For the 5th year, I will head out across the country, this time trekking down the middle, from the mountains to the Mississippi, over the Oglalla and amber waves of grain, to sketch and share craft and discoveries with a whole mess of folks. To follow my journey, go to: doncolleysroadtrip.com.
 
The trek began with an 8 hour layover at the Twin Cities airport and  a late arrival in gorgeous Bozeman. From there I made it to the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. Go. Hallowed ground. The markers indicating where the combatants fell give and amazing sense of the raging and rambling nature of the battle. From there, Sheridan, Wyo, and a long bus ride to Fargo, where the biplane was drawn at the Fargo Air Museum. The West has to be experienced by bus by car and by train with frequent stops.
All drawings executed with various fountain pens, Lamy Accent, Graf Von Faber-Castell Classic Ebony, using Platinum Carbon ink, grease pencil, and a ide array of F-C Pitt Artist Brush Pens in several types of sketchbooks: Strathmore toned sketchbooks, Moleskine landscape formate watercolor sketchbook, Stillman & Birn Epsilon, Tomoe River Paper sketchbook, and a ledger book from the 1950’s.
 
 
Working in a Stillman & Birn Delta series spiral watercolor pad and combining fountain pens ( Graf von Faber-Castell Guilloche Chevron and Pelikan M215, both broad nibs) juiced with Platinum Carbon ink and Faber-Castell Aquarelle graphite pencils and Pitt Artist Pens.
Drawn in one of my preferred hanging spots with my dear friend, a red medium nib Visconti Rembrandt, which is currently missing. The black ink is Platinum Carbon. I spilled hot chocolate on the page and while the blue gel ink and Iroshizuku fp ink ran, the PC held it’s ground beautifully.
 
   
In addition to some of my favorites, I’ve been playing with a couple new inks lately. A Levenger Purple and Diamine Red that really looks like blood when it first hits the page. I procured a few new pens lately but the two I’m having the most fun with are a see-thru yellow Duo-Highlighter with a BB nib by Pelikan. Plus a second hand, and well used at that, Graf Von Faber-Castell ebony wood Classic that I bought a new B replacement nib for. Both pens are Champs. The Graf Von Faber-Castell is a serious investment but one that delivers the goods. A gorgeous pen that writes and feels like a no bullshit tool. It’s taken me a while to climb past a certain $$ barrier but having done so with the GvFC, a Pelikan M800, and a Sailor Naginata-Togi I can only say the way these pens deliver and how great they feel in my hand has evaporated all symptoms of sticker shock.
                            Now that I’ve raved about the battleships of my pen arsenal, I want to talk about the trusty and much worthy pen responsible for the Prussian Blue drawings immediately above. The drawing on the left and the 2 on the right were drawn in large measure with an $11.50 Pelikano Jr. A medium stainless steel nib with a cartridge that I keep refilling with the help of a syringe. The primary drawback to this pen is the plastic used for the cap. It does not stand up to much wear and tear before splitting or cracking. Barring that, the Pelikano Jr. is a swell pen for the money. Comfortable to use, it not only is a great starter fp for youngsters and first time uses of fountain pens, it is a cheap pen that writes wet, that you can use ant of the inks for fps without fretting that you’ll destroy the feed of a costly investment. The dark blue is Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron. The female nude drawing second from left was done with a broad gel pen. The line is bold and flows nice but has a very short life.