Dear Kate Johnson and I egg each other on with our delight/mania over art supplies, but what are friends for? She was having such fun with some beautiful old Waterman fountain pens that I decided I had to try one, too. I'm not crazy about my first sketches with mine, but I AM crazy about the pen (what a supple, sensitive nib!!) Now I've got to figure out a way to take it with me on my sketching trip to Turkey at the end of this month----it's not the pen I'm worried about, it's the quantity of Platinum Carbon ink I don't want festooning the insides of my suitcase! Other than my windmill palm and a few other shrubs, my new Mediterranean garden looks like a bunch of sticks stuck in the ground. It's March, you know, so let's be circumspect. I'll be sketching the garden as it develops. 
As for the trip to Turkey, I'm so excited! I've been invited by a new friend to visit and sketch and Casey Toussaint, my great buddy, is going with me. We've drawn together in Paris, Amboise, Brittany, and Charleston, SC, and now we're going to add Istanbul and Bodrum and places yet unknown to our map. I, of course, am still anguishing over which art supplies to take. It was ever thus.
In other news, I've been asked to be the judge for a poster competition at Artybuzz.
I was not familiar with this site when I was asked to participate as judge, but there is an interesting range of work there, some of it quite good. There are two weeks left to enter and to vote for your favorite, so check it out!
Waterman offers something different depending on the era you get into. If you like high flex points, then you want the very old Waterman's New York stock. You can get more modern vintage items from the 30s-50s (including early cartridge pens). If you like very modern designs the French Waterman products also offer that. While I find a great variety to be present in the brand, I also find that if you're a big time Phileas fan, it might be hard to jump right into a 52. I wrote with a Phileas every day for a number of years and the 52 was a shock by comparison. I like them both, but find it difficult to switch back and forth between the two because they are so radically different. I just find the brand history to have a disconnect for some reason, between the old New York offerings and the modern French ones.
PS. Love the picture of Abby
Posted by: Vintage Pens | August 06, 2010 at 12:20 PM
dear Laura, I keep looking and looking at your paintings and think how wonderful and expressive they are, in both color and line. When I started thinking of attempting my own site I looked around at others art work and I kept coming back and STARING, and wishing that one day I will be as free with my line and color! ps: i particularly found your drawing of your mother very touching...Leslie B
Posted by: leslie berlinsky | May 25, 2010 at 09:32 PM
lovely - I would like one of those pens too. Do you know about the VIsconti Travelling ink pot -works really well for me! - not a great link here http://www.thomaspens.com/visconti%20pens/visconti%20travelling%20ink%20pot.html
Posted by: Liz & Borromini | March 27, 2010 at 04:08 AM
Thanks so much! All were done with the Waterman pen and watercolor washes---no brush pens this time.
Posted by: Laura | March 21, 2010 at 06:11 PM
I love the way you draw, you have an amazing style!
Posted by: Ann Christine Dennison | March 21, 2010 at 05:46 PM
Great! This reminds me of those classic books which has drawing on it.. really good work of art!
Posted by: renaissance costume | March 18, 2010 at 09:11 AM