Figured it out

Screw canvas; NY Central’s Painter’s Paper (paper impregnated with latex) rocks! The pad cover says it’s “specially prepared for painting with acrylics, oil color, pigments sticks and oil pastel”. It also says that it’s “dimensionally stable”, which sounds like something Reed Richards would come up with. I need to see how it handles a dip pen full of Higgins Black Magic.

I’ve also decided that I need to give up on working up a painterly style and embrace my inner cartoonist. I’m just a linear guy.

More grousing about art-supply stores

Thrice damn Pearl Paint! I stepped in to pick up some more of a particular kind of dip pen nib — I tried out my nibs on the NY Central painters’ paper last night, and some of them worked pretty well, especially the Hunt’s #103 mapping nib, which I only have two of. Pearl has a cabinate with lots of little labeled drawers in it, one for each kind of nib. The drawer labeled “Hunt 103” had the wrong kind of nib, the #104, and I couldn’t find 103s in any of the other drawers. Grrr. I then rewarded them for this behavior by buying A Speedball No. 5 Artists’ pen set (nine different nibs, most being kinds I’ve never used before but want to try out, and one each of the two common kinds of holders) and a couple of small brushes (Loew-Cornell’s Comfort line, with wide handles, sizes 1 and 2/0). I would have gone to NY Central, but it was late in the day; Pearl’s biggest advantage is that they’re open till 7.