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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Landscape Sketches

To see my paintings visit my website www.janblencowe.com

This old New England stone wall borders part of our property and seemed a suitable subject for this wonderful long format (6x9) Stillman & Birn Gamma series sketchbook, 100lb. ivory vellum paper which is quite lovely for pencil work.

I found some really neat pencils the other day at Jerry's in West Hartford. They are made by O'BON and instead of the 2B graphite being encased in wood the pencils are made from recycled newspaper using their patented Rolled On method. This method of construction protects the lead so it doesn't break easily and will last 2-3 times longer than an ordinary wood pencil. The pencils are non-toxic, easily sharpened and are also water resistant. The O'BON pencils support international recycling policies and are available in HB and 2B as well as colored pencils. The only downside is that they are made in China. China is the number one polluter in the world, and surprisingly, by a big lead. In 2010, China had a total CO2 emission of 8.2 million thousand metric tonnes, almost TWICE that of the USA. *Sigh*  I can only hope that by purchasing these I'm helping O'BON earn a profit and someday be able to  manufacture their pencils in the USA in a way that is environmentally friendly, and thus probably more expensive.We live in a complicated world.


Also in the S&B Gamma sketchbook a view of the Indian River as it empties into the Long Island Sound. This was done using a Caran d'Ache sepia, Supracolor watercolor pencil. 



1 comment:

Jude said...

Love both of these drawings but I have to say, nothing beats an old New England stone wall.