Derwent offers a free Inktense water-soluble ink block sample. It’s just one block, and they don’t specify the color. This could be something like Prismacolor art stix, only water-soluble. Or maybe not. I applied anyway out of love for their excellent pencils.

One entry per person. Closing date for applications is August 31, 2011.

I think my search for perfect travel-friendly fiber-tip pen is over. It’s been over a year since I started to look for something that could replace my trusted Rapidograph.

The dream pen that draws in pitch black is Staedtler Lumocolor permanent universal pen. The funny part is that I found it while cleaning art supplies bough at the last super sale at University Art. Somehow I never gave it a try after purchasing.

The ink is so opaque that areas of flat black look completely even, no cross-hatch effect, no distinguishable pen strokes. I am very happy.

Aaron Brothers is having $0.01 sale on frames. For every frame you buy for the full price you get another one for $0.01. The deal is the same on canvases (for you painting people).

Surprisingly, I didn’t receive an email about the sale, and I am on their mailing list; would miss it if a friend didn’t tell me yesterday. Got myself several black wooden Signature frames. I know what to do with two of them; the rest will stay in the closet for now.

What is even more surprising is that I found double mats for my cream watercolor paper there. No sale on the mats, but the price still beats the cost of custom matting or ordering just 2 mats online at Redimat.

Bobbie Dixon was today’s demonstrator at Campbell Artists’ Guild. It was a chamber sort of a demo – with a table easel, and everybody sitting close to it to see what Bobby was doing. She showed how to transfer a small photo to a masonite (I think) of a bigger size first. Since the same can be done with a small sketch and a bigger final image, I paid attention. My usual method of enlarging by laying a grid over the sketch and another grid over the bigger tracing paper regularly leads to a situation where I loose focus going from one square to another and draw a wrong part in a wrong place.

Bobby seems to have a solution for that: she folds the photo into halves twice horizontally, then twice vertically, then folds it again so that you only see one square at a time. I am going to try it with the next drawing. If you see only one square, there is less chance to get distracted from what is in front of you, right?

The painting turn out great – raw, unfinished, still breathing, yet with all main components already in place. And Bobby graciously raffled it for CAG members.