What’s In My Journal Kit? Part 1

Pitt Artist Pens . . .
When I told you about my end-all journaling kit earlier this month, I promised to share some of what I feel is essential in it – can’t leave home without it supplies.

The first section of my Global Arts portfolio holds the essentials. I unzip this section to work in my journal, and go to the back section for extras. That saves hunting around for what I really need.

Located in the place of honor, directly beside the current Moleskine Sketchbook are my very essential Pitt Artist Pens.

To start with, I need a permanent ink pen that absolutely will not smear when I use the water brush over it, but I also need a pen that will not bleed through the page because I use both sides of all pages.

Original Sharpies and other permanent pens are dye based and do bleed through and sometimes even smear when wet. Pitt Artist Pens are pigment based ink, which is thicker and does not bleed through even thinner pages than the sketch book. I also have never experienced smearing. I would say they are water-proof.

Sharpie now makes pigment-based pens, but I have found that they do tend to smear when painted over. More about that later.

Pitt Artist Pens comes in a good selection of point sizes, from a Brush Tip to Extra Small.

I carry these four in my kit: Brush, Medium, Fine, and Small . . .

but my major workhorse is the Fine Tip, and I keep the Medium in front also for emphasis in sketches.
The Fine Point makes an excellent writing instrument as well as being great for sketching, (see the sample page below left) so if I could only carry one, this would be it.

My journaling students will be familiar with my favorite use for the Brush Tip – dividing my pages into grids of one type or another to organize my thoughts (see the right page above). You can frame anything with a thick/thin wiggly line made with the Brush Tip and give your grids some style.

I carry both other tips in my extras section of the kit. The Small tip is great for small detail lines or for sketching, and the Medium tip is good for emphasis in writing or sketching.

The Pitt Pens are on my best journaling tools list for these reasons, but perhaps what really throws me over the top on them is the fact that they transfer completely and perfectly of Sheer Heaven. This means that I can trace any drawing in my journal (or anywhere) and instantly move a copy to any other page. I got so excited about this, I made YouTube video some time back . . .

http://youtu.be/Pj1VC9mL5QQ
If you haven’t seen this, it will open up a lot of possibilities for all your art projects!

Exciting News! Art School 101 for the Sketchbook and Journal is now available anytime!
Summer is a great time for drawing! It’s so pleasant to be outside (in most places), and there are so many pretty flowers etc.

I get more email requests for this workshop than any other except Love This Journal, and scheduling all these workshops for everyone’s schedule just doesn’t work. So, now you can take the workshop and complete it on *your* schedule! And the Cre8tive Drawing Workbook, a perfect companion to this workshop is available at half off if purchased at the same time.

Get the complete description by clicking the workshop in the sidebar, or at this link:

http://www.dotcalmvillage.net/onlineworkshops/artschool101.html
Get out those pencils and draw!