Friday, October 26, 2007

Playing catchup





Hubby and I spent the day doing some errands. Trying to second-guess what might come up in the next week or so that we can deal with today. Make sense? Probably not. But makes sense to me. I know, I am weird. I don't like surprises and try to prepare for any and everything.

I wanted to get supplies in so that hubby won't have to stop on his way home to "pick up" things. He works long enough hours without doing errands each night. Plus for a week he will be dealing with the dogs, household things, and visits to the hospital. Since he likes hospital food, he won't have to cook. But the dogs also like to eat, and they don't like their routine interupted.
Four more days left until surgery. The time is passing fast. The dog goes to the groomer on Monday. Another thing out of the way for a month. This weekend I plan to devote to getting a few things around the house in line, tax classes, and packing some art supplies and other incidentals that I will be taking to the hospital. I will take too much, but that is me. If I don't have it packed for hubby to bring, he won't be able to find it later. He is lost when it comes to finding anything. For one reason we have a small house and lots of stuff. We are both pack rats. Another reason is he has no patience.
I ordered and got some new pens. Anita Davies was always singing the praises of the Lamy fountain pens and Noodler's Ink she was using. Well I couldn't resist any longer. I had to have some.
I wonder why it is that all artists never have enough supplies no matter how many they have. One set of colored pencils is not enough...have to have a set of each brand. Then spares need to be horded. Then when any other person tells about a new item, we all have to have it. But without that shared knowledge, we would never learn about the new items. A lot of which make our art journey easier or more pleasureable.
The Lamy pens are so nice. So smooth. I hate scratchy pens or pencils. I even get scratchy leads at times. They get tossed. I can't stand the sound or feel. That may be one reason I don't like charcoal or pastel. The sound they make (as well as the "messy").
I now have 3 of the Lamy pens. One bottle of Hunter's Green Ink, some adapters to use with bottled ink, and some prefilled cartridges with blue and black ink. I will keep one pen for the cartridges. The other two will be used with bottled ink. I still need to buy another color. Haven't yet decided which color. I like the two colors that Anita uses (red/black and a greyish color).
I do have a couple bottles of Sennelier stain. It says a "traditional shellac based ink with a transparent satin finish. Thinned with water and superimposable, the inks can be intermixed. Apply with a brush or drawing pen". I have sepia and walnut
I would love to try these but am afraid to ruin my Lamy pen. So I won't take the chance. The pens cost me plenty especially as I had to order them online. Maybe I will buy a cheap fillable pen to try them on. If anyone knows anything about the use of the Sennelier, please let me know.
Well time to get something done. I had a late nap, so will probably be up awhile but things are pressing me and I am running out of time to get things done.
Photos taken at the last outing. Click the photo for a larger version.

2 comments:

Joan said...

Jeanne, I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to try every product I hear about. It's funny how you can do so much with very few supplies. The best thing I tried lately was the waterbrush. It made it so easy to paint in plein air in Spain - just that and my little W&N field kit.

Robyn Sinclair said...

I read in Jos A Smith's The Pen & Ink Book NEVER to put shellac based ink in a fountain pen. So your instincts are right, Jeanne, it would not have been good for you new Lamy pens. THREE of them - you are even luckier than I thought! Enjoy!