Author Archives: Jamie

April, in Dinners

Dinners Only

The last food diary post took me through April 6th. Then April happened.

It wasn’t a bad month exactly, but it was a rocky one with symptoms flaring, energy unreliable, the kind of month where keeping up with a daily sketchbook practice just wasn’t in the cards. I kept eating dinner. I just wasn’t drawing it.

So yesterday I sat down with my phone, pulled up my photos, and drew twenty-six days of dinners in one go. Two and a half hours with the Shikiori markers, then another fifty minutes going back over everything with water to activate the color. I do love the blooms that activating watercolor markers can generate! Five pages. April 7th through May 3rd, all in one long, slightly meditative catch-up session.

Three days of food diary sketches in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, drawn in Shikiori markers with watercolor activation. April 7 shows BBQ chips, peanut butter cups, and quesadillas. April 8 shows more chips,sedanini with spinach and a quesadilla with enchilada sauce. April 9 shows a flying avocado, a fruit cup, and lemon cake.
April 7–9, 2026 — Food Diary catch-up — Stillman & Birn Delta

I’ve done dinners-only before, back in 2022, but not since. The logic is the same now as it was then: breakfast and lunch don’t vary enough to sketch, and if something in my diet is causing a flare, it’s almost certainly lurking in dinner. The food diary is part creative practice, part detective work.

Drawing from photos all at once gave the pages a consistency I don’t usually get from in-the-moment sketching. Same hand, same markers, same energy — everything has a kind of visual unity that I actually like. It’s a different flow from the day-by-day record, but it’s still a record.

Five days of food diary sketches in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, drawn in Shikiori markers with watercolor activation. April 10 shows banana, quesadilla, and a Ciao sparkling water. April 11 shows quesadilla with enchilada sauce. April 12 shows a glow bowl, lemon cake, and lemonade. April 13 shows applewood cheddar with crackers and red bean chili. April 14 shows cherry tomatoes, chocolate cookies, and cheddar crackers with vegan bacon.
April 10–14, 2026 — Food Diary catch-up — Stillman & Birn Delta

Highlights and lowlights, in no particular order.

April 9th has a flying avocado, a fruit cup, and lemon cake, and I’m pleased with how cheerful it came out. April 12th’s glow bowl is one of the better-looking plates in the whole run. The cheesy lemon spaghetti on April 18th was delicious and the sketch knows it.

Six days of food diary sketches in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, drawn in Shikiori markers with watercolor activation. Dates run April 15 through April 20, with meals including a Leafside creamy mushroom bowl, cherry tomatoes, a peanut butter sandwich cookie plate, cheesy lemon spaghetti, and carrot cake. A hand-lettered box reading DINNERS ONLY appears on the right-hand page.
April 15–20, 2026 — Food Diary catch-up — Stillman & Birn Delta

The DINNERS ONLY box that appears mid-April — I lettered it right there on the page as a label to remind myself I did still eat lunches! It has a slightly resigned, slightly determined energy that I feel captures the month accurately.

Seven days of food diary sketches in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, drawn in Shikiori markers with watercolor activation. Dates run April 21 through April 27, with meals including Greek bowtie pasta with cheese, a small bowl of Giggles candy, cherry tomatoes, quesadillas with salsa, dolmas with tomatoes and carrots, Mexican wedding cookies, spaghetti marinara, and carrot cake with a glow bowl.
April 21–27, 2026 — Food Diary catch-up — Stillman & Birn Delta

And then there’s the quesadilla. It shows up nine times. Nine. Quesadilla with enchilada sauce, quesadilla with salsa, quesadilla solo, quesadilla as a supporting player. It has practically become a character in this sketchbook. My Whoop has been giving me pointed looks about it. I asked about my poor sleep, and the theory offered is that a high fat and high carb dinner combination might be doing my sleep no favors. I did not buy tortillas on my last shopping trip. Let’s test this theory and see what happens. (But what will I eat on high brain fog, low energy days?)

Seven days of food diary sketches in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook, drawn in Shikiori markers with watercolor activation. Dates run April 28 through May 3, with meals including quesadillas with salsa, avocado, cherry chocolate walnut dessert, hummus with dolmas and rice stackers, hemp cheese and bean burgers, crackers with vegan bacon and tomatoes, carrot cake with a glow bowl, and spaghetti marinara.
April 28–May 3, 2026 — Food Diary catch-up — Stillman & Birn Delta

This also concludes the small Delta Sketchbook that is my 29th sketchbook and my 6th food volume.

The featured image up top is from the April 21st spread — Greek bowtie pasta, and a little bowl of Giggles (allergen-friendly candy, think Skittles) with those bright confetti dot colors. It’s one of my favorites from the whole batch. Twenty-six dinners, one sitting, five pages. The record exists. On to May. Without my go to quesadillas!

Third Time’s the Charm: Travel Sketching is Back

Liz Steel’s Sketching Now Travel Sketching live run, begins later this month and I am jumping back in for my third attempt. I did finish the first run. The second run, I started but let’s just say life had other plans. I have tagged the whole archive of my posts if you want to see the full saga. The official start date is May 13th, but I’m getting a head start on the Introduction lessons.

The “Before” Sketch

The Introduction includes a “current sketch” exercise. Your sketching where you are right now, before the course begins. Since I’ve done this before, I decided to sketch my back yard again. This is the same view I did as my first before sketch. Not only has the yard changed, but so has my sketching.

Naturally, I also had to document the fact that after seven months of delays in the landscaping (It’s been a whole drama!) the yard has finally been weeded. Those prickly lettuce plants had grown over six feet tall. Six feet! They were taller than me. I have photographic evidence. I think they were starting to develop permanent occupation plans. So the timing of this sketch gets to commemorate both that drama and its blissful conclusion on the day I did these. A dramatic before and after set of sketches for the yard.

The before sketch, with weeds, is in the Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils, The after sketch is GoldFaber Aqua Markers. You can see the difference in the mediums, since I used the same color palette for both sketches. The marker version is noticeably brighter and more saturated; it’s the same scene, same composition, same palette, but a different medium. I really want to see how different mediums behave, and comparing the same color palette is a great way to do that.

A watercolor pencil sketch of a back yard garden bed, showing a row of tall weeds and trees against a grey wall, with orange-red flowering plants at the left, golden weeds in the centre, and two decomposing barrel planters rendered as dark rounded shapes on the rocky ground. A shepherd's hook curves up between the plantings.
Backyard, full of weeds in in Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils.
A watercolor marker sketch of the back yard, with a large orange-topped shrub at the left rendered in bright saturated colour, a grey wall wash behind, and two decomposing barrel planters in deep burgundy and purple tones at centre and right. I bold and saturated color.
Back yard, freshly weeded, in GoldFaber Aqua Markers.

The yard features some very photogenic old barrel planters that are in the process of dramatically decomposing. They show up in both sketches as dark, slightly melancholy blobs surrounded by splaying lines. Less moody than the photographs of them!

full sketchbook spread dated Thursday 30 April 2026, showing two watercolour sketches of the same back yard garden bed side by side — the left in softer watercolour pencil tones, the right in brighter, more saturated marker colours. Handwritten weather notes show 92°F and 67°F. A note in the upper right reads that the yard has finally been weeded after seven months, and that the before sketch was done in Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils and the after in GoldFaber Aqua Markers. Decorative illustrated borders from a Coloring Book of Shadows frame both sides of the spread with Beltane-themed botanical imagery.
Back yard sketches, before and after weeding. 30 April 2026.

The Kit

Part of the Introduction is also assembling materials for the travel sketching kit and doing a color/material chart. I wrote about my obsession with testing multiple media in this limited palette.

A two-page spread showing a travel sketching kit chart. The left page tests various pens and pencils with line and swatch samples, labelled with tool names including Isograph, TWSBI Urban Gray, Tombow Fudenosuke Hard, Copic BS, Pentel Brush Sepia, and Derwent Inktense pencils in Charcoal, Neutral, and Sepia Ink. The right page shows rows of colour swatches for multiple media including Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils, Derwent Inktense, GoldFaber Aqua Dual Markers, Albrecht Dürer Pitt WC Markers, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush, and Neocolor II, with a bottom row of watercolour paint swatches. A teal banner at the bottom reads "Travel Sketching Kit."
Travel Sketching Kit, April/May 2026.

Here’s what I’ll be working with for this run:

For line work, I have an Isograph 005 and 0.30, a TWSBI Urban Gray (F nib), a Copic BS, a Pentel Brush Sepia, and a Tombow WB-HB Fudenosuke Hard.

The course calls for graphite, but I’m skipping it since I find graphite too smudgy. I do have the one 3H pencil. For pencil sketches, however, I’m substituting three Derwent Inktense pencils: Charcoal (2100), Neutral (2120), and Sepia Ink (2010). I also have the class palette in Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils, Derwent Inktense pencils, plus GoldFaber Aqua Dual Markers, Albrecht Dürer Pitt WC Markers, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush pens, and Neocolor II water-soluble crayons.

For watercolor, my palette is: Hansa Yellow Light, Hansa Yellow Medium, Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Quinacridone Gold, Transparent Pyrrol Orange, Quinacridone Rose, Potter’s Pink, Sap Green, Cobalt Turquoise Light, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Transparent Red Oxide, Van Dyke Brown, and Shadow Violet. There are also two Caput Mortuum swatches at the side, because I’m currently infatuated with that color.

The Sketchbook

I’ll be starting in my current 6×9 inch Stillman & Birn Alpha, even though I only have a few pages left in it. Shortly I’ll be moving to a 7.5×7.5 inch softcover Alpha. Both are Stillman & Birn, both are the Alpha series, just slightly different proportions. It’ll be interesting to see how the square format feels for travel sketching.

The weeds are gone, the kit is ready, and the barrel planters have been immortalized in watercolor. What more could I need? I’m ready!

Some Caput Mortuum, please?

The Caput Mortuum watercolors arrived! My infatuation began when I put together the Travel Sketching palette, when the Goldfaber Aqua version caught my attention. Then in the notes page I thought of it immediately for the theme of darks. I knew I’d already ordered Winsor & Newton and Sennelier watercolors. Once they arrived I swiftly color swatched them.

A double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook dated Monday 27 April 2026 with weather noted as 83 degrees Fahrenheit and 60 degrees at night. The left page shows a handwritten journal entry alongside Caput Mortuum watercolor comparison swatches with two paint tube labels affixed to the page. The right page shows Bloodstone Genuine and Van Dyke Brown gradient swatches, Sailor Shikiori Subarakishi and Apatite Genuine ink and paint swatches, and the Bloodstone Genuine and Apatite Genuine combined swatch. All pages are dense with color and handwritten labels.
Caput Mortuum, Lava, Bloodstone Genuine, Apatite Genuine, and Sailor Shikiori Subarakishi — Monday 27 April 2026 — Stillman & Birn Alpha

That deep, complex brownish-reddish-purple. Somewhere between burgundy and iron oxide. Caput Mortuum is Latin for “dead head,” an old alchemical term for the residue left after distillation. Macabre and poetic. I love it! Winsor & Newton and Sennelier are single pigment PR101, which is fairly opaque and highly granulating.

A sketchbook page showing Caput Mortuum comparison swatches across multiple media. Four horizontal watercolor wash bands fill the center and left, ranging from deep brownish-purple at full saturation to pale pink at dilution. Two paint tube labels are affixed to the page — Sennelier l'Aquarelle Caput Mortuum and Winsor and Newton Caput Mortuum Violet, both PR101. Handwritten labels identify Roman Szmal Lava 384 and Bloodstone Genuine. In the upper right corner a small swatch labeled 263 Caput Mortuum Goldfaber shows the marker equivalent. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Caput Mortuum watercolor swatches in Sennelier and Winsor Newton. Roman Szmal Lava 384 and Bloodstone Genuine — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 27 April 2026
A watercolor swatch comparison page showing four horizontal wash bands on ivory sketchbook paper. From top to bottom: Winsor and Newton Caput Mortuum Violet, Sennelier Caput Mortuum, Pitt Artist Brush Pen Caput Mortuum, and Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Caput Mortuum. All are deep brownish-reddish-purple tones with subtle variations in warmth, granulation, and opacity. Stillman and Birn Delta sketchbook.
Winsor & Newton Caput Mortuum Violet, Sennelier Caput Mortuum, 169 Caput Mortuum Pitt Artist Brush Pen, 263 Caput Mortuum Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Pen — Stillman & Birn Delta, 27 April 2026

The two watercolors are very similar in hue. The Sennelier is a little smoother, the Winsor & Newton has more granulation. Both are quite opaque. Opacity affects layering and mixing, and these will behave differently from transparent darks. Worth paying attention to, to avoid flat or muddy works.

I also pulled out the Roman Szmal Lava 384, which I’d first swatched back in early March. I still love it so much, and it definitely feels like it belongs in this color club. That PG17 PB29 PR255 triple pigment giving it a depth and richness that the single pigment paints don’t quite replicate. Roman Szmal paints are harder to source here in the States, though.

Naturally I had to include the markers! The Goldfaber Aqua 263 Caput Mortuum and the PITT Artist Pen Brush 169 Caput Mortuum, side by side with the watercolors. The hue match is surprisingly close. Markers are their own medium with their own behavior, but it’s satisfying to know that the color I fell for in the palette swatches is holding its own. My infatuation with this color continues. How will it look if I use it for my darks, for shadows, etc?

Two tall vertical watercolor gradient swatches side by side on white sketchbook paper, each fading from deep saturation at the top to a near-white wash at the bottom. The left swatch labeled Bloodstone Genuine is a cool dark grey-brown with visible granulation. The right swatch labeled Van Dyke Brown is warmer and earthier with a slightly different granulation texture. The comparison shows Bloodstone as cooler and greyer while Van Dyke Brown reads as warmer and more overtly brown. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Bloodstone Genuine and Van Dyke Brown value gradients — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 27 April 2026

Since I was swatching anyway! I finally did the comparison of Van Dyke Brown versus Bloodstone Genuine. I’ve been curious about this since Liz swapped her Van Dyke Brown out last summer. Side by side in gradient swatches, the difference is clear. Bloodstone is greyer and cooler, less brown than Van Dyke Brown, and with potentially less of a color shift as it dries. Van Dyke Brown leans warmer and earthier. I can see why Liz made the swap, though I’m pretty sure my chocolate sketches need to keep the Van Dyke Brown! Bloodstone will work beautifully in landscapes and urban sketches, though!

A large vertical watercolor swatch on white sketchbook paper showing two pigments applied together. The upper portion is Bloodstone Genuine in a cool dark granulating grey, labeled at the top left. The lower portion transitions into Apatite Genuine, a luminous granulating grey-green, labeled at the lower left. The granulation of both genuine pigments is visible as the particles settle unevenly into the paper tooth, creating a rich textured surface. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Bloodstone Genuine and Apatite Genuine — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 27 April 2026

Speaking of the landscape potential, both Bloodstone Genuine and Apatite Genuine granulate beautifully. I’m loving this texture of the genuine pigment paints, where the particles settle unevenly into the paper tooth and create something that looks almost geological. The Apatite Genuine is that luminous grey-green, softer and cooler than anything I could mix. Together on the page they look like a landscape seen from a great distance.

May has the Darks theme for the Patreon group, and the Travel Sketching course is running live. I’m excited for both, and hope to really dive in. I also want to get back to sketching the everyday things. It feels good to have more energy, and more enthusiasm again!

Ink Swatches and Garbage Bags

The date and the weather. Then a bit of text. Then a blank space for a sketch that never happened.

I was watching Edges lessons, scaling back after “losing” so many weeks of March and April. With class ending in a week, I was never going to catch up, so I gave myself permission to just absorb the main lesson videos only. I’ll take the course again when next it runs live. When Sunday came along, and I knew I wanted to sketch the decluttering, I decided to fill the blank spaces with ink that I haven’t swatched yet.

Have I mentioned I have a LOT of fountain pen ink?

A double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook covering Friday 24 through Sunday 26 April 2026. The left section shows handwritten journal entries for Friday with the heading Edges and a Sailor Yurameku Seki ink wash swatch in a soft ethereal grey-purple. The center section shows a Ferris Wheel Press Adventurine wash swatch in dusty rosy grey with journal notes. The right section shows handwritten decluttering metrics and a symbol tracking chart alongside two large Robert Oster Graphite chromatography garbage bags, labeled 268 cu ft Declutter.
Ink swatches and decluttering — Sailor Yurameku Seki, Ferris Wheel Press Adventurine, Robert Oster Graphite — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 24–26 April 2026
A large soft ink wash swatch on white sketchbook paper, labeled Sailor Yurameku Seki in the artist's handwriting below. The wash is a delicate ethereal grey-purple with soft pink undertones, blooming and pooling gently across the page in an irregular rectangular shape with slightly ragged edges. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Sailor Yurameku Seki — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 24 April 2026

The first swatch is Sailor Yurameku Seki. A sample I ordered, and hadn’t tested yet. It’s soft and a little ethereal, with a beautiful pink undertone that blooms in the wash. These Sailor Yurameku inks have such lovely softness and multiple colors that separate beautifully in water.

A large soft ink wash swatch on white sketchbook paper, labeled Ferris Wheel Press Adventurine in the artist's handwriting above. The wash is a dusty rosy grey with subtle shimmer and soft pink undertones, spreading in a slightly uneven rectangular shape with organic edges. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Ferris Wheel Press Adventurine — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 25 April 2026

Ferris Wheel Press Adventurine, and that pink is actually a shimmering metallic! So pretty! Ferris Wheel Press Ferritales inks are genuinely special, and Adventurine is a good example of why. I will say that Alpha paper loses some of the shimmer and sheen of the inks. I need to work with Tomoe River paper to really let them perform. That’s a future experiment.

Three weekends in a row in April I’ve been doing a big push to declutter the garage before it gets too hot and I have to wait another 9 months. I hauled out trash bags, banker’s boxes, recycling, donations. It’s one of those projects that’s hard to maintain momentum on. Sketching it helps. I love my clutter sketches, but I haven’t been doing those right now. I wanted to find a way to visually document the progress of the declutter in my sketchbook, not just in before and after photographs. I wrote and sketched about decluttering back in July 2025, but stopped. Here’s to resuming, and making it a regular feature now, both for my house and my sketchbook!

A large dramatic ink wash swatch on white sketchbook paper labeled Robert Oster Graphite below. The wash is a deep dark purple-brown with vivid teal and turquoise chromatography blooms spreading through the pigment as the ink dried, creating an atmospheric landscape-like effect with bright teal highlights against the dark base. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Robert Oster Graphite — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 26 April 2026
Two large ink washed garbage bags on white sketchbook paper, rendered in Robert Oster Graphite ink. The blobs are deep dark purple-brown with dramatic teal and turquoise chromatography blooms spreading through the pigment, giving each shape a moody atmospheric quality. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Robert Oster Graphite chromatography garbage bags — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 26 April 2026

Garbage bags are not pretty, but what a great subject for the inky chromatography! Black trash bags, black and dark grey inks that bleed into stunning colors! It’s a match made in heaven! Lay down heavy water, then drop in the ink, and let the ink do its magic. A lovely visual record is created.

But of course, I need to also track the metrics. A bit obsessively, perhaps. But hey, it’s very motivating to see the numbers build, for something that is often too easy to overlook and dismiss. You forget just how much you cleared out, because you get used to the look of the new space very quickly. So I also built a symbol chart to track the metrics. Trash bags by gallon size, banker’s boxes by cubic foot, trash and recycle bins, Car capacity for hauling. Everything converted into cubic feet, and also cubic meters for my international readers. (I’m thinking of you guys!) The 12th I got rid of 159 cubic feet, the 19th a more modest 15 (only my single bins were available. What an enormous difference in outflow!), and the 26th came in at 94. April’s total across three weekends: 268 cubic feet. 7.6 cubic meters. The garage is getting there! I’m racing the weather now, to finish the garage before it hits 100ºF/37ºC again!

I love how this page looks. The ink swatches filling the spaces where sketches didn’t happen, becoming a highlight feature I will absolutely use in the future. The decluttering inky garbage bags, and symbols tracking progress in the most dramatically beautiful way possible.

A Notes Page

I was watching Liz Steel’s Patreon livestream and taking notes. I like kind of dense note-taking that fills a page and then adding color blocks to give it some life. While I was watching, I sketched my sparkling water that was sitting in front of me. This is my first sketch since April 7th! I’ve only done color charts since then. And I haven’t sketched anything not food since One Week 100 People! Now that seems crazy, but I look over my sketchbook pages, and there it is, in full color!

A double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook dated Thursday 23 April 2026. Both pages are densely covered in handwritten Patreon livestream notes on Travel Sketching, with blocks of yellow and pink color wash behind sections of text. A sketch of a sparkling water bottle and stemmed glass appears on the right side of the spread in ink and watercolor. Planning notes in the upper right corner list the May theme as Darks, with Caput Mortuum noted in a box below.
Patreon Livestream notes with sparkling water bottle sketch — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 23 April 2026

I miss the sketching, but I guess it’s been a rough season.

The livestream introduced Liz’s May theme: Darks. Oh, I like this one! She mentioned starting with darks, pushing the darks, and even night sketching! Should I try night sketching? It never occurred to me before.

Starting with darks is a very useful approach, especially with the shapes that I often start with also. Committing to your darkest values early gives a sketch structure and stops it from looking flat and cartoonish. Deepening the darks in a scene, and increasing the value range, is one of the most reliable ways to add depth and presence. It’s the kind of thing that makes a sketch look like a real object or scene. I’m thinking of darks in terms of ink lines, too, not just watercolor.

However, I did immediately think of Caput Mortuum. My new infatuation born from pulling the Travel Sketching Palette together. That deep, complex brownish, reddish, purple that sits somewhere between burgundy and iron oxide. I have the Goldfaber Aqua and PITT Artist Brush pen, and I ordered watercolors Winsor & Newton and Sennelier both. You know, I need both to compare, right? Right? They haven’t arrived yet. But I am fantasizing about the darks it might make for me. How would such a warm, deep dark work in sketches? Seems perfect for the desert, and for summer, when even the deepest shadows are still meltingingly hot.

Obviously there will be Caput Mortuum swatches when the paint arrives! Plus I might finally break open my Bloodstone Genuine and compare it to Van Dyke Brown. Last summer Liz had swapped her Van Dyke Brown for Bloodstone Genuine, and I’ve been curious about the comparison ever since.

It feels good to be getting excited about this coming theme. It feels good to sketch again, after a longer span of time when I didn’t. It feels good to be excited about the upcoming Travel Sketching course, too. May is shaping up to be quite fun in the sketching department!

One Palette, Six Ways. An Obsession.

One Palette, Six Ways. An Obsession.

I will be taking Liz Steel’s Travel Sketching course this May. I’ve taken it before, in September 2024, and I started in April 2025, but did not finish. (See all my posts for Sketching Now Travel Sketching here.)

Every time I become a little obsessed with the limited palette for this class. Liz built it using threes: a primary, three earth tones, then a dark and two lights. She kept it fairly pastel, and muted. It really is great for landscapes. Especially Autumn scenes. She used Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils.

Nine watercolor pencil swatches in rectangular wash format on white paper, labeled with color numbers and names. Colors include Lt Yellow Glaze, Sanguine, Lt Ultramarine, Brown Ochre, Chrom Green Opaque, Cold Grey III, Dark Indigo, Beige Red, Ivory, and Dark Sepia. Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils, Travel Sketching palette.
104 Lt Yellow Glaze, 188 Sanguine, 140 Lt Ultramarine, 142 Brown Ochre, 174 Chrom Green Opaque, 232 Cold Grey III, 157 Dark Indigo, 132 Beige Red, 103 Ivory, 175 Dark Sepia — Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils

The first time I took this course, I discovered I really wanted a brown, so here I’ve added the dark sepia. The second time I became very curious about Inktense pencils, wondering how were they different. Since I owned a set, a pulled the same palette colors and I started using Inktense pencils shortly afterward. I also wanted to explore Neocolors II. I was unable to finish the course, so I did not explore those as much as I intended.

This time around, I decided to find out.

The Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils. Activated, they produce soft, luminous washes. There’s a gentleness to them that feels very suited to location sketching, which is rather the point. Dark Sepia is my second dark, which I really craved. Plus I have a love affair with Sepia, so it’s a natural fit. I did consider a warmer brown, like Walnut, but the cooler sepia keeps the balance between warm and cool tones.

en Inktense pencil swatches in rectangular wash format on white paper, labeled with color numbers and names. Colors include Lemon, Baked Earth, Lapis Blue, Amber, Lt Olive, Neutral Grey, Paynes Grey, Scarlet Pink, Antique White, and Sepia Ink. Inktense Travel Sketching palette.
110 Lemon, 1800 Baked Earth, 0825 Lapis Blue, 1710 Amber, 1540 Lt Olive, 2120 Neutral Grey, 2110 Paynes Grey, 0320 Scarlet Pink, 2300 Antique White, 2010 Sepia Ink — Inktense

I built this Inktense palette to best match the colors of the original palette. Same colors, two media, learn how do they really behave different. The get the more pastel grey and soft pink, you really need a very light touch when applying the pencil, as the colors are darker than the matching shade. They say Inktense becomes permanent once dry, so you can layer over it without lifting. I find they give smoother washes, and they seem more vivid, but this palette is still holding that more muted vibe.

Nine Neocolor II wax pastel swatches in bold saturated squares arranged in a three by three grid on white lined paper. Colors include Yellow, English Red, Light Blue, Raw Sienna, Dark Olive, Beige, Indigo Blue, Desert Rose, and White. Labeled Neocolor II Travel Sketching Palette.
010 Yellow, 063 English Red, 161 Light Blue, 036 Raw Sienna, 249 Dark Olive, 403 Beige, 139 Indigo Blue, 042 Desert Rose, 001 White — Neocolor II — Stillman & Birn Delta, April 2026

I had selected the matching colors in a Neocolor palette for the April course, but never used them. Since I have them, I continue to be very curious to work with them. The swatches are certainly vibrant, and they felt good to lay down. These swatches were Delta book, in ivory paper, so that white shows up a bit better. I wonder how these would look on colored paper? Are they more opaque?

At this point the reasonable thing would have been to stop. I did not stop. Liz mentioned she would be adding markers to the course this time around, and well, I have markers! (Advantage of buying way too many art supplies over many years, I have a lot of stuff just lying around! Whole color sets make great gifts during the holidays!) So I pulled together the same palette in multiple marker types. (I did have to fill in a couple gaps, and order a few, but not too many.)

A double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook showing Travel Sketching palette swatches in half-dome format. The left page shows Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers with weather entries for Sunday through Tuesday April 19–21 2026, and a small Diamine ink square. The right page shows Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Markers. Both pages are labeled Travel Sketching Palette.
Travel Sketching palette — Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers and Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Markers — Stillman & Birn Alpha, April 2026
Nine watercolor marker swatches in half-dome format on white paper, labeled with color numbers and names. Colors are Cadmium Yellow, Sanguine, Ultramarine, Green Gold, Earth Green, Warm Grey III, Dark Indigo, Beige Red, and Dark Sepia. Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers, Travel Sketching palette.
107 Cadmium Yellow, 188 Sanguine, 120 Ultramarine, 268 Green Gold, 172 Earth Green, 272 Warm Grey III, 157 Dark Indigo, 132 Beige Red, 175 Dark Sepia — Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers
Ten watercolor marker swatches in half-dome format on white paper, labeled with color numbers and names. Colors include Lt Yellow Glaze, Terra Cotta, Sky Blue Pastel, Lt Yellow Ochre, Chrom Green Opaque, Cold Grey I, Indanthrene Blue, Sand, Apricot, and Corpus Mortuum Violet. Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Markers, Travel Sketching palette.
104 Lt Yellow Glaze, 186 Terra Cotta, 446 Sky Blue Pastel, 183 Lt Yellow Ochre, 174 Chrom Green Opaque, 230 Cold Grey I, 247 Indanthrene Blue, 281 Sand, 116 Apricot, 263 Caput Mortuum Violet — Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Markers

I love how watercolor markers look when activated with water. They bleed and bloom in ways I love. Easy to get complete obliteration of the lines, so it’s a bit like playing a daring game! I also put together the same palette in the pigment Pitt Artist Brush pens, but never swatched those independently. They are only swatched in the big color chart below.

And of course, I had to see everything side by side, right? How well did I match these colors across the mediums?

A handwritten reference chart in a Stillman and Birn Delta sketchbook mapping the Travel Sketching palette across six media: Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils, Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers, Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Markers, Neocolor II, Inktense, and PITT Artist Brush markers. Color names and numbers are listed in columns with small painted swatches alongside each entry. Dated April 2026.
Travel Sketching palette reference chart — Stillman & Birn Delta, April 2026
A horizontal color comparison chart in a Stillman and Birn Delta sketchbook showing the Travel Sketching palette across six media in stacked rows. Each column represents a color family and each row a different medium, including Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Markers, Inktense, Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils, PITT Watercolor Markers, PITT Artist Brush markers, and Faber-Castell. Dated 19 April 2026.
Travel Sketching palette in five media — Stillman & Birn Delta, 19 April 2026

I am really looking forward to using these in actual sketches to learn how the different media behave, and discover what I do and don’t like.

I also may have begun a new obsession. I love that Goldfaber Aqua Dual Brush Caput Mortuum. They didn’t have a brown, so that was the closest. The Pitt Artist Brush pens also have a gorgeous Caput Mortuum. So I may have immediately ordered some Caput Mortuum watercolor paint.

It started with one question about two pencil ranges, how is Inktense different from the Albrect Durer watercolor pencils. It ended with six media, so many color charts and a new obsession or two.

Ruling Pens

I’ve been thinking about dip pens for travel sketching. But I’d prefer not to get stabbed by my nib when I reach into my bag! So I began to wonder why I haven’t seen artists using a ruling pen. Technically a drafting tool, it holds ink between two adjustable tines and produces a line that can be adjusted for thickness. No stabbing. So I grabbed some from Amazon and decided to experiment. I used three different sizes, though I couldn’t really tell the difference. I’m not sure if these would be better than the Kakimori nib. They seemed very similar in a way. Though the Kakimori nib can get much wider results of you put it sideways. It’s also a lot more expensive than a ruling pen!

A double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. The left page shows handwritten weather entries for April 10 through 17 2026 with small illustrated weather icons, and a note in yellow ink about finishing a novel draft and plans for a virtual writing retreat. The right page is filled with ruling pen mark-making experiments in Ferris Wheel Press Galeforce Green including parallel lines, waves, crosshatching, loops, a small tree sketch, and a labeled box with hearts and stars.
Weather entries April 10–17 and Ruling Pen experiments in Ferris Wheel Press Galeforce Green — Stillman & Birn Alpha, 18 April 2026

The ink is Ferris Wheel Press Galeforce Green, which is one of my favorites. That greyish-green is so lovely and unique. The mark-making page turned into waves, crosshatching, loops, hatching studies, and eventually a tiny tree, to see what actually drawing instead of pen testing might be like. The verdict is still open, but the ruling pen is worth exploring further. Especially with ink this good. And I have so, so, so many inks!

NatureColors Highlighters

April arrived with a delivery from JetPens.

I’d ordered Stabilo NatureColors highlighters and Zebra Mildliners for my planner, but the moment they arrived I wanted to know how they’d behave on Alpha paper. Are they waterproof? Could they work as a sketching underlayer to block in a scene before adding watercolor or ink on top? Swatching each pen was essential, so of course I turned the whole test into a page.

A page of highlighter swatches in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. Stabilo NatureColors highlighters form overlapping diagonal stripes spiraling inward on the left in soft earthy tones of Beige, Earth Green, Mud Green, Sienna, Umber, and Warm Grey.. Zebra Mildliner highlighters appear as clean parallel horizontal stripes on the right in Mild Beige, Mild Cool Gray, Mild Cream, Mild Dusty Pink, and Mild Olive. The word HIGHLIGHTERS is lettered in bold across a sage green block at the bottom right.
Stabilo NatureColors and Zebra Mildliner highlighter swatches — Stillman & Birn Alpha, April 2026

NatureColors: Beige, Earth Green, Mud Green, Sienna, Umber, and Warm Grey.
Mildliners Calm Set: Mild Iris, Mild Mimosa Yellow, Mild Mint, Mild Moss Green, and Mild Smoke Red.
Mildliners Natural Set: Mild Beige, Mild Cool Gray, Mild Cream, Mild Dusty Pink, and Mild Olive.

The NatureColors went down in somewhat random lines, that became this squarish shape. The Mildliners in simple parallel lines on the right. I did test them with water, and they are waterproof. The underlayer idea, to make a quick highlighter sketch, then build color on top, is still sitting in the “to try” pile. Documenting a delivery this way is considerably more interesting than sketching each pen! I do love making color blocks. Or in this case, color stripes.

A double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. The left page shows overlapping diagonal highlighter stripes in Stabilo NatureColors forming a spiral composition in soft earthy tones, with a narrow Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencil swatch strip along the left edge. The right page shows Zebra Mildliner stripes in clean parallels alongside the word HIGHLIGHTERS in bold lettering, with handwritten journaling and weather entries for April 1 through 10, 2026 on the facing page.
Stabilo NatureColors and Zebra Mildliner highlighter swatches with Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle — Stillman & Birn Alpha, April 2026

The strip of color in the middle of the page is a Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencil, Sepia 10%. I’m a little obsessed with Sepia. It fits nicely as a soft, light neutral color. Museum Aquarelles are exceptionally soft and produce beautiful washes, and this one is quietly auditioning for a place in my standard travel kit. I may have to experiment with them more.

The right page of this spread has a little journaling alongside the first ten days of April weather. I’m working on adding a bit more journaling to my sketchbook pages, to hold memories, and capture moments.

Cherries, Icing, and Feeling Poorly

Time for a catch-up post on the food diary. I’m still using the Shikiori markers. Four days, four very different spreads, and a peek into what happens when I sketch under varying degrees of brain function.

First, the errata page.

A double page spread in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook labeled Errata in bold lettering with a red heart on the left page. Loose watercolor sketches of deep red Amareno cherries are scattered across the left page with handwritten notes about forgotten food entries. The right page shows a detailed sketch of a Miss Jones cream cheese icing container in green and red, with handwritten cost and nutrition data. Dated Friday 3 April 2026.
Friday 3 April 2026 — Errata — Stillman & Birn Delta

I forgot to log the Amareno cherries I ate by the spoonful while cooking lunch. Those deep jewel reds were so fun to paint, and drawing bigger than usual suited them. The Miss Jones cream cheese icing on the right got its own sketch too, because apparently I also ate several spoonfuls of that while making dinner. I have regrets. I suspect the extra sugar gets my heart going. And yes, for mysterious reasons I have been bingeing more sugar lately. Trying to rein that in.

A double page food diary spread dated Saturday 4 April 2026. A lineup of food items sits along a deep purple watercolor horizon wash. Left to right: a dark chocolate bar and blue-lidded container, a tall green sparkling water bottle, a Miss Jones cream cheese jar in green and red, a golden bowl of red lentil pasta with spinach, a second green sparkling water bottle, a small bowl with a Ciao cherry sparkling water can, and a large golden oval plate with teriyaki pulled pork, jasmine rice, and zucchini noodles. Handwritten food names, costs, and nutrition totals below.
Saturday 4 April 2026 — Food Sketch in Stillman & Birn Delta

Saturday was a proper cooking day with teriyaki vegan pulled pork, jasmine rice, and zucchini noodles. It was very good and I was pleased with the sketch. I did this day’s sketches in the moment! My sunflower plate with the purple shadow wash underneath is one of my favorite things I’ve painted in this book so far. (And I didn’t forget to include the rest of the icing I finished off on the second day of it being open!)

A double page food diary spread dated Sunday 5 April 2026. A loose watercolor lineup of food items stretches across both pages along a soft blue-grey horizon wash. Items include a pink sparkling water bottle, dark chocolate, a red lentil pasta bowl, a Summer Strawberry sparkling water bottle, two halves of a bento box — one with dolmas, baby carrots, hummus and herb garlic cheese, the other with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives — followed by a plate of salmon with roasted vegetables and mac and cheese, lemon olive oil cake muffins, and a lemonade. Handwritten food names and nutrition data in the lower left. Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook.
Sunday 5 April 2026 — Food Sketches Stillman & Birn Delta

Sunday was a big food day. Bento box with dolmas, baby carrots, hummus and herb garlic cheese (vegan) in one half, cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives in the other, then salmon with roasted vegetables and mac and cheese for dinner, finished off with lemon olive oil cake muffins and a lemonade. It looks like a cheerful parade of colorful shapes across the page, which is exactly what it was. 

A double page food diary spread dated Monday 6 April 2026. Loose, expressive watercolor shapes sit against a broad green wash background. A pink heart doodle appears in the upper left corner. Items left to right include dark chocolate, sparkling water, trail mix, a red lentil pasta bowl with spinach, a quesadilla with enchilada sauce, and sparkling water. A handwritten food and cost summary box on the right is labeled "Feeling Poorly." Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook.
Monday 6 April 2026 — Feeling Poorly Food Sketches Stillman & Birn Delta

And then Monday. I was not feeling well, and it shows. The whole spread went down in a loose green wash and I forgot to sketch the cookies entirely. The little pink heart in the corner was doing its best. Some days the diary is a beautiful detailed record, and some days it’s an honest green blob. That I’m keeping up is a miracle, when the bad brain hits. I blame the sugar and the allergens I had eating out on Sunday. Which is the whole reason I like to sketch my food, so it’s easier to find the culprits, when the body crashes or outbreaks or flares up days later. 

Beautiful Mess: Color Swatches and Ink Tests

Before I put my handmade paper ink swooshes into the portfolio book, I wanted to use the backs of the cards. Can’t have blank paper! What’s the fun in that? Plus the chromatography aspect is so much fun, and what would happen if I had more paper to work with for a larger separation potential?

So I did what had to be done. I made a mess. A beautiful, atmospheric, very satisfying mess. I even had water and ink dripping off the page! 

A full page chromatography study on handmade deckle-edge cotton watercolor paper. Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve floods the page in deep violet and plum tones, with a luminous soft pink and white centre where the ink has separated and travelled outward. The fibrous texture of the handmade paper creates a dramatic, organic surface.
Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor Paper
A full page chromatography study on handmade deckle-edge cotton watercolor paper. Robert Oster Graphite floods the page in deep near-black tones with a dramatic teal and pink separation visible throughout. A luminous white and pale pink centre glows through the dark ink. The fibrous texture of the handmade paper creates a wild, unpredictable surface.
Robert Oster Graphite on Leather Village Handmade Cotton Watercolor Paper.

Robert Oster Graphite was one of my favorites from the chromatography lesson I posted about recently. That deep complex near-black opens up into the most beautiful teal and rose separation in the lighter areas. It looks like a nebula. I’m a little bit in love with it.

Then I wanted to see what this particular handmade paper does with some of my granulating watercolors. Granulating watercolors behave very differently depending on the paper. how much separation the pigments have causing that elusive “watercolor magic.” This handmade paper is cotton, and it does a very good job of having very even washes once it is dry. So watercolor magic? Not so much. 

The granulation is visible, but the paper holds the pigments fairly close together rather than letting them really spread and separate. It’s a quieter, more even look. Perfect when you want smooth washes. 

Two rectangular ink washes on handmade paper with deckled edges, photographed against a black background. The upper swatch shows Roman Szmal Lava, a deep muted purple-brown with visible granulation texture across the surface. The lower swatch shows Roman Szmal The Tint, a soft warm peachy cream, smooth and even. Both ink names handwritten below their respective swatches.
Roman Szmal Lava and The Tint — handmade paper test

I’m loving that Roman Szmal Lava in particular. I’m looking forward to using it a lot more. That dark reddish color, and it has lovely granulation on different paper. 

I tested The Tint alongside it, to sample how pink versus yellow is it on this paper. A nice striking pair on the page.

Two rectangular paint swatches on handmade paper with deckled edges. The upper swatch shows Gansai Tambi Cosmic Olive, a soft muted yellow-green with subtle granulation and gentle vertical streaking as the wash dried. The lower swatch shows Ecoline 416 Brush Pen Sepia, a rich warm brown with visible texture and slight mottling across the surface. Both names handwritten below their respective swatches.
Gansai Tambi Cosmic Olive and Ecoline 416 Brush Pen Sepia — handmade paper test

The Cosmic Olive did not separate nearly as much as it does on other papers, and the Ecoline 416 Sepia marker turned out surprising flat. I expected more blooming when I added water.

In the food sketchbook, the Delta, I’ve been using the Shikiori markers to sketch my food, so it was time to do a full color chart. Beautiful colors and they react strongly to water. I love that. 

A double page spread showing a full color swatch reference chart for Sailor Shikiori markers, with each color labeled in handwriting. Left page includes Doyou, Chushu, Rikyucha, Tokiwamatsu, Neosumire, Shimoyo, Miruai, Wakauguisu, Shigure, Fujisugata, Yozakura, and Sakuramori. Right page includes Kinmokusei, Yodaki, Okuyama, Irori, Yamadori, Souten, Yukiakari, and Yonaga. The swatches show the full range from deep browns and greens through purples, pinks, reds, oranges, and blues.
Sailor Shikiori Markers — full color swatch reference

The Shikiori markers do something I find absolutely lovely, add water and they bloom outward in that soft, spreading way that reminds me of how Faber-Castell watercolor markers behave. Very satisfying, very painterly. It’s easy to make a lovely watery mess, and I adore that. The Delta paper the results were clean and bright, and holds up well to markers and lots of water.

The Shikiori line takes its name from 四季織 — shikiori — meaning “weaving of the four seasons,” and the color names live up to that. They’re all Japanese seasonal and nature words, and I think they’re worth listing out properly because they’re just so beautiful:

Doyou — midsummer · Chushu — mid-autumn · Rikyucha — tea-brown, named for the tea master Sen no Rikyū · Tokiwamatsu — evergreen pine · Neosumire — sleeping violet · Shimoyo — frosty night · Miruai — meeting of seaweed · Wakauguisu — young bush warbler · Shigure — autumn rain shower · Fujisugata — shape of Mount Fuji · Yozakura — night cherry blossoms · Sakuramori — cherry blossom grove · Kinmokusei — osmanthus flower · Yodaki— night waterfall · Okuyama — deep mountain · Irori — hearth fire · Yamadori — copper pheasant · Souten — blue sky · Yukiakari — snow light · Yonaga — long night

Such beautiful and inspiring names!