Getting materials for sketching and journaling

As I begin to prepare materials for the watercolor journaling class in September...I am going to encourage folks interested in this topic to consider some materials that might not have tried before in journaling.  

Besides the more traditional watercolor/pencil/ink which is wonderful and fun.  I like to trade off from time to time using small sketches with different water media...water-soluble pens, watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons.  I also love water-soluble graphite!  Yes, they make pencils that are usable with water too.  I'll write more about them later. 

Pictured here (blue-green colored in the middle of the picture)  also is a "water brush".  When using these slightly different media, I've found a water brush is really a fun and easy tool to use.  The barrel of the brush fills with water and you simple press lightly to wet the brush.  (no need to carry around a water jar or dipping your brushes!)  There are several brands.  The one I have is called Niji Waterbrush and I got it out of Cheap Joe's catalog.  But I see that ASW Art Supply Warehouse had them on sale in their summer flier (until the end of July).  It is a brand called Aquastroke and you get 4 brushes for $8.73 (shipping is $5.95 no matter how small or large your order is).  The code # for this item is 41-3739. If you are interested.  I'll be demonstrating the aqua pens at the workshop on September 16...click on "sketching" on the labels section of the blog and more info on that should come up.  

ASW also has Derwent watercolor pencils on sale 12 pencils for $10.00.  #08-0389.  Now finding the water-soluable pens is more of a hunt.  I don't recommend a whole set.  Just black and maybe a burnt sienna.  Tombow Pens are THE best.  Sometimes you can find them sold separately at stores that sell stamping supplies.  You can google Tombow pens and find many place that sell them (I like the dual tip ones) and they are not expensive.  It's just the shipping costs that are prohibitive!  Check out the pen sections of stores like Staples and Office Depot and see what they might have in "water based pens" and experiment.  

The book by Brenda Swenson that I have shown is the one I recommend for my students in journaling and sketching.  Michaels has it for $10 and I think Cheap Joes has it for about $7.00 if you are placing an order there anyway.  Again...shipping is the issue.  It's really a terrific little book for the money!