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Purchase Weatherd Scottish Abbey

During the break I took over the last few weeks, I learned that Stillman And Birn, makers of wonderful sketchbooks, had featured my watercolour paining of Dryburgh Abbey, not only on their website, but on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages as well. I am not an affiliate, so imagine my joy at the news!

I wanted to take a painting project with me to fill the long hours of travel time on the plane while travelling to England. Of the places we visited in Scotland, Dryburgh Abbey is one of my favourites. I enjoyed the tranquil moment standing alone in front of this aged and wet stone abbey chapter house ruin so much that it became the subject of my painting.

You can read about the artist statement I wrote for the feature on Stillman And Birns’ blog.

I am really very excited about it all. So I thought I do a full review of the Stillman And Birn Beta Series paper and on why I love working with it.

At the time of my travel I didn’t have a travel-size sketchbook. I am very heavy-handed with water when it comes to watercolour, so the new sketchbook had to be able to handle that. During my research, I came across Stillman and Birn. Their Beta series sketchbook with 270 gsm weight paper seemed ideal to me. I also like the white paper of the Beta series instead of the ivory of many others.

The Stillman And Birn paper stayed smooth despite my water usage. I didn’t see even the tiniest bit of the lint-like effect that other papers get when used with watercolour. It also warped very little, which I was able to easily fix once the painting had dried.

The Beta series is not rough like cold press watercolour paper, neither is it as smooth as the hot press ones. It has an in-between texture. I love to play with different painting media and the texture of the sketchbook handled them all beautifully. I pulled out a few examples so you can get a good idea.

The Dryburgh Abbey painting was done with watercolour pencils. The picture above shows how much I had finished on the plane using a waterbrush.

Sketchbook 2017 - Canoe Prismacolour Marker And Copic Marker | Whims And Fancies

Markers typically work best on smooth paper, but this paper was smooth enough for me to blend and lift off paint with ease on this marker landscape and canoe painting.

Note – if you use markers, the pigment does seep into the back of the page. Therefore, you won’t be able to use the back side. I only use the right side of a sketchbook, so it was not a problem for me.

Sketchbook 2017 - Cat On The Wall Prismacolor Marker | Whims And Fancies

The sketchbook is great for quick, fun, comic-book style marker and ink sketches too. I was able to layer different markers and blend them without hard edges showing. I used a Micron pen to draw the black ink outlines.

Sketchbook 2017 - Lavender Field Painting Derwent Pastel Pencils | Whims And Fancies

The paper has enough grain for pastel pencils to work just as well.

Sketchbook 2017 - Vintage Tiles Winsor & Newton Watercolour Marker | Whims And Fancies

I used Winsor Newton watercolor markers to paint these rusted tiles.

Sketchbook 2017 - Dance Copic Marker | Whims And Fancies

I worked with mixed media on this one – markers, ink and pen.

Sketchbook 2017 - Steampunk Fleur De Lis Painting Marker & Winsor Newton Ink | Whims And Fancies

Water soluble Winsor Newton Ink gave me the vibrancy I needed for the steampunk Fleur-de-lis and the blue background. I also used pens and pencils for the details and shading.

Sketchbook 2017 - Birch Trees In Snow Schmincke Horadam Watercolour | Whims And Fancies

Of course, it does superbly well with watercolour. Once I painted the background, I went over with more saturated paint for the details on the trees, finishing the painting off with white paint for the snow.

When I originally posted this painting, many of you chose this one as your favourite and wrote lovely words about it. Since I prefer colder temperatures, I used this one as the watercolour example.

Sketchbook 2017 - Stillman & Birn Sketchbooks | Whims And Fancies

If you are looking into trying out sketching, painting, or journalling, I highly recommend the Stillman And Birn Beta Series sketchbooks. You get 25-26 sheets per sketchbook. It is thick paper, which makes it suitable for both dry and wet media. As you see, I have used all kinds of painting media along with pens on this paper. Currently I am working on a travel journal, hopefully I will be able to share more with you soon.

Update

Since I have written this review I have worked on very wet on wet paintings. The paper does not handle that kind of the water at all. It becomes too soft and starts to lint severely. It was an exersize in frustration. I suggest using 100% cotton Fabriano or Fluid paper. Fluid is a cheaper option of the two and does very well with wet on wet paintings.

Other than that Stillmand & Birn is quite a versatile sketchbook.

Until then,
-Soma

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After a long gap due to being sick, I stepped outside under the night sky last week with my telescope. My books and the night sky were two stable things in my life as a child. Orion was the first constellation I learned about and he promptly became my friend. I would chat away with this imposing figure in the winter sky and that continues even now. His visit every year gets me excited about winter. I intended to capture starlight from the Orion Nebula before I have to say goodbye to my starry friend.

Pleiades Star Cluster | Whims And Fancies

Astrophotography is a very time-consuming process which requires taking many a photo of the same object over a long span of time. I wrapped myself up with many layers of clothing for a long, cold night outside. Unfortunately, the wind had plans of its own, nudging my telescope around by being overtly playful that night. After 45 minutes and only 4 good photos, I decided to stop and continue on another night. I spent rest of the time enjoying being outside under the stars, dreaming of being a little closer to them.

Orange Maine Coon Cat | Whims And Fancies

My husband loves to spoil this boy by feeding him extra portions of kitty food. He was an extremely happy boy that day, full of extra food. I gave him the Union Jack pillow, and we shared the castle quilt to stay warm together. He purred and dreamed beside me while I knitted into the night.

Socks Knitting Pattern | Whims And Fancies

Lulled into a peaceful state with the gentle purring of my cat, it didn’t take long for me to start dreaming as well. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to travel more than anything. Knitting warm woolens always makes me specially dream of the North. Basking in new travel plans in my head, I worked toward finishing my very first pair of knitted socks. These are keeping my perpetually cold feet wonderfully warm.

Dreams Are The Touchstones Of Our Characters Thoreau - Dreaming Into The Night | Whims And Fancies

Afterwards, while flipping through an old book, I found this tucked inside. I assumed it came with the book until I realised the rubber stamps used on this were mine! I have no recollection of when I made this. I suppose such is the nature of dreams.

We don’t remember all of them, but some occasionally surface to remind us to continue to dream, reach for the stars and hope for change.

-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Events And Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.