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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Testing New Paper: Apica CD15 Notebook

Recently I've picked up a few new sketchbooks to try out the paper!  I still love hand-making my own sketchbooks, sure, but sometimes it is fun to buy them and try out new surfaces.

This week I did a first sketch in my new Apica CD15 notebook (11x7 inches).  Apica is a Japanese brand and I gather they are made for calligraphy work.  As a result, though the paper is quite thin, ink doesn't bleed through the pages.

The pages of these notebooks are lined (I couldn't find any blank for sale anywhere), which makes sense for practicing writing.  I'm not partial to drawing on lined paper, but I thought I'd give it a whirl anyhow.  I've seen interesting work done on lined paper by lapin, and I wanted to try it again.

I decided to do a sketch of a sea turtle, based on a photo I took on one of my snorkeling expeditions.



I used a Uniball Vision fine pen--the black is waterproof and quite inexpensive.  I also used gouache of different sorts.

You can tell from the photo that the paper buckled a bit, but that didn't bother me.

All that paint and water and ink and not one iota of anything bled through the page!  That really was quite a surprise to me.

These are interesting notebooks that come in a variety of sizes.  You can find out more--including a few very informative videos showing sizes and colors at Goulet Pens.

There are other Apica notebooks as well.  I don't know if they all perform the same way, but I assume not because the paper is different.

Worth noting:  painting this turtle took me straight back to the many wonderful encounters I've had with them while snorkeling in the Virgin Islands.  I need to sketch more from my underwater photography!  I feel so terrific and relaxed afterward--just like I've had a swim.

Looking forward to trying out more paper soon.

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