vol 028 – Jamie's Sketchbook

Third Time’s the Charm: Travel Sketching is Back

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.

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 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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

A loose ink and watercolor sketch of a large green sparkling water bottle beside a stemmed glass on a white sketchbook page. The bottle is rendered in layered greens and teals with yellow highlights suggesting the plastic catching light, and the word "sparkling water" written on the label in the artist's hand. The glass is lightly sketched in grey with a yellow highlight streak suggesting reflected light. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

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.

Close-up of a color block mosaic filling a double page spread in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook. Overlapping rectangles of the Travel Sketching palette colors — greens, yellows, blues, earthy oranges, pinks, and navies — are layered across both pages in an abstract composition suggesting the work of Paul Klee. Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils and Inktense.

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

A sketchbook page filled with ruling pen mark-making experiments in Ferris Wheel Press Galeforce Green, a distinctive grey-green ink. The page shows parallel lines, wave patterns, crosshatching, loops, stippling, and gestural scribbles across the left and center. On the right a small tree sketch, rounded bush shapes, and loose organic marks sit alongside a labeled box reading Ruling Pen Experiments, Ferris Wheel Press Galeforce Green, decorated with small hand-drawn hearts and stars. Saturday 18 April 2026 with weather noted in the upper right corner. Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

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.

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.

Sketchbook: March 2026

A dramatic sketchbook page with a deep red and soft teal ink background made with Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn.

I started recording the weather alongside the daily dates in my sketchbook back in January 2023, Volume 12. Over three years now. It’s become one of those quiet anchors of my sketchbook. Even in the months where I sketched almost nothing else, the dates and weather hold the line. After an inflammation hit, or a hard week, or even death in the family, I come back and I catch up the weather. I fill in the gap from whenever I fell off to when I’m picking the sketchbook back up. There’s something grounding about that return.

It makes the sketchbook practice a living, breathing reflection of life itself and that is worth capturing. Here is the flow of the full sketchbook pages for the month.

I had such great energy and joy at the start of the month! I was feeling the spring bloom, and painting my pages with the Winsor Newton Sap Green. Edges class was starting and I was super excited about that.

A dual page sketchbook spread — dates and weather log for Saturday 28 February through Thursday 5 March 2026 with moon phases and astronomical events on the left, and the March 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows page painted in greens, yellows, and warm browns depicting a witch's kitchen cottage, on the right, with Edges course notes on a bright green wash in the background — February tail end and March — A Witch’s Kitchen, CBOS 2026

A dual page sketchbook spread — Edges Lesson course notes with painted examples including a red onion and a figure in yellow on a bright green wash on the left, and the January 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows page painted in purples, greens, and golds depicting a magical home with a cat, on the right — Edges Lesson notes and January CBOS — A Magical Home

Since I really want to include the Coloring Book of Shadows monthly designs in my sketchbook this year, myy completist brain couldn’t leave January and February’s pages missing from the record. So in they went. They really are so pretty when colored.

A dual page sketchbook spread — the February 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows page painted in purples and greens depicting an altar and hearth cottage on the left, and a handwritten journal entry in Robert Oster Cherry Blossom ink with small decorated collage images on the right — February CBOS — Altar and Hearth, with Cherry Blossom ink journaling

I’ve been making a deliberate effort to do more journaling in the sketchbook this year. Apparently I was doing journal notes back in January 2023 as well, and I just forgot! I like it, as it captures actual life, not just sketches. It is also a great excuse to use the large collection of fountain pen inks I have!

A dual page sketchbook spread — the March 2026 Coloring Book of Shadows elements page painted in greens and pinks with dates and weather log and journaling in Cherry Blossom ink on the left, and a bold watercolour gradient wash from Sap Green to Hansa Yellow Light with Hearts and Honey written vertically in Cherry Blossom ink and small painted collage images on the right — March CBOS — The Elements, and a Hearts & Honey gradient closing page

Hearts and Honey is the book I’m currently writing, and it’s very hard to document a writing project! They aren’t very sketchable unless I start doing storyboards (those are Hard!) but it’s a big part of my life and it deserves to be documented.

A dual page sketchbook spread — three sketches of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire at Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd on the left with handwritten location notes and journaling on a teal colour block wash, and a painted watercolour study of the spire with Edges course notes on the right — Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, three sketches

This is where the spire series lives in the sketchbook. Three attempts, ink through to direct watercolor. You can read more about that in the March Theme: Three post!

Bathtime at the Reflection Pool — Lovebird in 3 Poses, with Gradient Bar

Sketch outing notes on a color block, and the lovebird page that ended up anchoring the Three post. One bird, three poses, with a watercolor gradient bar.

A dual page sketchbook spread — twenty watercolour portrait studies in small numbered grid squares on green and blue washes on the left, and ten loose ink figure studies in sepia on the right, labelled One Week 100 People, 30 including the children — One Week 100 People — 30 done, faces and figures

I did not do as much as I wanted for One Week 100 People, but I’m happy I got one day of sketching in!

double page sketchbook spread. The left page shows a handwritten dates and weather log for March 11–19 2026, with weather icons and temperatures climbing from 84°F to 103°F, an Extreme Heat Watch notation, a watercolor Irish flag sticker with shamrock, and a decorative red and green tile washi tape border along the bottom. The right page has a dramatic background of Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks in deep red and soft teal, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn. — Dates and weather 11–19 March, with a St. Patrick’s Day page in Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Overcast ink.

March broke heat records, by a lot! Over ten degrees above the previous records, some days. The washi border and Irish flag sticker are for St. Patrick’s Day — a little celebration tucked into the data. A dramatic sketchbook page with a deep red and soft teal ink background made with Diamine Ruby Taffeta and Diamine Overcast inks, with three gold shamrock coin stickers and a detailed Trim Castle sticker showing stone ruins against a green lawn. The stickers and washi tapes are from this month’s Cora Crea box.

A double page sketchbook spread showing a handwritten dates and weather log for March 20–31 2026, with red exclamation marks on record breaking temperatures reaching 105°F, Ostara noted on March 21st, a trailing ivy sticker on the right side, and two decorative washi tape borders in blue-green tile and red tile patterns running along the bottom of both pages. — Dates and weather 20–31 March — breaking records all week. Ostara at 105°F.

I wanted to sketch, but inflammation hit badly, so a string of dates and weather is all I managed. At least the weather is cooling off! Still unseasonably warm, and matching the record high temperatures.

A double page sketchbook spread. The left page shows dense handwritten notes from Edges Livestream 2 covering lessons 3 and 4, written over a warm Gansai Tambi Cosmic Olive green wash, with small ink sketches illustrating concepts like foreground, middle ground, prioritizing tone, and lost and found edges. The right page shows five large granulating watercolour swatches of the Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 Cosmic palette, labelled Cosmic Violet, Cosmic Red, Cosmic Olive, Cosmic Blue, and Cosmic Green. — Edges Livestream 2 notes on a Cosmic Olive wash, alongside the Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 Cosmic palette swatches.

Ending the month with some notes from the second and final Edges livestream, then a little color exploration. I had to swatch out this Gansai Tambi Granulating 2 colors.

Like most of my sketchbook pages for the last several months, I have more notes than sketches, but it does capture life as it’s happening. Honestly, I’m surprised I have as many pages done as I do! That’s not nothing. Here is March, on the page.

March Theme: Three

A sketchbook page showing three lovebird poses in watercolour, with five painted colour swatches across the top labelled Shadow Violet, Cobalt Turquoise, Sap Green, Hansa Yellow Light, and Transparent Pyrrol Orange, a handwritten title reading "It's Bathtime at the Reflection Pool," and a green-to-orange gradient bar along the bottom.

March Theme: Three

Liz Steel’s Patreon community theme for March was Three. Three sketches, three objects, three colors, a triad palette all counted, and it is a very versatile theme. I didn’t sketch as much this month as I wanted (hello inflammation hit!), but when I looked back through my sketchbook, three had been quietly showing up all along.

A gestural ink sketch of a tall spire, drawn with energetic angular lines suggesting faceted stonework, with loose grass sketched at the base. — Thumbnail ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, getting acquainted with the subject.

An ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright spire with complex angular planes and faceted surfaces, showing careful attention to the changing directions of the glass and ironwork. Cactus landscaping sketched at bottom. — Thumbnail ink sketch of the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire, getting acquainted with the subject.

The most obvious was the Frank Lloyd Wright spire. I drew it three times. First just ink, getting acquainted with the energy of it. The second ink sketch was working on getting those complex angles and changes in plane. The spire has this wonderful jagged, faceted quality and it took real concentration to follow all those shifting surfaces. Much more challenging subject than I anticipated!

By the third, I went straight to direct watercolor. I always seem to love direct watercolour. It’s so much more forgiving! . There’s a looseness and confidence that comes from having already worked through the subject twice. Another aspect of three, was using just three colors: Winsor Newton Cobalt Turquoise Light, Winsor Newton Sap Green, and Daniel Smith Transparent Pyrrol Orange.

Something lovely happens when you sketch a single subject three times. I should do this more often. It looses you up, and you get more familiar with it.

Three watercolour lovebirds painted in bright greens, orange and yellow, sitting along a grey perch with soft reflected colour below, on white paper — One lovebird, three poses — green, orange, and full of personality

I loved this bird! One lovebird, in three poses, taking a bath. I drew these from photographs I took at the time. One sketch wasn’t enough to capture his fluttering energy during his bath at the reflection pool outside. Fifteen grackles were also present, focused on their own baths. Having those three poses meant I could tell the whole little story of this bath on a single page: the cautious approach, the full splashy middle, the ruffled aftermath.

I worked with a very limited set of colors across both subjects. The spire was a three color palette of Cobalt Turquoise Light, Sap Green, and Transparent Pyrrol Orange. For the birds it was a three color palette of Hansa Yellow Light, Sap Green and Trans Pyrrol Orange. I did add a hint of Cobalt Turquoise for the dark shadows on those wing feathers, and of course, Shadow Violet quietly sneaking in for the water. Technically five colors. Spiritually still three. Ha!

Then I had to add three design elements to this page! So we have the color gradient. (I do love painting a nice color gradient! Been practicing those for years!), the color swatches, and, of course, the main subject of the sketch. My swatches might be over-large for the best page design, but I still like how it tells the story of the colors as well as the love bird. After all, his colors are what makes him so special!

So that’s my exploration of the theme of three for March. One spire, drawn three times. One bird, three poses. A page with three design elements. Lastly, a palette that tried very hard to stay at three colors and almost made it.

Bathtime at the Reflection Pool

Concluding The Messy Middle from last week, you saw a sketchbook in progress — pages waiting, spaces held open, intentions taped into place. This is the update. The pages are filled. Titles are added.

This is my Edges Lesson One outdoor outing — the Frank Lloyd Wright Spire at the little commemorative park at Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd, sketched on location. I knew it was going to be the last good weather day for a while, so there was no hesitation — I had to get out there while I could.

The sketches are chaotic in the best way — three poses of the spire, which also happens to tie in perfectly with Liz Steel’s Patreon March Challenge of three things. The outing felt messy and alive, and I wrote all of it down right there on the page while I was still sitting in the shade. I finished this page by adding the date and the Title to it. I also tried to lift the wet paint transfer that the wind had put on the ink sketches.

A dual page sketchbook spread — handwritten journaling in black ink on a teal colour block wash on the left describing the Edges outdoor outing and the surprise lovebird sighting at the reflection pool, and three watercolour lovebirds painted in greens, oranges and yellows with the header Bathtime at the Reflection Pool on the right — Bathtime at the Reflection Pool — 15 grackles and 1 lovebird

But this is the page that made the whole outing. I’d gone to sketch the spire, and I found a lovebird.

Fifteen grackles and one lovebird, bathing at the reflection pool. A few escaped from a pet store years ago, apparently, and they’ve been surviving in the wild ever since. I spotted it, grabbed some photos, and left the blank page so I could paint these birds at home.

Three lovebirds — one lovebird in three poses, because it was there taking a bath. They’re green and orange and yellow and absolutely full of personality. The journaling on the left is written in that teal colour block wash, and it holds the whole story of the outing: the victory of getting outside, the chaos of the spire, the unexpected gift of the birds.

The One Week 100 People page got its finishing touches too — thirty people including the children, faces in watercolour on the left, ink figures on the right. I added the numbers and the titles to finish off this page.

A handwritten weather log for Wednesday 11 March through Thursday 19 March 2026, with hand drawn weather symbols in yellow and red, noting temperatures rising from 84 degrees Fahrenheit to 103 degrees, with annotations reading Extreme Heat Watch, Record Breaking, and Extreme Heat Warning to 22nd — Weather log 11–19 March 2026 — record breaking heat in March

I knew my outing day was the last cooler day for awhile, but wow has the heat spiked! Breaking records by a mile! And it’s just going to get hotter, if you can believe that. I don’t usually see these kind of temperatures until May. We went from a warm pleasant 84°F on Wednesday the 11th to 103°F — record breaking — by Wednesday the 18th, with an Extreme Heat Warning extending through the 22nd. In March. The thermometer icon I drew in red says everything. And it’s only getting hotter!

Titles and notes help complete pages, and aid in telling the story of the everyday life I’m documenting with my sketchbook. This mini series of posts has shown a bit of the process for what is usually only shown completed. It’s easy to think I should complete pages in just one sitting, all perfect, but the truth is that isn’t how it’s done, really, if you are going to add a little sketchbook design to your pages.