Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Road-testing art supplies


Panorama from Moraine Lake Road
Watercolour and crayon
©2015 Charlene Brown
In preparation for my up-coming trip to Japan, I was going through my travel painting supplies, and realized I needed a new Carnet de Voyage (Arches Aquarelle® travel book, containing 15 coil-bound 6 x 10 inch sheets of watercolour paper). I went to the shop where I purchased my last three Carnets and the Millennials in charge had never heard of them, so I settled for a Strathmore® travel book (12 coil-bound 6 x 12 inch sheets). I’ve used Strathmore small sheet paper before, and have no problem with the brand, but found their book to be alarmingly less expensive than Arches, for only slightly less paper... I wondered if the paper might buckle under a splashy wash, or if the surface might not take masking fluid (neither of which I use much while traveling, but you never know)... I also had my doubts about the panorama format.
What better place to road-test my new panorama-format book than on a road? As it happens there is a more panoramic view of the peaks along the continental divide from this point on the road to Moraine Lake than from the lake itself, in the world-famous Valley of the Ten Peaks.  

The book holds up just fine to lots of water and masking fluid too.