The EDM challenge to draw some school supplies got a some great responses. There is no question in my mind about why that happened. In order to get school supplies, you have to go into a place where there are pencils, pens, ink, paper, erasers, rulers, tablets and notebooks. Office supply stores are second only to art supply stores in the heart of an artist! There is so much to see, touch and smell! No matter what you buy, when you get home and open the bag, there is a sense of excitement about the "newness," and possibilities, that lie within each item. Just how long will it take to fill that notebook? Are those pencils the perfect ones for sketching? Will this brand of eraser work better on my watercolor paper? When I use this glue, will it buckle the support for my collage? So many memories and so much potential are wrapped up in new school supplies.
I have one pencil that I use only for special things. It lays down a smooth line, dark and rich. The lead seems to flow onto the page, almost like a gel pen! I have no idea how long I have had it or where I got it. I have searched for several years trying to locate others like it. The closest I have ever come to it are the "Mirado Black Warriors." Even then, the ones from the office supply are just a little bit too hard - not as smooth as the "magical pencil" of unknown origin that I love so much.
If I couldn't find the magic pencil, perhaps I needed a new pen! I did my own informal poll of my favorite EDM sites and discovered that the Lamy Safari pen and Noodler's Ink are the favorite of many artists. If they could draw so beautifully with a Lamy and Noodler's, what were the chances that I could draw even better with the same supplies? After a few searches on the web, I found just the pen I was looking for - a bright yellow Lamy, extra fine nib, and Noodler's "Bulletproof Black" Ink! Since many of the suppliers also sell pencils, I decided that it wouldn't cost much to see if I could find my special pencils on line. I decided to get a box of the Warriors with a 2B lead and see if they were the kind of pencils I was looking for. Yep! They are smooth, dark, able to produce a variety of marks, not expensive and available on line. That's about as "magical" as it gets!
The marvelous pencils and "highly favored" pen and ink haven't turned my sketches into works of art, but I'm glad I bought them. My drawing and sketching may not have improved at all, but I love using my new "school supplies." I think that if I do enough sketching to wear all twelve pencils down to nubs, and use a whole bottle of "Noodler's Bulletproof " with my yellow Safari, I am sure to be a better artist! Practice, practice, practice...!
