Moynahan Studio: Starting A New Moleskine

Friday, November 11, 2016

Starting A New Moleskine

My daughter loves Moleskine journals. She is a writer (and artist) and has been buying this brand of journal for as long as I can remember. I had never owned one!?

A page from my last Moleskine sketchbook ( a gift from my daughter) and the new one

My daughter bought me a small purse-sized watercolour sketchbook (Christmas 2014) and last Christmas (2015) she bought me my first large Moleskine sketchbook.

It was perfect-sized (5" x 8 ¼") for my small sketch bag and I used it to experiment and play with my new Noodlers inks and fountain pens (Noodlers and Lamy) and to focus on creating more black and white sketches.

I used the sketchbook to sketch out in the field and at home. I used pencil, ink, watercolour and gouache and it handled all of them surprisingly well.

This Moleskine features:

104 pages
111 lb. acid-free paper
an expandable inner pocket

I thought I would scan and share some of my favourite pages here.

B&W coffee shop sketch and W/C photo sketch

Both of these double-page scans (above and below) show sketches done:

in the field (sitting in a coffee shop and waiting in my car at the Riverside hospital)
from a photo at home (a photo texted to me of me walking my dog Lexie and a photo I took of a window washer from my car)

B&W Riverside hospital and W/C pencil sketch of window washer

I didn't scan all of the pages in my Moleskine sketchbook but picked some of my favourites and sorted them into four categories

"Black and White" (B&W)
"Watercolour" (W/C) and or "Gouache"
"Bike and Sketch"
"Hospital" sketches. (I spent a LOT of time in hospitals in 2016)

Black and White Sketches

I tweeted the sketch below (https://twitter.com/cindiforeman/status/732691886952054784) of a lecture that I attended at the Library and Archives Canada with Guy Berthiaume and Jacques Godbout done with Noodlers Lexington Gray ink.

Guy Berthiame and Jacques Godbout sketch at LAC

I did the sketch below while I was waiting at the Ottawa VIA rail station and this sketch demonstrates one of the things I like most about my Moleskine - it's size is quite inconspicuous and perfect for sketching people in public!

Waiting for my train at the Ottawa VIA rail station

I loved doing the sketch below from a photo taken by Ottawa historian/photographer Christopher Ryan of the Ottawa snow storm. I used the Lexington Gray Noodlers ink and a white gel pen.

Ottawa Snow Storm Feb 17, 2015

The sketch below was done from a photo of my daughter and our yellow Labrador retriever when she was a puppy

"Puppy Love"

The page on the left below was done from a photo that I took of the never-ending construction in my neighbourhood. (https://twitter.com/cindiforeman/status/728537342336733184) The sketch on the right was done while waiting in the Passport office - a wait that was MUCH shorter than I thought it would be. (Sketchbooks are great for places where you think you will be waiting a LONG time!)

Construction in my neighbourhood and the Passport office.

Double page scan of more B&W sketches

Colour Sketches

I love sketching "Pets In Windows" and, in this case, on balconies. These cannot really be done in person because standing outside someone's window with a pencil and sketchbook would be super creepy. So they are all done from photographs. https://twitter.com/cindiforeman/status/742763991961763840

Pets on Balconies

The sketch below was done from photograph that I took at the Byward market. I had "gessoed" the page to take gouache and it really got quite sloppy and awful at one point but I persevered and I'm happy with the result. https://twitter.com/cindiforeman/status/736507779754627072