Dreary weather at end of April. Stuck indoors because of the pandemic and cold wet day, so, making the most of it by sagging a sketch from the window by my drawing table. Giving y’all a glimpse of the building across the street from me. Not delighted by the final results and had already grown tiered of drawing it as it was being erected.
At this point I need to make a full disclosure as I am now receiving funding as an “influencer”. My sponsors are Faber-Castell which should not come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed me for any of the past 12 years and knows that I like their product and have worked as a demonstrator on their behalf. For a number of those years I traveled the country demonstrating tools and techniques in the brick and mortar world of art stores as well as at trade shows. I’ve also made my way to teach and lecture at colleges and schools around the country, an experience I greatly enjoyed. All during my travel to these venues I documented my treks here and there and there on the Internet on this site and on the internet as Don Colley’s Road Trip. Faber-Castell was the entity that made all that possible and now I am very appreciative for their sponsorship of my online blogs.
In addition to Faber-Castell, I’m most delighted to be working with Clairefontaine and Stillman & Birn (now owned by the parent company Clairefontaine). I wholly support both lines of paper and sketchbooks by these companies and have made considerable use of their products as you may have noticed in my posts over the years.
There are loads of wonderful products in the marketplace to work with and I’m a big advocate for experimentation and trying them out. When I find pens or sketchbooks I enjoy, I keep going to the well more so these days.
As always, this format is suited to me answering your questions and I do encourage followers to strike up a dialogue regarding the craft of drawing, the tools of the trade, or the themes I may be working around.
The above drawing was made with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, an F-C Basic Black Leather fountain pen using a waterproof ink, I’m currently using several as long as they hold up to over washes and don’t clog my pens. Mind you, regular cleaning is necessary for any fountain pen ink that claims it is waterproof. The sketchbook is a Goldline Watercolor Sketchbook by Clairefontaine.
#fabercastellusa #clairefontaine
Hey,
Just a congratulations to be sponsored by Faber-Castell. I’ve been a fan of your work since we met briefly in Springfield, MA. This whole social distancing must put a real damper on your work since a lot of your drawings are done when you’re out and about. Well stay safe and keep up the great work.
Brandon
Thank you Brandon. Yes, I’ve had a disruption to part of what I do and am working on illustrations for the time being as I haven’t wanted to draw “from life” over a zoom application. All the best.
Congrats on the new Clairefontaine sponsorship. I was one of the testers that Roz Stendahl asked review the Clarefontaine Goldline Watercolor Sketchbook. I loved the paper but was very disappointed that the binding fell apart very badly. The first two signatures completely separated from the spine!! If the binding issues get fixed I would definitely use the Goldline books. Hope you can influence the manufacturer?
Faber Castell is my all round favourite manufacturer of art supplies!!!
Love your work!!
Paul
Hey Paul, I read those reviews, most were not very favorable. I also enjoy working on the paper and I haven’t had the experience with the binding you had, yet, and I tend to work books fairly vigorously. I’ve certainly experienced that with some brands, more so when the page count is higher which would mean more opening and closing, more handling. I travel with them, might spend lots of hours in them and let others handle them. Durability is something we should expect from sketchbooks, especially those now targeting the plein air and urban sketching crowd. To imagine that I would influence a producer…..well, can’t say as I’ve had much of a record there. Thanks for following my work and the feedback.
Glad to hear you are doing well with Faber-Castell and Clairefountaine. I very much enjoyed your visit to Opus Art Supplies at Granville Island in April 2016.
I have a Lamy Safari Fountain pen, and have used Noodlers Bullet Proof Black Ink for about 4 years now, and have never had a problem with my pen clogging up at all.
Cheers
Terry
Hey Terry, Opus Art was a great venue. You have great art stores in a fantastic city. Hope y’all are managing the crazy times. Be safe and keep plugging away with your art.