Robert Oster – Page 11 – SusieG Studio

My Ink…Finally Arrived

Note: This had nothing to do with shipping issues, other than my bottle of ink made a pit stop in Houston on Christmas eve before arriving to its final destination. I’ve been waiting for this ink since the middle of September.

What say you? I did a pre-order for this ink. I knew just by looking at the color that this ink would be special. I waited. Patiently. Saw other online shops were slowly getting their inventory. There were a few times I was going to jump ship and go with another online store, but I was getting a really good price for this ink. So, I waited some more. My online shop of choice was more than likely going to be the last one to get theirs. They did. Right before Christmas. They immediately shipped my bottle which probably ended up in one of those USPS pictures you saw where boxes were piled so high at the sorting facility. Hahaha!

Introducing Jacques Herbin’s latest addition: Vert Atlantide. This ink was worth the wait!

You can see in the picture that my Conklin Abalone was going to be a perfect match for this Jacques Herbin Vert Atlantide. Not my chrome trim version, but my rose gold version.

Now, I have prior experience with using Jacques Herbin shimmering inks. Personally, it’s the best shimmering ink to use in a non-vintage fountain pen. Jacques Herbin shimmering inks are wet inks. They have less shimmering particles in their inks versus Diamine or Robert Oster. It would appear that the pens would be easier to clean. It is, but you still may have some shimmering residuals to deal with. Still, it won’t be loads of particles that you would see from the other two brands I just mentioned. Okay. Onto more pictures….

I actually made a mistake in my sketch of the bottle. There’s a lighter green shade at the bottom of the bottle that’s not the Vert Atlantide ink. I accidentally picked up the wrong pen which had Monteverde Olivine and used it for the shadows. Ooooops! Still, looks pretty cool!

Note: Make sure you read my caption in the picture. Ooooops! That’s what happens when I have too many pens on my desk and reach for the wrong one while I’m sketching.

This Vert Atlantide shimmering ink is…beautiful! I love a good green color. Not too dark and not too light or bright. This one lands right in the middle. I was going through my other color swatches and the closest color that I have (non-shimmering) is Robert Oster Sydney Darling Harbour. So, if you are looking for a shimmering version of Sydney Darling Harbour…Vert Atlantide is a great choice.

I think Robert Oster has the closest match. You can also see how dry the Graf von Faber-Castell ink is in comparison to the other two. That’s what I typically find with Faber-Castell…they are dry inks.

I gave my bottle a good shake and checked the bottom of the bottle to make sure no shimmers were stuck. After a good shaking (of any bottle), l always do my ink swatches. That gives the ink time to mix, settle, and bubbles to disappear. After the swatching, I can give the ink bottle a gentle shake and fill my pen.

When I was filling my Abalone pen, I made sure I dipped my pen all the way into the shimmers. I wanted to see everything this ink had to offer!

You can see how much shimmer is on my swatch card, including my writing. There’s silver and gold shimmers!

You can see how wet this ink is on my swatch card. Hardly any streaks towards the bottom. Oh the shimmers! Not too much to distract from the color. Beautiful intense ink color. Easy on the eyes to read. Oh and did I mention the subtle shimmers of silver and gold?

Remember to ignore the light green at the bottom 1/3 of the bottle. Wrong color. My boo-boo.

This “350” ink is an anniversary ink celebrating the launch of the Jacques Herbin brand in 1670 (Paris). It’s a limited edition ink. I’m not sure what that means, but there are still plenty of bottles available online.

Jacques Herbin did a great job with this color and the blend of different shimmers. This might be my favorite shimmer for 2020. That says a lot about this ink.

A Pen & Ink Sketch on Christmas Day

A Christmas day stocking. When the sketching mood hits, I have to grab my pens and just draw something.

So, this sketch is a much more subdued pen and ink drawing. More thought was put into it. Placement of object(s) on my paper, angle of the stocking, shading, etc. Still trying to avoid getting into the details. Sketch loosely. Leaving enough white on the paper. That’s a hard one for me. The white areas you see in the stocking have no ink and no water in that area. That’s where my happy surprises come about. While I would love to see soft edges, hard edges are just as nice. Plus when the ink and water dries, the sketch looks different.

That poinsettia sketch in the previous post was pretty wild. I enjoyed the spontaneous process of not thinking about it too much when I had my inky nibs on the paper. Then I had to figure out when to stop. Because I was having too much fun. Playing with all the beautiful colors. Like the bold reds!

Robert Oster Signature inks used: Red Candy, No Fixed Address (shimmer), Thunderstorm, Silent Nite, Eucalyptus Leaf, Peppermint, and Heart of Gold (shimmer).

Fountain Pens: TWSBI GOs Stub 1.1

Water brush: Pentel

Journal: Stillman & Birn Zeta

Tips:

Sketch loosely. Don’t get lost in the details. Objects closer to me will show more details. Objects further away will have less and can be blurred.

Work in layers and let each layer dry before adding more color or more water.

Perfection doesn’t exist in my art vocabulary. Practice sketching daily. Quick sketches. Sketch shapes and shadows. Things around the desk, the kitchen, food, cups, tools, etc.

Keep a pad of paper or a journal on the desk/creative place for quick doodles. (Oh…this sounds like a great idea for a future post).

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

My quick sketch using fountain pens and inks. Journal: Stillman & Birn Zeta

Good Morning! I’m listening to an upbeat Christmas music channel as I’m typing up this post. So, if you can picture this. I’m be-bopping along in my chair as I type. Hahaha!

Okay. Back to our regularly scheduled program….

That’s my poinsettia sketch I managed to get done yesterday. I did a quick outline sketch using my Platinum Preppy 02 EF filled with Platinum Carbon ink. I used my TWSBI GOs and went over a few lines of the leaves using my favorite Robert Oster Signature inks: Red Candy, No Fixed Address (can see the subtle blue shimmers), Peppermint, Eucalyptus Leaf, and Heart of Gold (gold shimmers of course). I did add a bit Diamine Golden Ivy to outline the green leaves with a bit of golden shimmers.

My tools used for my poinsettia sketch (top to bottom): Platinum Prefounte, TWSBI GOs, Platinum Preppy, and Pentel water brush

So, when do I apply my water wash? Before, during, or after I apply all the ink? It’s during. I work my sketch by applying ink in sections of my artwork. For example, I apply the two red colors to three petals located in the same area. They I take my Pental water brush and give the area a quick swipe of water. Just one swipe to get the water to blend with paper and ink. I go and work on another area and do the same. It’s important to let each area dry.

I’ve been working on creating “loose” artwork. It’s hard as I want to draw the details and I have to tell myself. Stop it. Just wing it. Just create it. Just do it. Yes, I’m still be-bopping along! Hahaha!

Enjoy your Christmas and Holiday!

Leonardo Momento Zero

My first Italian pen was a Visconti Rembrandt in a purple color. I ordered an extra fine nib and stumbled upon a unique nib that came with that pen. The etched writing on my nib said Calligraphy. The extra fine nib had a crisp edge and I enjoyed the writing style I was able to produce on paper. The nib made my handwriting look a bit artsy. Visconti opened my eyes and enabled me to consider other Italian brands.

I saw a pen color called Blue Hawaii. It kept popping up on my radar. I first saw one at the local pen show I attended. I knew it would be a future purchase. On my wish list.

I finally purchased my first Leonardo around the same time I purchased my first bottle of Robert Oster ink. I paired my Blue Hawaii with Rhodium (exclusive pen) trim and extra fine nib with the beautiful Frankly Blue ink and that was the start of a lovely pen and ink relationship. A few weeks later, I found a great deal with the Dark Horn color with a stub 1.5 nib and paired it with Thunderstorm. That was the largest stub nib I had in my pen collection (still is) and I was floored at how bold this pen wrote. It took me awhile to get used to this interesting nib and figure out the best writing style.

Another few weeks passed and I saw a new version of Blue Hawaii in Matte Black with Ruthenium trim (another exclusive pen) and nabbed an extra fine nib. I filled that pen with Fire and Ice. My fourth Leonardo in Pietra Marina showed up with a fine nib. That pen was filled with Australian Syrah. Yes. A pattern to my rabbit-hole madness.

From bottom left to right: Pietra Marina, Dark Horn, Blue Hawaii Matte Black with Ruthenium trim, and Blue Hawaii with Rhodium trim.

Overall, the nibs are smooth. The extra fine nibs are smooth with some feedback. It’s an enjoyable extra fine writing experience. More so than a few of my other extra fine nib pens (like my TWSBIs). The fine nib is also smooth, but with a hint of feedback. A pleasurable writing experience. Of course my juicy stub 1.5 is just smooth and a wet writer.

There’s a little screw cap at the end of the body that can twist completely off. This gives you access to the top of the converter. This is an alternative way to fill the pen/converter with ink instead of unscrewing the whole body to get to the converter. Just remember to put the screw cap back on as you don’t want to lose it.

The extra fine nibs are lovely to write with and show off the ink’s characteristics beautifully.

The Momento Zero is a fairly light pen. The shape is beautiful and the pens are well made. They have a nice resin section and I hardly notice the threads. The pen is comfortable and well balanced in my hand whether I post the pen or not.

It feels like a girthy pen, but it really isn’t especially when you compare it to it’s relative, the Grande version.

Mostly matching my inks with my pens. I tried to avoid using one single ink manufacturer. Also thinking of using these pens for some Holiday sketching.

I think we need one more picture of my pens close up.

Unique pens with a wonderful writing experience. Easily one of my EDCs.

I will do a few more writing samples and post more pictures here in the next day or so. Stay tuned!

Silent Nite from Robert Oster

I received a new Robert Oster ink last week. It’s a pretty blue gray ink from his 2020 Holiday Ink Collection. I created a swatch card and was on the fence with this color. Some other new ink colors arrived from other brands and happened to be light colored inks. I think that swayed my decision to immediately match this ink with one of my pens. So the bottle and swatch card sat on my desk. Waiting for me to do something.

The other light colored inks I received are made by Ink Institute. I will probably set those inks aside until Spring. That’s how light the colors are. Those swatch cards are still sitting on my desk.

I was going through my pen cases and came across my favorite Visconti Mirage in Horn color. A light bulb immediately went off in my head. I grabbed my bottle of Silent Nite and filled my pen.

My quick sketch and writing sample of this gorgeous ink color.

The minute I wrote an entry in my ink log journal, I fell in love with this gorgeous Silent Nite color. This ink is a blue gray color with some lovely shading. You can see the subtle shading even with my Fine nib writing sample above.

This is a slightly dry ink and dries quickly. You can see from my sketch there is hardly any blue gray wash after I swiped my artwork with a water brush.

It looks like a muted gray color, but I love that I can read my handwriting. Some muted colors are hard to see on white paper. Not this one.

How Do I Swatch My Fountain Pen Ink Colors?

Believe it or not, I started creating my ink swatches six months after I started down my fountain pen rabbit hole. The few bottles I started with grew into a dozen bottles and well you know the rest.

I saw that my fellow fountain pen-folk were using rectangle cards on a ring for their swatches. A quick search produced: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book.

Here are the basic tools I use to create my swatch samples. The Col-o-Ring book contains 100 cards.

I use regular Q-tips to dip into the ink and swipe across the card. My Col-o-ring swatch cards held together with a binder ring. My glass dip pen I use to write information on my cards.

I will typically set aside a block of time to sit and swatch my colors. Usually, that means I have a handful of sample vials or a few bottles of ink that are waiting in a queue. Remember. I have a small work area and tools (ink towel, shop towels, etc) have to be collected and placed on my desk. Think of a quick setup and quick tear down. Hahaha!

On my desk, I alway have two Oui yogurt jars filled with water. Plus a jam jar for dipping dirty pens. One of the two Oui jars is filled with clean water.

I use a small crystal candle holder to hold my sample vial of ink to keep it from toppling over. I actually found a few at Hobby Lobby when they were having their 50% off candle sale.

My crystal candle holder containing a sample vial of ink. My two glass dip pens. The blue-purple pen is my latest addition. This has a slender grip that will fit all the way into the sample vial.

Basically, I start by taking my glass dip pen and dipping the nib into the ink. Just enough to cover up to the first swirl of the nib or about 1/2″ from the tip. I will write the ink brand (Diamine, Monteverde, Colorverse, etc) and the name of the ink. I’ve gotten into the habit of doing figure eights and cross hatches followed by quick scribbles with the ink. After I’ve completed the writing, I will wipe off the ink on the nib. A few dips into a jar of water will remove the remaining ink. I wipe the glass nib and get the towel into the groves/swirls to remove the water.

Next, I will take a Q-tip and dip the fuzzy part twice into the ink and then again for the third time. This will allow the ink to saturate the fuzzy part of the Q-tip. Now, I’m ready to swab my card. I swab the card using the side of my Q-tip, going left to right and move the Q-tip further down the card, left to right, until I get to the bottom edge. It’s better to do this swabbing quickly before the ink starts to dry out on the Q-tip.

Once each card is completed, I always place the cap back onto the bottle. One time I was distracted and I almost toppled a bottle of ink over. Yes. I forgot to replace the cap on the bottle when I was finished.

Here’s an example of my swatch cards. You can see my newer swatches now have the dabbled ink on the top half.

You’ll see some dots on my cards. I drop bits of water while the card is still damp and let it dry. This gives me an idea of what the base or underlying color might be. Also if it’s a sheening ink, what color will show up on the card.

In the following picture, I want to point out several things. You can see the Q-tip I used and how far I dip the tip into the ink. My blue shop towels I use to clean my pens. I find the blue shop towels to be very durable and produces no lint. From the swatch cards you can start see some lighter base colors and rings of dark color around the water drops. The colorful towel underneath used to be a white wash cloth.

My completed swatch cards waiting to dry

With certain inks, the initial or top part of the swatch will be very saturated with color and take longer to dry. Towards the bottom the color will get slightly lighter.

Here’s a few samples I did recently:

Swatches from sample vials of Colorverse inks. Note the beautiful undertones/base colors and the dark rings around the water drops.

Here’s the backside of the Colorverse swatches. I note the basic color and if the ink has any sheen or shading properties.

Here’s a sample of new Robert Oster inks.

The backside of the Robert Oster swatches. The two top cards are shimmering inks and I’ve noted what color the shimmer leans towards.

I currently have three Col-0-Rings in use. One is used for sample inks from the sample vials. Another is used for Robert Oster inks (because I have so many). The last one is used for other bottles of ink brands (Diamine, JHerbin, Blackstone, Ferris Wheel Press, Taccia, Sailor, Monteverde, etc). As you can imagine that one is getting full with the included 1-1/2″ binder ring. I may end splitting into a 4th ring. Still deciding.

Tips:

The glass dip pen I use has several swirls above the nib versus straight lines. I found having the swirls allows for more ink to settle into the grooves. I can write longer and dip my pen less often.

A brand new glass dip pen may feel scratchy at first. Take a sheet of paper and practice writing with the new glass pen. Dip the nib into some ink and just write a few quotes, to do lists, favorite musicians, etc. This will help you develop a “feel” for the glass pen and how it writes. Also, the glass tip/nib will smooth out the more you write with it.

For sample vials that have less than 2ml of ink, I have a slender glass dip pen that I can place all the way into the vial. The one that I have shown in the above pictures, the wide grip area is too wide for the vials. At most, I can dip the pen and barely reach the 2ml mark on sample vial.

I use both ends of my Q-tip for swatching. That would mean I get ink on my fingers from the previous ink color. No worries.

Can swap out the binder rings for different size rings. In my case, the binder ring started to get loose from all the color sorting I was doing. Eventually, the ring would not lock tight. I purchased extra rings at my local office supply store. The extra rings, allow me to also create several different books.

A Rose Gold Day

Here’s a quick post of a new pen and ink I received today. I saw someone post about a Platinum rose gold pen. It’s a new series in their Procyon line called Luster. Here’s my rose gold pen:

This rose gold Procyon is a stunning and elegant looking pen. Another EDC for sure.

I have a few Procyon pens from Platinum’s 100th anniversary collection in various colors with Fine nibs. The pens are not too light and weigh around 23 grams. I actually enjoy posting the pens and they feel well balanced in my hand.

I decided to go with a Medium nib on this beautiful rose gold version. I found out the sections on my other Procyons are swappable. So I can swap around between Fine and Medium when the mood hits me. Too bad they don’t offer additional nib sizes like Extra Fine or Broad.

Like their other models, the Procyon also has the “slip ‘n seal” cap which prevents the ink from drying out on the nib and feed. It really works. I had a Procyon inked for a year and forgot about it for several months. One day I picked it up and it wrote as soon as I put the nib down onto my paper. No hesitation.

The Procyons are well made and durable. The nibs are smooth and I do enjoy the writing experience. Who doesn’t love a rose gold pen?!

My Fountain Pen Inks

Last year (April 2019) when I began my fountain pen adventure, I bought my first one from JetPens. It was a Pilot Metropolitan Gray Houndstooth with a Medium Italic nib. I had no idea what a converter was and so just used cartridges that came with the pen. I also purchased a Pilot Plumix set that came with different colored cartridges. I was happy and thought that’s all I need. Then I saw the tiny and cute Kaweco pens. Back to JetPens and a shopping cart that included the Kaweco AL Sport in Stonewashed Blue. Oh yeah. I needed ink cartridges to work with that pen. Into my cart went the box of Diamine mixed ink set of 18 cartridges. Oh the beautiful colors that were in my first box!

That’s how it started for me. I eventually learned about bottles of inks. The only way to use the bottles was with a converter. So I made sure the pens I purchased included a converter. Yes, I had to purchase one of those Pilot CON-40 converter for my Pilot Metro pen. I did not enjoy using the metal & rubber squeeze converter that was included.

My first purchased bottle of ink was Diamine Ancient Copper from Goulet Pen Company. The next bottles were “document inks” from De Atramentis in brown, dark blue, grey followed by red and then turquoise. Think artwork and watercolor washes over my sketches. I dabbled with Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo and loved how they packaged their ink. I added a few other Iroshizuku colors (Kon Peki, Shin Kai, Tsuki Yo, Syo Ro, Ku Jaku, Ama Iro, Asa Gao, etc) to my small ink bottle stash. A few more Diamine inks were added (Rustic Brown, Aurora Borealis, Syrah, Purple Dream, Imperial Purple, Earl Gray, Asa Blue, etc).

I went to my first local fountain pen show and sat for a few hours at an “ink table” where there were bottles of inks everywhere. In different shapes. Different sizes. I brought my disc journal with me and borrowed a dip pen. It was crazy and so new to me. I started to grab bottles of inks and then confusion set in immediately. Being the methodical person I am, I scanned the table to see what brands I was dealing with. In front of my chair sat Graf von Faber-Castell bottles. I lined them up and started to write and swab on my paper. Next was Monteverde. Then I had to move. To the next available chair. That’s when I met Robert Oster Signature inks. Oh my! Next came Noodler’s Ink, JHerbin, Private Reserve, and Sailor inks.

Next thing I knew I was ordering the Robert Oster ink samples from Goulet and various other online shops. I was hooked.

Here’s my current collection on swatch cards. Oooops! I’m missing about 1/2 dozen ink colors that I recently acquired. (Will be back to update this post with additional pictures). Until then:

Robert Oster gets his own card ring as I have a lot of his ink colors

This container holds the 15 ink colors I will be using for the current month and possibly the next month

This container holds 9 bottles of my favorite ink colors. This will change depending on the season.

Here’s a side profile of my plastic holder. It’s suppose to be a lipstick holder with 1-1/4″ slots that hold my bottles of inks. This one holds 15 bottles.

Yes. I’ve made an investment in his inks. Initially, I used his inks for artwork. I started out with many of his blues and teals. He is well known for his blue inks. When I started to use his inks on Tomoe River Paper and in my Stalogy journals that was when I noticed the shading/sheening properties of his ink.

I haven’t had any issues with his inks. His inks are easy to clean out of my pens. On average his inks flow extremely well. Some wetter than others.

I’m also experimenting with other brands of ink. The last two months I’ve been enjoying Taccia, Sailor, Colorverse, Blackstone, Rohrer & Klingner, and a few others.

Here are ink swatches that were on my desk the last two months. Ink colors waiting for their turn to be used. I’m venturing out into other colors and brands. I have way too many blues and needed more greens and reds.

I will be back to do a post on how I create my swatch cards and the tools I use. Stay tuned!

What Do I Use to Sketch With My Fountain Pen Inks?

As I started to accumulate bottles of fountain pen ink, it made sense for me to see if I could sketch with these inks. I started out using my Pilot Falcon and really enjoyed using the <SE> or Soft Extra Fine Nib as it could produce some extremely fine lines, tiny dots, and clever crosshatchings. That pen was fun to use, but I needed a pen that could cover larger areas with a few passes.

Pilot Falcon with <SE> Soft Extra Fine nib (14k/585 gold nib with rhodium plating). The nib itself is a work of art.

I started looking at TWSBIs. A friend of mine “M”, introduced me to her TWSBI GOs. Cool looking stubby pens. Lightweight with a spring-like plunger to fill with ink. Easy to clean. Just pump the plunger into a container of water and pump until the water runs out clear. The TWSBI GOs shown below are all Stub 1.1 nibs

Here are my travel pens. Three Pentel water brushes in different brush widths, several TWSBI GOs filled with different colored inks, and my favorite travel writing companion…Pilot Custom 823 in Amber with a Fine (14kt/585 gold) nib

As I was filling my TWSBIs I could see a problem developing. Which ink is in which pen? I had some Avery #5408 round labels that I used on my sample vials. Perfect. Another reuse for my labels. You can see in the above picture how I labeled each pen. Yes. They are all filled with Robert Oster Signature inks including my Pilot filled with Tokyo Blue Denim.

Here’s a few of my artwork from earlier this year:

Naturally, I had to draw a few of my fountain pens! Robert Oster inks: Thunderstorm, African Gold, Violet Crush, Whisper Red, Sydney Darling Harbour, and Bass Straight

Who doesn’t like blueberries? More Robert Oster ink colors: Tokyo Blue Denim, Jade, Eucalyptus Leaf, and Thunderstorm

A bottle of wine. Not the winery I worked at, but practiced sketching bottles of wine. Robert Oster inks: Thunderstorm, Blue Black, African Gold. Franklin-Christoph ink: Black Cherry

Basically, I draw with my fountain pens. For darker areas, I draw a few lines together. I take my Pentel water brush and lightly apply/paint over the lines. I let the ink do it’s own thing on my paper. I only need one swipe with my brush and not overwork the area too much. Really dark areas I leave the ink alone. I let my paper be the highlights. So no ink or water in the highlights. You can see this in my blueberry picture above.

To make the objects more grounded (not floating on the paper), I used the object’s color(s) and a bit of Thunderstorm. One or two swipes with the water brush and I let the colors mingle together. Let the colors do their thing.

One thing to note about water brushes. Water remains on the bristle. There are times when I do not want too much water on my image/object. I will take my brush and run it over a paper towel once or twice and then apply my brush on the object.

I will mention that drawing with pen & ink and applying water washes to the image takes some practice and patience. I have had many fun mistakes and surprises appear and learned to just go with it.

What’s the best part of this fun adventure? I get to use up my fountain pen inks and enjoy the colors.

Today’s Tip: Avery #5408 round labels – used for labeling the sample ink vials and for labeling pens.

Starting Somewhere Right?

Oh my. Months have passed since I lasted posted. You can already see I’m way behind. I have lots of creative stuff to share. Yes. I am the holdup. Be patient as I get into writing about my creative adventures.

I thought I would jump right in with today. Start with a picture I took this morning:

My quick sketch of red candies. Odd numbers, like the 3 pieces, helps with composition. Placement also helps with the flow. Do you see your eyes making a complete triangle, visually?

I will be sharing this on my other social media outlets for others to see. Here at my personal site, you get to experience a bit more about my what goes through my head when I see colors. Like this Red Candy!

I typically start with my pen and ink. I recently received my Pineider Avatar UR in Angel Skin (with swirls of pinky-red colors) from a Black Friday special. I’ve been keeping an eye on this pen color. When I finally saw one on sale and with an EF nib I wanted, I quickly added to my cart. The last one. I seem to do that a lot lately.

I originally matched this pen with Ferris Wheel Press Pink Eraser. It was a perfect match to the pink part of my pen. OMG! The ink color was too light to read on paper. That appears to be a problem with a few FWP inks I received from their kick starter campaign. I will save that topic for a later post.

I quickly dumped the ink and went through my swatch cards to come up with another color. Something I could read. Like Red Candy by Robert Oster. Yes. I can always rely on my Robert Oster inks.

Once Red Candy became one with my Angel Skin pen, I immediately had visions of the red mint candies I had growing up. Many, many years ago. It was a treat around Christmas time.

That’s how my sketch started. This morning. Sometimes I just draw and see where it takes me. Other times, I’m mindful of quantities and placement, as in the picture above.

When I share my writing samples (pen and ink), my choice of paper is Rhodia. The standard #16 Black covered pad of paper. Blank paper to be exact. What?! Yes. I prefer the blank sheets of paper. No grid lines. No dots. No distractions.

Once I’m done with my photo op and post on social media, my sample sheets are dated and gets stored back into the pad. Eventually, I will punch the papers and put into a book. This is one way I can document writing samples and artwork for future reference.

I hope you enjoyed my adventure for today. Do something fun! Be creative! Stay well!