Moynahan Studio: fountain pen

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

Trying to add gesso to the Moleskine - the Byward Market, Ottawa

Loved making this sketch below while all of my ingredients were getting prepared to make my favourite Butternut Squash soup recipe

BEST Butternut Squash soup recipe!

My Moleskine flower sketch https://twitter.com/cindiforeman/status/728537342336733184

Spring blossoms https://twitter.com/cindiforeman/status/733616877688086528

My old red Kodiaks

My Messy Corner

Bike and Sketch

Bike-ready!

My New Ride

My first "Bike and Sketch" (Ottawa River)

My Hospital Sketches

The Groggy Patient

Having a Chai tea at the Riverside hospital

I hope you enjoyed this small sample of my Moleskine sketches from 2016. I am looking forward to starting my new Moleskine sketchbook today!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Fountain Pens and Inks

I am finally ready to start sketching with my Noodler's Ahab Flex Pen and it has been quite a journey and learning experience. I thought I would share some of what I have learned so far.

My Art Journal: My first sketch with my Noodler's Ahab Flex Pen

(Noodler's Lexington Gray ink and watercolour)

(Atomic Rooster September Calendar pasted into journal at bottom)

Fountain Pens

I have used a dip pen with india ink to sketch for many years but I was interested in purchasing a fountain pen that I could carry around for urban sketching.

I started researching pens and was surprised that the prices can range anywhere from $45 to $600+. I was also surprised that so few stores in Ottawa sell a wide selection of fountain pens and inks.

So I turned to urban sketcher's blogs and artist reviews to help me decide on a pen. I ended up choosing the Noodler's Ahab Flex Pen from Wonder Pens in Toronto, Ontario.

My new Ahab Flex Pen

I learned that the Ahab flex pen was introduced in late 2011 and is Noodler's largest and most popular fountain pen. I like the slide piston mechanism for refilling ink and the flexible steel #6 nib had good reviews (generally speaking).

The Ahab body is made of a celluloid derivative (and is therefore technically biodegradable) and lots of folks online complained about the strong odour it emits but this hasn't been a problem for me.

I should add that my favourite artist/sketcher/reviewer Teoh Yi Chie (aka Parka Blogs) didn't like the Ahab Flex pen that much. He gave it 3.5 stars out of 5. (You can read his review here: http://www.parkablogs.com/picture/review-noodlers-ahab-flex-nib-fountain-pen)

Goulet Pens created a great video about filling the Noodler's Ahab Flex Pen and converting it to an eye dropper (11 minutes) below. If you watch just the first few minutes you get a sense of how the pen works and the various components of the pen.

Pigmented Ink vs. Fountain Pen Ink

My dip pen and nibs

I ordered the pen without giving any thought to the ink. I had plenty of india ink for my dip pens in my art room and wasn't that the same thing?

Nope!

Rule #1: NEVER use pigmented ink in a fountain pen.

"The dip pen has certain advantages over a fountain pen. It can use waterproof, pigmented, particle-and-binder-based, inks, such as so-called "India ink", drawing ink, or acrylic inks, which would destroy a fountain pen by clogging it up, as well as the traditional iron gall ink, which can cause corrosion in fountain pens." (Source: Wikipedia)

Perhaps everyone else knew that pigmented inks could destroy a fountain pen but I sure didn't! I now needed to find fountain pen ink in Ottawa and that proved to be a futile task.

So I went back online to Wonder Pens in Toronto, Ontario. Wonder Pens offer many colours of Noodler's ink and they even offer 2 mL samples for only $1.25!

I now own:

Full bottle: Canadian Exclusive - Raven Black - inspired by Edgar Allen Poe.This is a bullet-proof and eternal black ink from Noodler's.
Full bottle: Canadian Exclusive - Blue Upon The Plains of Abraham - Named after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham - this was an instrumental battle in the Seven Years' War. This ink is a deep beautiful blue with strong shading.
Sample: Lexington Grey
Sample: Walnut
Sample: Burma Road Brown

I can't wait to start sketching with them

Wonder Pens - Noodler Inks

Note: I'm still new to the world of inks but I am smitten by the Lexinton Gray sample that I bought for $1.25! And one of my all-time favourite sketchers loves that ink too http://www.ninajohansson.se/2012/01/about-ink-and-a-thank-you/

There are a LOT of pen addicts/experts out there. These folks really know their pens and know their inks. Just google "Fountain pen" + "ink" and you will find blogs like http://www.pensncoffee.com/ where I found this great graphic (originally from www.penchalet.com)

What Is Bulletproof Ink?

Bulletproof is a Noodler's term to represent waterproof, bleach proof, lightfast and archival qualities. It's quite rare to find waterproof black ink that's also safe for use in fountain pens, so Noodler's quite unusual in that regard.