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| The tools that buy art supplies and employ tradesmen. |
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| Rotring Rapidograph pens, the best for drafting fine lines, the hardest tool to keep operable, a real drafting pain. |
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| Every time I passed, I added more paint; the darks weren't dark enough. |
They are so clogged with ink, I think they're dead. Somewhere down in the studio there's an electronic, vibrating washing machine for the pen points, but I don't care to go find it and the solution that's needed to revive my once favorite drafting tools. Tomorrow will do. Right now, wine and whining.
I did manage to paint a little--very little--in between building a swell shower in a master bath and rounding up my stuff. Every time I passed that watercolor I did the other day, I thought why can't I get it dark enough? So I would stop and add another layer of paint. Then there was Zac just lying on the breakfast room table staring at me with that hair.I noticed the blue needs cleaning up, but he'll wait. Drafting pains aside, I've settled down. This is the stuff that buys art supplies.
Hola Linda. Yo veo suficiente contraste en la pintura, está muy bien lograda. Saludos. Sonia.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I finally got that rounded vase to come forward enough. Thank you for telling me. I sort of like this merky painting or I wouldn't have bothered. A vase full of paint brushes and a TV remote says something about sitting alone and painting--I don't think it's good. The colors are appropriately grayed.
DeleteDear Linda, there was a time that my husband used the rapidograph for his work and I to draw ... but as soon as he stopped using them for work, sometimes I used them to draw, so started the disaster of maintenance at the end ... I quit.
ReplyDeleteI threw the last rapidographs , reluctantly, there was no way to resurrect it. But you're right, they really are the PERFECT tool to draw! There will be a new equilibrium, your rapidographs new fully functional and maybe you will want to mix watercolors to create an additional LINDA ART!
I don't want to put that much effort into the drawings at this early point. Ellis and I argue as to what degree of effort a presentation has to be. Unless money has changed hands, I think not so much. He thinks how else are you going to sell the job? I wonder if he would think that if he were the one doing the initial drawings? I think he'd change his opinion. --And so it goes with partnerships. The banter is always lively.
DeleteAs for the pens, I'll find the agitating washing machine and leave them in solution overnight after dinner. I am totally opposed to buying new ones at this early point in a business comeback.
Another fascinating post, posting questions and positing feelings and concerns. You, through your honesty, give an insight into the true artist thinks and feels.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mick. You can only write what you know. We know what we live. I don't breast my cards. I am not a woman of mystery. I lay it all out in hopes others will too and I'll learn something I never knew. Sometimes that happens. Often it does not. But I do know how to work a room by being open and everybody seems to have a good time. :-)
DeleteWhile I can't exactly relate those experiences to writing, I can identify with wine. I think I understand.
ReplyDeleteYes you can JJ. Imagine you can't write anymore. Nobody wants to read your short stories, your poems, your blog, that novel you were working on; you haven't sold a piece in months. Having nothing to do and feeling discouraged, you have to go work at something else. As luck would have it, it turns out you find something you love just as much and you settle in doing it with joy. Suddenly, out of the blue, three years later, a publisher calls, buys your collection of short stories and is interested in your novel too--he just needs a few more chapters. Well back you are at your typewriter/keyboard. Your writing is suddenly paying off again. Your new work isn't. You opt for the buck and put your new work aside. And that's why we never should have taken a bite of that damn apple. (There's a story for you in this paragraph somewhere. Feel free).
DeleteUntil you find the pen washing machine, I find that leaving the nib to soak in really, almost boiling water starts to loosen the dried ink.
ReplyDeleteRunning boiling water for well over an hour didn't work. I need the machine--or new nibs as John Simlett suggested. I used a drawing pen to carry on. It worked okay, but the look isn't as professional as my partner thinks it should. Partners who don't draw can be as painful as a stopped up Rapidograph.
DeleteThe real world has been heavy for me and mine so i've been away from the virtual one. Caught up on your posts today because I refuse to ever miss a one. An honest day's work will do you good. ;) I've had a major project at my work, no drafting, all analyzing, research and writing. No paint in sight. But I have post-it notes. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear your road isn't smooth Dan. I hope you're not having health problems, just the run-of-the-mill kind of crap that turns sunny watercolors gray.
DeleteI can't decide whether mine is or not--I guess it depends on if these projects turn out to be real? What's good about work is we're quoting. The more we quote, the more likely there will be projects that are sold and trades will be employed. I just hate the yanking around stage where people may just be "fishing." You try to qualify buyers, but people do lie and smile while they are doing it.
Yesterday, as I kept adding blacken colors to that watercolor every time I passed by, I was thinking I should really wet and mount a clean sheet, fill my vessel with clean water and set up a still life. Then paint it as I happened by. Maybe today? The happenstance circumstances of the work's creation would certainly keep any serious thinking out of the picture. The results could be interesting? :-)
I used to use rapidographs too, so I know exactly what you are writing about. Even with dedicated maintenance they were extremely touchy. I think I still have mine somewhere too---but, like yours, there is no way they'd "start up". Hopefully, your client will go for your design and you won't be away from painting very long. I like how you strengthened your watercolor.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw them laying in that drawer, I knew my chances of reviving them were slim, but I plunged into the boiling hot water anyway. Figuring my efforts were hopeless, I went ahead and used a drawing pen. I was lucky, it still had life.
DeleteThe life of a drawing pen is more iffy than a Rapidograph. Mine happened to work, but was finicky. It's on it last draw. The shelf life of drawing pens is often a short one. They are not packaged shrink wrapped like ballpoint pens, but kept in an open bin in the art supply store, ready for use. Kept like that, their life could be over two minutes after purchase. Willing it along, I did manage to finish the preliminary sketches, but it was an aggravating, inky afternoon.
Thanks. I think it looks better. It's not a very happy, colorful watercolor, but I sort of like it. There's something being said there about something?
I am not sure as my memory is a bit fuzzy but I think I used acetone to clean my rapidograph.
ReplyDeleteLove the watercolor and the portraits.
Yes Julie, in solution, but where did I hide the bottle?
DeleteThanks. The watercolor is strictly a fool around medium for me, but I still keep an eye on getting those shapes and values down. Portraiture holds my interest; it requires drawing that's akin to drafting--though people might think otherwise.
You do put a smile on my face. Do you still do work that require those tools? Happy painting and other stuff....
ReplyDeleteIt seems that way. It's happy other stuff this week. I'm hoping to clear that desk and let my partner take over as fast as possible.
DeleteI've fallen behind, Linda! Just seen the contract opportunities. As you know Rotring Isograph pens are the main part of my life. If the very fine lines are clogged up - then keep the reservoir and main body and buy the new 'nibs' on line (quite cheap). The larger ones usually come good if soaked in warm soapy water. But you know all that already
ReplyDelete... And don't forget to polish up the coffee mug!
ReplyDeleteI soaked and soaked and burned my hands trying to unclog those three nibs; who had time to soak the coffee mug that's been through so many cups, my lipstick is a permanent design? It looks gross I know, but the coffee's good and I like the lip of it so I've kept it and five others around for years. Not to worry, I do have presentable ones for guests. Those are mine for behind closed doors. Missed you. I hope your work is going well? :-)
DeleteFinal submission of assignment in 6 days, thanks for asking ...then freedom(ish). I have missed your humour (and your humor)! I shall never ever ever write another academic essay
DeleteI find those Rotring difficult to maintain too. Your technical work looks very complicated, you must be very good at maths.
ReplyDeleteWay better than when I was in school. In school, I had no idea what I needed geometry for and did poorly; nobody told you what you used it for. Twenty seven years designing projects to be constructed,I know exactly what for and now the theorems and formulas come naturally. And naturally,I have a few things to say about how we present subjects to youngsters who haven't a clue why they need to know the basics of this or that.
DeleteMy pen nibs are agitating away as I write.
Your drawing looks amazing!! So precise, I am impressed. And I think your painting is lovely too, it looks dark enough to me. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Crystal. These kinds of drawings have to be to scale and the notations mathematically accurate--particularly the notations--for first they will be used for accurately pricing the job and drafting the budget. If the price of the project is okay with the client, then they will be used for building the space. That drawing is an elevation and it needs to be corrected if the project is approved. These kinds of drawings is why I like to balance my life with loose, wet into wet water colors. It's also why I favor portraiture. Portraiture is about accurate measurements too. It took three years to figure that out about myself. How swift is that? :-)
DeleteMy, is there no end to your talents! I wouldn't know where to begin!
ReplyDelete