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Wednesday, November 05, 2014

A Great Little Sketchbook for Thumbnails

'Bring On the Birds'                 11x14             pastel               ©Karen Margulis
painting available $165
 I am always looking for better ways to take my medicine. The medicine of Doing My Thumbnails. I know I am not the only one who avoids them even though I know they are good for me. Doing a thumbnail always leads to a better painting. Rather than thinking of them as medicine perhaps I should think of them as vitamins......or even better....thumbnails as chocolate!

OK so thumbnail sketches are not chocolate but I do have several ways to make them more enjoyable. One of them is to keep the process accessible and simple. I have tried many sketchbooks but was thrilled when I stumbled across this little sketchbook by Pentalic.

A great little sketchbook for thumbnails
This is a small sketchbook measuring 4" x 3" which makes it the perfect size for thumbnails. It is also very portable which is wonderful for plein air outings.  The sketchbook is called the Traveler Pocket Journal. It has 160 pages of acid-free 74 lb. recycled paper. It comes in a few cover colors. The best part is the low cost. I found mine at Blick.com for only $3.26 each! click here for link

Thumbnails really do help and creating them before painting is just a matter of developing a good habit. Anything you can do to make them fun is worth trying. The reward for the effort is a better chance at a successful painting!

Painting note:  I did a value underpainting with a #305 spruce blue Nupastel washed with alcohol on Ersta sanded paper ( I had this paper in my stash and never tried it but I really had no good reason to save it)
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2 comments:

  1. robertsloan2art3:25 PM

    Nice tip! I'm going to try these little journals the next time I order from Blick. They look good and aren't very expensive, recycled is an added plus. I carry pocket sketchbooks all the time, every time I go out. Sometimes I only have time for a small sketch but that's enough to give me a memory of what I was drawing from.

    I know I should do multiple thumbnails to plan a painting too, but I often skip that. lol

    I think it's a natural tendency, a desire to get right on with it. But you're right that it always does improve the painting!

    Gorgeous painting this time. I think the blue value painting affected your colors, they're so rich in this one and the blue unifies everything. Wonderful scene.

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  2. Unknown7:22 PM

    If the paper used are the same as before the covers were redesigned, it will handle light watercolor washes pretty well too for such a light weight paper. I would get one with the new covers, but I still got some of the older ones.

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