inspiration monday

i recently received some new art journals from stillman & birn (thank you michael!).  what's fun about this line of sketchbooks is you can tailor them to the way you create.....there's lots of different sizes, wire-bound and hardbound, and many different types of paper to choose from!  since i'm always on the hunt for a journal that's filled with smooth paper for lettering, but can also take some water, i chose hardbound journals in the alpha and zeta series.....and then i started to play!

 i was curious to see if the paper in the alpha series would hold up to their claim of taking light washes, so i got out my watercolors to test it out.  i was pretty generous with the koi watercolors and the paper buckled a little (but surprisingly not much!), but it dried beautifully to almost flat again.  i used less water with my watercolor pencils, and there was no buckling at all.  so i would definitely give it a "thumbs-up-like" when it comes to light washes!

then i dedicated a page to testing out markers, drawing pens, and pan pastel.....there was no feathering out, no annoying bleeding around the edges of my lines, and no bleed-thru onto the other side of the paper.  i tested microns, pitt pens, koi coloring brush pens, and pan pastel.  two-thumbs-up on this one!

but what i was most curious about was the paper in the zeta series journal.....it's heavy weight, almost like bristol board, and it's so smooth it reminds me of fresh ice at the skating rink right after the zamboni machine has resurfaced it!   this is the type of thing that makes my lettering-artist-heart so joyful that i feel like i'm floating up in the clouds.....

so i took some advice from someone who found joy floating in the clouds, too.....

and i was inspired to create a journal page using only three supplies:
pitt pens, pan pastel, and a 6B graphite pencil.
{for me, this paper is definitely a two-thumbs-up, plus more!}

p.s.  and somehow i made a huge mess in the process!  i think that's how you always know inspiration is hard at work......when you have everything you own out on your worktable!  :))

{supplies:  stillman & birn sketchbooks in alpha and zeta series, koi watercolor, pitt pens, micron pens, koi coloring brush markers, pan pastel, derwent watercolor pencils, 6B graphite pencil}




♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 thank you SO much for the sweet, sweet comments you left for my online class giveaway!!  you are the best-in-blogland, and i'm sending each one of you a huge, chocolate-filled cyberhug!!  xox

the recipient of the online class is gloria vivas!   many thanks from here-to-the-moon-and-back to everyone for participating and making our creative workshops giveaway-hop a huge success!!