Idle Minutes

This is a sketch of my wife alongside the ruler of our home.

Now I’m starting to get the hang of the Moleskine Watercolor Notebook paper.  It simply soaks the water in quickly, and as a result, the pigment is “stuck” on the surface almost immediately.  Heavy washes of mixed colors sometimes separate a bit.

Knowing that now, I’ve layered lighter washes so the grainy effect is eliminated.  All that’s present now is the grain of the paper and its contribution to the style of the image/artist’s touch.  That’s a desirable attribute for a watercolor paper.  So three cheers for the Moleskine Watercolor Notebook!  Once one becomes used to its characteristics, its great.

As for buckling, the paper does “bend” as it becomes saturated, but it never really “buckles” or “puckers” like a thin bond paper would.  And once it’s dry, it pretty well flattens out; certainly flat enough for framing as long as there is sufficient backing to press against the painting.

Speaking of framing, each leaf is perforated so you can remove a sketch easily for framing etc.

As for bleed through….there isn’t any.  Test one and test two were done on each side of the same leaf.  I did let number one dry first though.

So, I think this is a great addition to the Moleskine line.  Now if they would just produce them in a cahiers version.  They would be ideal for chronicling a vacation or specific subjects, etc. as individual little volumes.  All the cahiers sizes would make great little solutions for that type of use.

Sometimes a sketchbook with lots of pages becomes a scattering of subjects with no particular identity, other than the year it was produced perhaps.  Thinner sketchbooks make it easy to keep similar subjects and sketches under the same cover and finish each volume fairly quickly.  Then, If you want to have a look at your Zion National Park sketches, you’ve got a little volume with only those in it.  Plus, one can complete a thin sketchbook faster.  For me at least, completing a sketchbook is a good feeling.  So the thinner the sketchbook, the more good feelings I get.

Who knows if they’ll ever do that though (make watercolor cahiers)?  So for now, seize the day and get yourself a Moleskine Watercolor Notebook.  They’re cool!