Rocks and Trees

Joshua Tree National Park always makes me think of Dr. Seuss. When I was young, I thought the alien looking trees in some of his books were imaginary. Until I moved out to California and saw Joshua Trees.

03/09/2020 A big Joshua tree in the middle of a Joshua tree forest.

I planned to camp there this week, then this atmospheric river showed up. A desert full of rocks and washes is no place to tent camp in heavy rain! My friend, Jeannine, and I decided even two days would be better than rescheduling and having something else interfere.

Sunday, March 08, 2020. Sun and rocks behind a dead Juniper tree.

The weather Sunday and Monday was just about perfect: sunny, calm, with temperatures in the 60s during the day and 40s at night. The clouds were thickening all day Monday and by 4 pm it looked like a was storm moving in. I got back to Poway about 8 pm Monday night and by 9 pm it was raining. Great timing!

April 2015
Chynna (my Aussie dog) in Joshua Tree National Park.

Joshua Tree NP is a land of rocks and "trees". Joshua trees are actually arboreal (tree-like) yucca plants. I first went there in 1997 with my sister. Since then, apparently, it has become a hipster destination. The last time I camped there in 2015, I drove up in the middle of the week expecting to be able to get a first-come campsite early in the day. I drove to each campground, but there was not one open site. I ended up finding a site after dark in the Indian Cove campground outside the park boundaries.

Indian Cove campground.
Our campsite next to the rocks.
White-throated swifts were flying arond the rocks behind us.

This time, I decided to reserve a site several weeks ahead. The only campground with sites available during the week that had 3 days open was again, Indian Cove. But it is a beautiful campground with sites surrounded by the same rocks that Joshua Tree is known for.

Some animals we saw on the trails or in the campsite.
Clockwise, Antelope squirrel, common raven,
Sonoran gopher snake, Western Side-blotched lizard,
Pinacate beetle, Desert Cottontail.

The campground is actually within the park boundaries, but doesn't connect directly by road with the rest of the park. So we had a 15 minute drive each day to get back inside the park. It was worth it. The campground was very quiet and serene. Sunday night was the night of a super moon, so there was no Milky Way to be seen, but the brightness of the moon made up for it. I longed to be able to take the time to sketch, but being there such a short time I only did a quick sketch of the campsite and filled in a few of the animals we saw after I got home.

3/09/20 Wall Street Mill Trailhead. 

Most of what we saw at JTNP consisted of rocks and trees, but very impressive looking rocks and trees! We did go on one hike to see some historical landmarks. It was only about 1.2 miles from where we parked to the gold mill, but that apparently was enough to discourage most of the tourists. All the parking lots were full and I had to time it right to get a space as someone drove away, but we hiked back to the mill pretty much by ourselves.

We saw some old cars that I remember from 1997, but I seem to remember them having hoods and roofs back then. However, I haven't found my photos from that era to confirm my memories.

Wall Street Mill was active during the 1930s and 40s. It was used to crush and mill ore to extract the gold. There are several brief, but interesting, stories explained about the history of the site at plaques in the area.

View looking up hill from the end of the Wall Street Mill.
Gold was extracted from rock ore at this site.

It was a great, although short, trip. I arrived home tired and sleep deprived but itching to get back to the desert for another camping trip soon. Next time, probably Anza-Borrego desert.

No Decaf for YOU

Last week, starting saturday, Poway suffered under a boil-water advisory. The restaurants, coffee shops, and store deli were closed. Water was being distributed by the city at Lake Poway and city hall. I only drink decaf, so the coffee has to have a good flavor. Starbucks long ago drove out the small coffee shops, and I find their coffee to be bitter and burnt tasting. It's funny how I was craving just what I couldn't have.

Top: Bean coffee roastery truck serving
 coffee in front of the Starbucks.
Bottom: Water distribution at city hall
viewed through the legs of the statue titled-
"Seeing" by Johnny Bear Contreras

Monday, I drove around town trying to find a new coffee truck that appeared the previous week in the Von's parking lot, since the usual sources of decaf were closed. I did not find him. On Tuesday I enjoyed a walk around town sketching some of the scenes from the no water experience and came across him in front of, duh!, the closed Starbucks. Brian roasted me half a pound of decaf beans and made me an Americano. Yay!

As I was sketching the water distribution at city hall, a man walked out of the building carrying a clipboard. It was a cool day, but he had a large sweat stain down the back of his shirt. I couldn't help wondering if the stress of the "boil water" was getting to him. I really need practice on human figures, but the sweat stain was easy.

12/03/19 Brontosaurus, the cattail gobbling machine.

A couple times a year, some large and very loud machinery travels down the stream behind my house cutting and grinding up everything that grows in the stream bed (mostly cattails), presumably to ensure flood waters have room to travel through without backing up. It took me a few years to actually see the elusive machine. On my walk I found it parked next to the chewed up stream bed. There are chains revolving around in the arm that shred the plants. It was amusing to find out that the machine is named Brontosaurus.

What's Cookin?

I have been obsessed with sketching and that has been just about all I mention in my blog (well, except for the obligatory grandchildren mentions). But I have a life. Really I do! So I thought I would post a few of the other things I am doing this month.

Knitted fingerless mitts, left is flat knit pair from two years ago.
Right is circular knit pair that were just finished. 

First, my knitting. I started knitting two years ago in December by making the fingerless mitts on the left. As you can tell, I wear them a lot because I love the jewel-like tones of the Lion brand "Landscapes" yarn. But I am annoyed by the seam needed for the flat knit pattern. So I tried again with the same pattern and yarn, but using circular methods. Clearly, my gauge has tightened with experience. And I am apparently thumb challenged because both pairs have one thumb longer than the other. The new pair is too small for me, but too long for my 7 year old granddaughter. Maybe a small women's size?

Poway has a Farmer's Market every Saturday morning. I don't usually get there because I am involved in other activities on Saturday, but occasionally I stop for things I can't get elsewhere. Like Giant Kohlrabi. Unfortunately, the last several weeks there have been no kohlrabi at the only booth that grows them. But I have picked up a few other things. I sketched it last Saturday, trying to focus on the amusing sign, but it doesn't look clear. An urban sketcher I am not, at least not yet. The sign indicates NO dogs, NO ducks, and NO elephants! As you can see, the dog owners are unfazed. but I didn't see any elephants!

#Inktober2019, Poway Farmer's Market 10/26/19
"NO dogs, NO ducks, NO elephants"

Last week at the farmer's market, I splurged on a growler of designer Kombucha, a fermented beverage made from black and/or green tea with added flavors. Kombucha is one of my tea/fermentation passions, but my SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) is not producing the kind of flavor and carbonation that I love in my 'buch. So it is time to grow a new one from fresh kombucha. The last time I tried from my favorite store brand the culture did not grow strongly and was less than satisfactory, so I decided to try again with "chef-made" kombucha. The seller (clearly not the producer) claimed that no carbonation was added to the keg (not sure I believe that) and I loved the fizz and flavor. To grow a new SCOBY, I scald a jar, add one to two cups of fresh kombucha, cover with an air permeable top, leave at room temperature for about one week. On the left is a picture of the new SCOBY after 6 days. It grew very well (the red color is from the berry tea they used in the fermentation). After a week, I added it to my gallon kombucha jug in a half gallon brew of green, black, and mint tea and 1/2 cup sugar. On the right is a picture of the SCOBY on the brew after 3 days. It is growing strongly.

Kitchen, October 2019. In front is a jar growing the new
 Kombucha SCOBY.

Kombucha brew with new SCOBY
after 3 days at room temperature.

I was going to crop out the background of the SCOBY starter jar, then realized it is a good cross-section of my kitchen pursuits.

In the picture with the new SCOBY you can see my sprouting container with a mix of alfalfa, clover, radish, fenugreek and lentils on the far left. This time of year, with warmer temperatures in my kitchen, it takes about 5 days to grow to the size I prefer.

In the middle left behind the jar is an heirloom pumpkin that I bought when they went on sale last year. More on that in a minute.

Hanging on the wall is my homegrown Stevia plant drying for the winter. I don't eat sugar and don't like the flavor and processing of store bought stevia so I tried growing my own. I add a couple of leaves to teas and smoothies. I like the flavor of fresh leaves better than dried, which add a taste that reminds me of dried alfalfa, but stevia is a warm weather plant so I don't expect it to grow in the winter. But then again, this is my first year so I might be surprised.

in the middle right is my pottery onion pot, made during my clay-throwing period. On the far right is my InstantPot, a deeply appreciated gift from my daughter-in-law. My favorite uses are Indian cookery and cooking dried beans without having to plan ahead to pre-soak. Love it!!

Unknown variety of heirloom squash, raw and baked.

This time of year I stock up on winter squash. Usually Butternut because it is most available. In November, the pumpkins and unusually colored squashes get marked down. I'm not a fan of the flavor of pumpkin and I prefer to make pies from butternut squash. My favorite squash is Buttercup, but although common in Michigan, I rarely find them out west. Last year about this time, a basket of large heirloom squashes was marked down to $0.99 each, so I bought two. One quickly rotted and the other has been sitting on the counter being decorative for a year. With butternut, the insides would be dried, sometimes moldy, with sprouting seeds and stringy flesh long before a year was up. I almost threw out this squash, but decided to check it. It is as moist, smooth and full of flavor as a fresh squash. I am amazed! I can't find a picture of an heirloom squash that looks the same. Maybe a Jarrowdale cross, as they are known for keeping a long time.

After baking slices of squash smeared with olive oil, salt, and spices I made soup with it. There is no sweetness to this squash, but a rich and complex flavor much better than pumpkin (which is actually a squash). The remaining half will make great pie after roasting and pureeing. I experimented with sweet potato banana pie to see if I could make it sugar free. It turned out okay except for the banana flavor. This time I will try adding some stevia leaves and dates to the puree.

#Inktober2019 10/29 Wilted Dahlias.

It was hot, dry, and windy when I went to the farmer's market last weekend. So I got a good deal on some wilted dahlias, which are still sitting on my counter. I missed two days of Inktober sketches but the flowers were my inspiration today. Inktober is almost over. I loved it!

Library Statues

The local library has a fountain that includes two bronze statues. The fountain has a spot under the shade structure of the central courtyard. It used to have water flowing, adding to the peaceful feeling in the courtyard, which has tables and chairs distributed around the edges. Unfortunately, during the deep drought of a couple years ago all fountains were ordered turned off and it was drained. I don't know if they never turned the water back on because the pool developed leaks or because of liability issues. But the bronze statues of a little girl reading and a boy holding a book are still enjoyable. I sketched them from a distance and later each one close up. The girl was my #Inktober2019 post for day 3. I was using Diamine November Rain and a fude nib pen. The shading I tried to give her face made her look like a lion face. That is not how she looks, but my granddaughter says she likes her better that way.

Library statues at (dry) fountain.
Faber-Castell watercolour pencils on
Blick Mixed Media paper.

Close-up of boy statue with Faber-Castell pencils (watercolour).

Close-up of girl statue at library fountain
Diamine November Rain ink in Hero Fude pen
Blick Mixed Media paper
#Inktober2019 number 3

I missed two days of Inktober sketches. I'm glad no one is enforcing. Here are the other three sketches from the past week. 

#Inktober2019 number 4

#Intober2019 number 7

#Inktober2019 number 8

Travel time

Last month I spent a week with my sister in the Sacramento area. She has a lovely yard and chickens. Although it was hot, in the 90s, I enjoyed sitting on her patio to sketch the yard and watch the Black Throated hummingbirds. The hummers were too quick for me to sketch, but the chickens were fun!

Sister's backyard. Watercolor pencils on Canson XL 140lb paper

Detail study of ornamental grass and yard art.
watercolor pencils and brush pen with green ink.

We are both enabling influences on each other. Her favorite store is Tuesday Morning, a discount store that has a craft supply area. We have found bargains on high end yarn and knitting needles in the past. This time it was colored pencils! I brought home two sets of Spectrum Noir pencils, a set of 12 metallics and a set of 24 Aquablend water color pencils for $7 and $12 respectively. What a deal! Spectrum Noir watercolor pencils are sold in sets of 24 with a color theme to each set. The set I got is the floral theme. So no greens, but a range of reds, oranges, blues and a couple yellows. The pencils are rich and creamy, easily activated with water, but a little crumbly. We also picked up some Canson black paper, which makes the metallics pop!

Yixing teapot
Spectrum Noir Metallic pencils
Canson Black Drawing paper.

Journals sketched with Spectrum Noir Aquablend pencils.
Badfish Coffee, fude pen and brush pen with green inks.

I drink only decaf coffee, so taste is critical. Starbucks and other large coffee vendors have increasingly limited decaf options. I am always looking for small batch roasted decaf at local coffee shops. We hit two in my sister's area and bought single varietal decaf beans. Cold-brew is all the rage but I've never seen decaf cold-brew. We tried cold-brewing the two different beans I had purchased at home. Wow!! It was so good, even my sister said she could switch to decaf. I took the opportunity to do some sketches at the coffee shop.

San Diego airport, Hero fude pen.

Sacramento Airport, Fude nib pen.

Last time I flew, I used the time in the airport to knit a pair of socks. This time, I did some quick gesture sketches of people sitting around me. One in San Diego, one in Sacramento. Quick people sketches that give the essence of their activity or attitude is one of the skills I would love to build. Practice, practice!

#Inktober2019

Inktober is a challenge initiated by Jake Parker. Every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month. Sketches are shared on-line in some way with the #Inktober. There is a list of daily sketch prompts which many sketchers use to determine what to sketch for each day. Other sketchers develop their own personal challenge theme. I have so many challenges in sketching that a personal goal seems more appropriate than using the provided prompts. I love the rich and juicy fountain pen inks in my collection. So I want to feature a different ink in each sketch. I don't have 31 different inks (at least, I don't think I do...) but I may include some brush pen sketches. What do I most want to develop this month? Shading and values. Shading is often accomplished when using ink by line hatching techniques. I made a couple sketches as a warm up to the month. I experimented in one with using two ink colors, intending the blue ink to represent the deepest shading value. It didn't really turn out as planned. So I swiped the blue with a water brush to shade it. Still not quite right.

Top- pen: WingSung 6359 (EF nib)
with Noodler's Black Swan in English Roses ink
Bottom- pens: Platinum Plaisir (03 fine nib)
with De Atramentis Document ink
Sheaffer Vintage Tuckaway (fine Triumph nib)
with Visconti Blue ink shaded with a water brush.

To better understand how to sketch with ink, I read the book "Portfolio: Beginning Pen and Ink" by Desarae Lee. I learned a lot about hatching and values (different levels of shading), but still need much practice! Two take-aways from this first sketch:

1- hatching takes a lot of time! About 3 hours for this one sketch. 

2- hatching looks best with an extra fine nib. The Lamy Left Hand nib is fine, but a German fine is a wider line than the extra fine, or a Japanese made fine nib. 

Monteverde Cherry Danish Ink is a new release that I just received from Goulet Pens. I think it is called cherry danish because when it is wet it is a much brighter red, like cherries. When dry it is more subdued in color.

#Inktober2019, October 1
Pen: Lamy Al-Star (left hand nib)
with Monteverde Cherry Danish

The mouse teapot is a purchase from my first trip to a Teavana store. It is just so cute and it fits into my small collection of yixing clay teapots. As has happened with so many retailers, Teavana was purchased by a larger company and then had all the brick and mortar stores closed. 

It will be interesting to see how I improve with a month's worth of practice. 

On pine trees and pinecones

The smell of pine trees takes me back to childhood and walking in the pine plantings that dot the landscape in rural Michigan. There are several large pine trees in the community park from which I get my pine fix. They also furnish pine cones for use in my little rocket stove. I have never identified the species (that is very important to my inner science geek), so I decided to sketch the bark, needles, and  pine cones as a reminder to me when I get around to looking up a pine tree key. I haven't done that yet, so can't say the species, but the practice has been interesting.

The pine cones have been sitting in the middle of my table, so I keep coming back and trying different media in an attempt to make them look better. The pattern is a Fibonacci sequence that looks deceptively simple.

First, I did a couple of quick sketches.

Fude nib pen and ink on
Blick mixed media paper, 80lb. 

Koh-I-Noor Tri-tone pencils and Noodler's Lexinton Grey ink.
Blick mixed media, 80lb. paper

I wasn't really satisfied with these sketches, so did a more detailed sketch. That took more than an hour. Too long! I came to notice the mountain like details of the individual scales and began sketching from that angle.

Faber-Castell water colour pencils (student grade)
Blick mixed media 80lb. paper

Finally, tried using black paper to provide the shading and did two 15 minute sketches. I have been having fun with the effects on this black paper. The right sketch was done first with my new Spectrum Noir metallic pencils. They lay down smooth and show up well on black paper, but must be sharpened frequently to keep a point. So I tried the sketch on right with a Prismacolor Col-erase blue pencil, which seems very hard when I am trying to use it to put in light lines on mixed media paper. After I finished the sketch, I remembered the pencil is "copy not", meaning it is not supposed to photocopy! So I colored two scales with metallic pencil in case the blue didn't show up. It did.

15 minute pine cone sketches with Prismacolor Col-erase pencil on left
Spectrum Noir Metallic pencils on right. Canson 92lb. black drawing paper.

Here is what the pine cone is supposed to look like.

iPhone picture of the unidentified pine tree pine cone, including a pine nut.

The trees have little clumps of needles coming out of the side of the large trunks.

Pine needles. Graphite and colored pencil.
Strathmore 300 sketch paper.

iPhone picture of pine. I started sketching on site,
then finished from the picture after my feet went numb.

Once a geek, always a geek

I am a science and technology geek. I think I was born that way but then, I also was nurtured in that direction. When I was in second grade, having read all the fun books in our little school library, I was forced to pick a book from the science section. I picked "Earthworms" and learned that they have five hearts and can regenerate up to half their body. What!?! It was like finding out that there were aliens in my backyard. I reread that book over and over during the week I had it. When I had to take it back, I begged my dad to buy it for me and was broken-hearted when he said he couldn't buy a library book. But, that day he put the book in his lunch box and made me a hand lettered and illustrated tiny book about earthworms during his lunch hour. That little book of stapled, lined paper written in pencil was kept in my desktop cedar chest with my most precious keepsakes until I was 16, when most of my treasures were destroyed. Now why did this story come to mind?

Goulet Pens recently recorded a video of a presentation by "the napkin note dad", who discussed the impact that written notes can have on those who receive them. I highly recommend this video. For Starwars geeks, there is a funny story about trying to go through TSA with a light saber.

Writing is often thought to be outdated in the digital age, but a hand written note can be more evocative and more permanent than a text, or even an email. Part of the power of a hand-written note is in the memory evoked by the sender's distinctive handwriting, as well as any little doodles or sketches that can be added. Those notes are often saved and reviewed for years. Since seeing that video, I am considering how to encourage my granddaughter with written notes. Maybe even make her a tiny, illustrated book about something that she is geeked over. Like earwigs.

Notes about earwig observations.
Exceed 100gsm paper and inks

Sam and her dinner guest. Ink and ink wash.
Still working on shading. Exceed 76gsm journal paper.
8/19/19

One of the things that I appreciate about my dad (who raised three of us as a single dad in the 60s when single parents were not common and single dad's were almost unheard of) is that he never said,"You're a girl, you shouldn't be interested in science and math." The societal attitudes at the time certainly did not encourage girls to pursue STEM interests. My dad sometimes brought home little things in his lunch box (he worked at a research facility) to demonstrate simple scientific principles, like electrical charges and chemical reactions. Because of dad, I didn't give in to peer pressure in school to hide my enthusiasm about learning, especially about science. I'm glad I got to be a geek when being a geek wasn't cool. I love seeing the same enthusiasm in Sam.

Tales from the Trails

The creek-side trail behind my house is walled for a little distance by a row of townhomes on one side. A few months ago, a wicker chair and footstool was placed outside one of the gates to a townhome.  That is a first, I wondered if someone decided to discard the chair, or if it was there for use. When I saw a stuffed dog (a life sized Old English Sheepdog) lying in the chair, it looked like an art installation, of sorts. I had to go back to sketch it. The shadows ended up too dark. I think I need to dilute the Noodler's Lexington Gray ink that I keep in my fude pen.

Stuffed dog in chair on creek-side trail.
Various inks and waterbrush.
Canson XL 140lb. paper

Mistletoe on Sycamore, Poway creek.
Inks, pens and brushpen.

Down the trail next to the bridge into my neighborhood is a sycamore tree leaning over the creek bed. It has a very healthy mistletoe plant parasite hanging from it. I had about 15 minutes left before I had to head home, so I decided to try to focus on the mistletoe (considering the dissatisfaction I'm feeling with my sketches of trees).

Green heron, Poway creek. Watercolour
pencils and inks. 

As I walked over the bridge to walk home, a Green Heron burst out from under my feet and flew a few yards down the creek before settling back into the cattails. I often see Great Blue herons, Snowy egrets, and Great (white) Egrets in the creek, but the Green herons are much more secretive. Of course, I had to try to sketch it to record the memory. I used Faber-Castell watercolour pencils because they are fast.

South Poway Hills trailhead with fog. Canson XL 140lb. paper with inks and pencils.

I am trying to get in the habit of taking a half hour hike in the morning when I'm not meeting someone at 7 am. We are still having an unusual percentage of foggy mornings. On my way to the other end of community park, I stopped to try to catch the last of the fog as it drifted along the tops of the hills around the South Poway Trailhead. I used inks and watercolour pencils. The fields here, that I have hiked for almost 20 years, are being choked in the past 8 years by the invasive wild artichoke plants. Just last year and this year they seems to go brown prematurely, I think someone is spraying them with something. A couple days after I sketched this, those brown stalks with the round seeds heads were being chopped and bagged by a crew. I wanted to cheer!

Cleaning vegetation out of the drainage in Community Park. Watercolour pencils and inks. Canson XL 140lb. paper.

Then I walked on through a small neighborhood west of my house to where there is another bridge over the creek. A long drainage runs through the park, it is concrete lined as it flows by dog park and drains into Poway creek. Ducks, crows, herons, killdeer and other birds frequent the shallow drainage and plants take root in the sediment. Once a year, the city scrapes up the sediment and plants. I wish they didn't. I once watched in horror as a female killdeer and two tiny killdeer babies ran just ahead of the skip loader. The next time I saw the mother, there was only one baby. So when I saw the men just starting to scrape up the vegetation, I had to stop for a quickie sketch. I think they are starting later so there were no nesting killdeer in the ditch, only the ubiquitous crows.

Rat wars and epistemology

This is the time of year that brings on the rat wars. The stream bed is drying up in places, vegetation is getting dry-weather tough and the rats descend on my gardens (such as they are). I have been unsuccessful in growing carrots the last two years, and this year they have actually done well in the tiny raised bed and in the large pot where I planted them. I have felt great joy in eating a couple every time I water the plants. The variety is Nantes, the carrots my grandmother always grew in our garden. They are crisper and sweeter than the varieties that are used for market. Tonight, they were all gone. All of them. The tops were chewed off and scattered around and the carrots were all dug out and taken away. That is behind the rabbit-proof fence that I keep around the raised bed. I also thought that the golden cherry tomatoes growing in the front garden bin were suddenly disappearing and tonight when I watered, a rat leaped out of the bin and ran off. They spring all the traps I set and leave them jumbled in a pile. I have seen rats run right by the two electronic traps, baited with chocolate and peanut butter. What is left? Maybe I should get a terrier...

Line sketches at Costco. Jinhao "Shark" pen, extra-fine with Noodler's Black ink.
Exceed 100gsm journal paper.

After seeing a reference to some training exercises for urban sketching from sketcher Marc Taro Holmes I was excited to find he authored a class on Bluprint, to which I have a year subscription. I watched lesson one of "Travel Sketching in Mixed Media", concerning single line sketching. The technique is to practice producing quick sketches by doing a single line contour sketch without lifting the pen. I admit, I couldn't quite do that, but I think it is a good exercise. I did two quick sketches while waiting for my tire rotation at Costco. I added gray and green shading to those sketches, but the two sketches I made tonight while eating with my granddaughter are simpler. Most of the details are omitted, which certainly makes them faster.  I plan to do more.

The conversation with my six year old granddaughter was especially surreal tonight. She said, "I often wonder if I'm living real life." What does that mean?? She says, "How do I know that I'm real? Maybe I'm just imaginary." I said, "What else could you be? A character in a story that some alien is telling his kid?" She laughed, "I just wonder how I know what is real sometimes." I haven't had this type of conversation since I took epistomology in college. And she is only six.

Simple line drawings of Sam and our teapot.
Jinhao fude nib pen, Noodler's Lexington Gray ink. Shading with
Kuretake brush pen and black ink. Artist's Loft journal paper.

Cheap Journal Compare

Top left are Exceed journals; top right are Letterbox journals; bottom is my current journal, Artist's Loft.

Hi, my name is Anne and I am a journal junkie. It has been about two weeks since I have purchased an unneeded journal just because it was pretty and a good price. I have a small shelf of pretty, unused journals that I found in clearance bins. I have given several journals to friends as gifts when I find out that they like to journal. So I'm writing a little info on the current, past, and future journals that I actually use. I made some sketches in each of four of the above journals for a comparison. Noodler's Lexington Gray ink laid down with a juicy fude nib has lots of bleed-through (where the ink actually soaks through to the back of the paper and sometimes to the sheet behind), so I made a sketch in each journal as a comparison of how the paper handles fountain pen ink.

Costco carries a three pack of Letterbox journals for $12.99 at selected times during the year. These are the journals I used for my first two years of bullet journaling. They have 80 sheets (160 pages) of cream colored, lined paper. I have a note that the weight is 80gsm, I'm not sure where I got that figure, but it is consistent with my experience with these books.

Things I like:

+Fountain pen friendly - Rarely bleed-through, and very little show-through (the writing is discernible as a shadow on the back side, but the ink does not soak through) with all my pens except the Sharpies.

+Paper color is not quite yellow, but not stark white. Colors show up well.

+10 inch by 7 inch hard cover that is sturdy enough to withstand eight months of daily use and traveling. The three packs are available with various bright covers, or dark shades. The books open flat.

+One ribbon book mark and a sturdy back pocket.

+Did I mention the price? $4.34 each. Unbeatable.

Reasons I have moved on:

-a little larger than is convenient to carry.

-dark lines are a distraction behind the sketches I like to include. I have checked the Spicebox website (where the price is considerably more than Costco) and there are no plain or dotted page options in these journals.

Letterbox journal sketch with Jinhao x750, fude nib.
Ink is Noodler's Lexington Gray. Hand 19.

Letterbox journal, back side of Hand 19.
 Some bleed-through visible.

Michael's craft store carries a line of Artist's Loft journals.

Things I like:

+Hard covers that open flat in several bright colors. The binding has held up well to daily carry for 3 months. Includes two ribbon bookmarks but no back pocket.

+true A5 size (8 x 6 inches)

+white paper available with dotted format. Said to be 80 gsm weight, but it does not perform as if the paper is that heavy.

+Only $5, a great price!

Reasons I am moving on:

-Not friendly to all fountain pens. Show-through and bleed-through with some inks.

-buckles and bleeds with even light washes.

-Platinum Carbon Black ink feathers and that is one of my main inks for bullet entries.

Artist's Loft journal paper.
Jinhao with fude nib
Noodler's Lexington Gray ink.
 Hand 17

Artist's Loft paper, back of
Hand 17. Heavy bleed-through. The ink
actually soaked into the second page.

Walmart stocks Exceed journals in two paper weights, soft and hard covers, and three sizes. In 2018 I bought a large format (7.5 x 9.75 inches), dotted (came also in lined format), softcover journal with one ribbon bookmark and a back pocket for $8.64. The paper is cream colored, 78 gsm with no coating. I use it as my pen and ink notebook. I see show-through and sometimes bleed-through with many fountain pens and inks, so I wouldn't consider it for most journaling or sketching. I generally only use one side of the page when I am using fountain pens, or I live with the show-through behind what I write on the back side of a page. Still, the paper handles fountain pens better than the Artist's Loft journal, with no feathering of Carbon Black ink.

Exceed 78gsm paper, Jinhao with fude nib.
Noodler's Lexington Gray ink. Hand 20

Exceed 78gsm, back of page
Hand 20 showing bleed-through.

In 2019, the paper was changed in Exceed journals. There are now three sizes available with 100gsm, coated paper. I have the new A5 journals which come with 120 sheets (240 pages), two ribbon bookmarks, hard covers, multiple cover colors and a back pocket. They do not lie quite as flat as the lighter paper version, but it is acceptable to me (although I do have to sometimes hold the page down as I sketch). The two smaller sizes cost less than $9, the larger size (soft cover) is around $13. The paper does not have bleed-through, and little show-through with the inks I use. Light, water washes result in a little buckling, but still no bleed-through. 

Exceed 100gsm paper; Jinhao with fude nib;
Noodler's Lexington Gray; Hand 18
No bleed-through or show-through on back

Exceed 100gsm paper; Platinum Carbon Desk Pen;
Platinum Carbon Black Ink; Wing Sung 6359 pen with
Diamine Chocolate Brown Ink; Faber-Castell watercolour pencils
with water wash.

Exceed 100gsm paper. Back side of Butterfly entry. No bleed-through and very slight show-through
 of green leave wash on left.
Minimal buckling of paper.

In summary- for my usage preferences: 
Text journaling: Letterbox journals- good paper; acceptable for fountain pens; bargain price. 

Sketch journaling: Exceed 100gsm, A5 size, great paper; fountain pen friendly; accepts light water wash with minor buckling; reasonably priced.

Unacceptable for journaling (according to my usage): Artist's Loft journal; show-through with all my pens and inks except Pigma Microns; bleed-through and feathering with fountain pens; using a water wash makes for heavy bleed-through and buckling.