Hero 86 Calligraphy Pen

I bought this Chinese fountain pen manufactured by the Shanghai Hero Company. The body is shiny black plastic with highly polished chrome. It has a high-tech, quality look and feel.

The nib is gold-plated and is bent back at the tip, enabling variable line width. You hold it toward the vertical to get narrow lines and lower it to get wider lines. You can also hold it upside down to get very narrow lines.

It has a pump filler, so you can refill it from a bottle. I am using Noodler's, which is among the best.

The biggest surprise is the price - $10 from www.isellpens.com.

Crescent RendR No Show Thru Paper

 

I bought this 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 sketchbook that has a novel feature: inks and paints do not bleed through to the other side. I tested a Pitt Artist Pen Big Brush, some watercolor, water soluble graphite, and watercolor pencil, along with various pens and markers and some pencils.

 

The watercolors caused the paper to curve and buckle slightly. The ink from two of the fountain pens spread slightly, following the fibers in the paper. This effect would depend on the ink used in the fountain pen, and it did not occur for the other markers and fine liner pens. Lines made by the Micron pens and the Staedtler Calligraph Duo Marker (the one with markers on both ends) looked black and sharp-edged.

 

The paper seems OK for graphite and colored pencils but might not have enough tooth for layers of pastels (which I never use in a sketchbook).

 

Flipping the page over (see right side) I saw absolutely no bleeding through. The dark vertical mark near the center is from the buckling by the watercolors. This side of the paper can be used for a new sketch.

 

This is the sketchbook I want to use from now on. The rest of my multitudinous collection will be put aside, even the Moleskines.

 

I also bought a Rendr sketchbook in the 8-1/2 x 11 size.

 

 

New Stuff in February 2013

Recently completed.

Some of my art works will be exhibited through February 2013 in the Juice & Java Restaurant Cafe (www.juiceandjavacafe.com), which is located in the Windsor Park Shopping Center, 5258 Simpson Ferry Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.

I have a new online art gallery at Carbonmade. My old gallery using Painter Magazine's free website, has not been working well since the magazine ceased publication.

I am Artist of the Month at the Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, PA.  Eleven of my works will be on display through the month of December.

African model in a sarong.

New Works

My works will be on display at the Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, Pa. during the month of December 2011. Stop by and see them.

This picture won third place in the Lancaster County Art Association 2011 Spring Membership Show.

Dancing Elf

Here is my latest picture, titled "Dancing Elf."

New Favorites

I have changed my list of links to favorite websites. Echo Chernik has brought back art nouveau with her beautiful images. Amy Martino has interesting, almost abstract figures. Patrick Nagel did pictures inspired by art deco for Playboy magazine in the 1980's and unfortunately died too young. Hiroshi Tanabe is winning awards for his simple, but attractive pictures. Sophie Leblanc caught my attention because her art is very similar to what I was aspiring to: nice line drawings with good composition and attractive colors. Her style is cute and goofy.

I won Honorable Mention for this in a show by the Lancaster County Art Association