Let's rifle through the art supplies

I'm sort of babysitting the house today since my father's at a workshop, and I figured that I'd do a bit of doodling this afternoon. Not really all that unusual a plan even when he's here, to be honest, especially in the winter. I'll sit down here at the computer since it's the easiest way to get source pictures if I'm planning to attempt realism, turn on the internet radio, and use the computer desk as a drawing table.

Not the ideal table, as you can imagine, but it works. It works even better now that the father figure has a wireless keyboard that I can just move aside. It was... interesting to work at the desk when I was still sharing it with the old keyboard. I'll leave the contortions behind that to your imagination.

Anyway, I plan to be doodling something this afternoon, but I'm not yet sure what. And since I'm not sure what I'll be doodling, I wasn't sure how I'd want to go about it. Because of that, I've brought down an assortment of whatsits to have at the ready. And because I don't have a blather topic today, I thought we'd may as well have a look at what whatsits fit my fancy today.

First up, top photo. Two moleskines, sketching pens, and my half-pan watercolours. The small moleskine and the pens (the latest set in my attempt to eventually try every single brand of nylon-tipped sketching pens) live in my purse for the most part. The watercolours and watercolour moleskine don't. It'd be crowded if they did. Oh, and if anyone who knows their art stuff is wondering why a non-painter like Yours Fumblingly has (relatively) expensive Winsor & Newton watercolours, the answer comes in two parts: A) they're actually Cotman, which is W&N's lower priced line, and B) I got them on sale. Moving on.

Next up, my catch-all burgundy pencil case, which contains very important things in the small top pocket and not-at-all important things in the large lower one.

To the right, kneaded and plastic erasers, a pencil sharpener, and my Olfa craft scalpel which is incredibly useful but should probably be taken away from me (see: left-handed comma accident-prone).

To the left, assorted crap pens and pencils, most of which I  can't even remember obtaining. This set of... things includes a couple of red proofreading pencils, for some reason. I must have needed them for something at some point.

Also living with the pen/pencil grab bag are my charcoal pencils. Pressed charcoal rather than charcoal sticks, because they're cheaper and I don't do much charcoal work. They live with the garbage pencils because they're too messy to keep anywhere else.

And finally, the more fun stuff.

On the left, Conté pencils (does a person still call them Conté crayons when they're in pencil form?), soluble graphite pencils (way easier than doing an ink wash if you're inept like me), Wolff's carbon pencils (I looove carbon pencils. Such a fantastic, smooth feel), a couple of watercolour brushes and some cheap bamboo brushes (which are surprisingly nice to play with).

On the right, spider writers (I honestly can't remember why I'm carrying those things around), my beloved Microns which, so far, are still winning the sketching pen war, some white out/liquid paper/tippex/whatever other genericised brand name you find yourself using for correction fluid, and another eraser which, for some reason, came with its own carrying case. Posh eraser, I guess.

And not at the computer desk but still up in my room you'll find sketching pencils, two sets of watercolour pencils, Inktense pencils, more erasers, my other moleskine, and several pads of paper. Oh, and a tub of modelling clay for when the little modelling clay men feel like coming out to play.

And what's all this have to do with anything besides giving me a post topic? Well, a couple of things. The first one is obvious: I like art supplies. Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If I started enumerating everything I have at home, you'd be scratching your head even when you consider that the collection has been accumulating over a number of years.

The other thing, and the one that has me scratching my head, is that with the exception of the sketching pencils, one set of watercolour pencils, a couple of erasers, and a pad of sketching paper, everything I've listed here travels with me every weekend. No, I'm not kidding. I haul this stuff around in a pocket of my duffel bag along with my laundry every time I come to visit my father.

And why?

Well, you never know when you're going to need... stuff...





I should get help, shouldn't I?

Ah well. Off to find some lunch now. If anything comes of this afternoon's doodling (with whatever I happen to choose to do it with, after all of this), you'll find it on the other blog, as usual.