Saturday, February 26, 2011

Write-In-The-Rain Paper

I've been sitting on some "write-in'the-rain" paper designed for biologists, loggers and such. Wonderful stuff. It has a mind of its own when accepting various media, but it does let me sketch out in inclement weather. Yesterday was wonderful. I could stand amongst falling snow and sketch away.

A stillness surrounds me. Big, fluffy snowflakes drift down from a grey, windless sky. Cars off in the distance are muffled, making my world smaller and wilder. I can almost forget I am in a city park. I walk over to the second pond. Lots of nearby goose chatter; a killdeer calls from across the pond, “Killllldeeeer”; a string of trees are reflected in the gray water. I savor the mix of quiet water, silent snow, and the morning greetings of the geese.

It isn’t even freezing now, but did last night. All is frosted in white and starting to drip even as more snow falls. Coot come out on land to feed and soon gather short blankets of snow on their dark shoulders and sprinkles on their black heads. My paper is getting covered with slush … but the snow just keeps getting better and better.

6 comments:

  1. That paper sounds like an excellent proposition Elva! And these sketches are great, I can just see the Coot with their snow-covered backs!

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  2. Love the sketches, Eva. I am curious about the paper. Where does one buy it and what does one ask for?
    annie

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  3. Hi Annie.... I found mine at the Univ. of Wash Bookstore in Seattle Wash. The brand is "Rite in the Rain and they have a website:
    www.riteintherain.com. good Luck!

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  4. Thanks for much for the link, Elva. Fascinating idea and completely new to me.
    annie

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  5. P.S. Elva, I just visited the link. What a practical and creative idea to make all-weather paper and pens, etc. I guess, if I had thought about it, I would have realized that they must make something like these products, somewhere...but not a clue... Gonna HAVE to play with some. I love the look of your sketch lines and marvel at your determination to work on a notebook getting covered in slush.
    annie

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  6. That's lovely, Elva, I just shared this on the Artists Journal Workshop blog!

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