I Am So Easily Amused

I’m having fun this morning. It’s Saturday as I write this, and Saturday is definitely play time in the studio. I often do art journaling on the weekends. My husband is home and as often as not he’s downstairs working on our spa project or maybe just sitting by the fire watching his favorite television programs. As much as I love my husband, having him around the studio is not conducive to fine art or serious art practice of any sort. So, I relax. I get out my journal. I grab whatever new art supplies I happen to have, and I have fun playing.

I began the morning by opening the January subscription box from Let’s Make Art. Yes, I’m behind on the art journal projects, but it doesn’t matter. The ideas, the themes, the prompts, and the techniques — along with the video tutorials — will still be there whenever I’m ready for them.

So, today I opened the box to EXPLORE — that’s my word for the year, you know — the contents. There are several liquid watercolors, some lovely collage paper, and several other little goodies that we’ll be using for the month’s different projects.

And then I pulled out a CLEAN COLOR DOT METALLIC pencil. It’s gold, it’s made by Kuretake, and it’s absolutely awesome! At first I was a bit curious about it, so I quickly opened it and tested it out on a sheet of note paper. The paper was scrap paper, not pristine, so you’ll see grease stains. I brought a couple pieces of bacon to the studio this morning. Yeah, I get messy that way at times.

Just look at those lovely little dots! If I barely touch the surface, I get tiny little dots. A little more pressure produces larger dots. Oh, how much fun I had just putting little metallic dots on this paper, all the while thinking of the art journal pages I’ll make and embellish with golden dots.

Or silver dots, or one of the other colors that comes in the set I just purchased. Well, actually, I used a few of my “Amazon points” — which means no additional cost for these markers. Yes, once I discovered the fun I can have making dots of different sizes, I rushed to Amazon to see what I could find.

Let me tell you a little more about the CLEAN COLOR DOT METALLIC PENS. They are actually dual purpose, you see. One end has the “dot tip” and the other end has a fine 1.0 mm tip for lettering or very small little dots.

The pens contain water-based pigment ink which — once dry — is smudge-proof. One note of caution, however: THE PENS MUST BE STORED HORIZONTAL. I’ll find a little box where I can place all my pens, and I will definitely have fun with these, especially as I practice my zen doodles and hand lettering.

I had to laugh at myself a bit to think that something as simple as a new art marker could bring me so much joy and so much pleasure. Indeed, I am easily amused, but if you grab one of these markers you might find yourself as excited and as entertained by their possibilities as I was.

Good art supplies can do that, you know. They can grab our attention and make us eager to grab paper, paints, or whatever else we need and start having a fun day of art!