a very thin wash. After all swatches have dried, I tried to lift the color completely by slightly wetting the area(see the horizontal fade). and scrubbing with a damp nylon flat brush. Notice that some pigments does not completely lift out.

    For those who are beginning to paint that doesn't have an idea of what to paint, or doesn't have have the confidence and is intimidated by a blank page or paper, try making color charts for an exercise. It will give you a head start. Did I say it's fun ?

There is a follow up post on this here

DIY WaterColor Easel

      Sketching outside is already a challenge in itself. Add the distractions, weather, insects, fatigue. I've decided that I could reduce that challenge by introducing something that I can control. Comfort. In line with this, I have decided to make a portable and lightweight watercolor easel. The tripod that I used was bought from CDR-King. Unfortunately tripods with round leg was not available during that time so I settled for the one with square legs.

DIY watercolor easel

     To make this easel, I've used a quarter inch plywood, a T-nut (1/4" 20 tpi), and a cheap tripod. The screenshots below show how the wood was cut and assembled but feel free to make adjustments based on your requirement.

T_Nut  assembly

       The piece that will hold the water-bottle and paint was not successfully cut, I had to scrap the first one and cut another.

These are the two configuration I mostly see on the internet. I thought that the pattern on the left would be much easier to execute. I believe that the pattern on the right would provide the best grip and would experiment on  making another one.

New toys from Jackson's Art Supply

          I believe in “buy the best materials you can afford”. But the best materials are very difficult to source if not impossible. When it comes to watercolor, most art supply stores which are  few mainly stock student grade supplies. I’m not sure if there are lots of people who share my frustration, though I’m still glad that the variety and quality of the stocks has improved through the years.
     One of the tools that are very difficult to acquire here are kolinsky sable brushes. Specifically the one with collapsible handles use in plein air painting. It has to be sourced somewhere else. Outside. Unfortunately at the time I’m making my order, brushes like these are not available neither from DickBlick nor Cheap Joe’s. So I checked on the other side of the globe, Jackson's Art supply in UK. It took about one month for them to arrive.

The brushes are works of art in itself. Such beauties are worth the wait.

 

From left: Jackson's squirrel Flat, Escoda Reserva travel brush sizes 4 and 8, Pro Arte flat travel brush, Pro Arte synthetics 2,4,6, and da Vinci Maestro size 6. 

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Welcome

     After several years of procrastination I was finally on it. Getting back to watercolor painting. The final inspiration came from a friend from work who is on the same interest, the availability of materials and tools and other ideas from Pinterest and WetCanvas.
     To meet the goal to paint everyday for fun, relaxation and to improve painting skills as well, the plan is to have a portable kit that world enable me to paint stealthily almost anywhere without getting noticed. I also wanted a sketchbook journal that is not too expensive, sustainable, and customized to my personal preference. So I made  my own. It took me a while to assemble the kit and gather the materials.

A 12" x 18" watercolor pad cut into 4.5"x 12" then folded into signatures and later stitched
together using Coptic binding

Cow leather for the exterior and pig's skin for the lining

Leather pieces for the exterior and sleeves

The finished watercolor kit. I bought the box for Php 75.00 from Muji, added .4mm polystyrene sheet used in plastic modeling. The watercolor tubes were about 15 yrs old used during my university days

After cutting the leather I realized that I lack the tools to properly do it. Not wanting to lose the enthusiasm since I'm very eager to start, I settled for a Midori style cover which I think is more practical at the moment.

Size comparison between the custom journal and a pocket-sized moleskine watercolour notebook.

That's it for now and hope to fill the pages everyday.