Join us live online for Bending Perspective with Jenny Jing Zhang (@jennymouse2003 ) on Saturday, May 30th, 10am–12:30pm Pacific!
🛤️
Jenny is an urban sketcher, artist, architectural designer and educator based in Chicago. Known for her playful take on cityscapes, Jenny will demonstrate how to fan perspective in her unique style. Join with Live Access or follow along later with Recorded Access.
🌆
We hope to see you there!
Nature journaling prompt no. 23: Evergreen study. We in the Pacific Northwest are lucky to be surrounded by evergreen trees. Today we’ll take the time to appreciate some of them by studying and sketching three different types of evergreens. What do you notice about the overall silhouette of the tree, the texture of the bark, and the individual needles? What colors do you see? What differences do you observe among the three different species?
🌲
Marketing Assistant Tammy Xiao took on the prompt above. Read their reflections below:
"I love observing evergreen trees in spring: how they shoot out bright green needles at their tips, and develop bright yellow and pink male and female cones that are structural wonders.
"Here I have sketched pine branches with the Viarco ArtGraf Water-Soluble Graphite and a brush dipped in water. It was my first time using this medium, which was surprisingly smooth to work with, and versatile—I could both use it to build flat washes and create the texture of pointy pine needles by flicking my brush. The result looks a bit like a Chinese ink painting. I definitely want to play around more with water-soluble graphite!"
✏️
Thank you, Tammy, for sharing your words and art with us! If you create art based on this nature prompt, tag it with #NatureJournaling2026 and #ArtToolkitFridayPrompt. We love to see what you create!
Shipping and Retail Specialist Ron Ransom (@ronransomart ) uses Walnut Ink directly in his Pentel Aquash Water Brush for figure drawing, portraits, and on-location sketching.
👨🎨
Ron enjoys the wide range of value that can be achieved with Walnut Ink—you can use it with a fountain pen or dip pen to get darker details, by building up layers of ink. The pigment mixes well with other media, including Copic Multiliner pens, colored pencils, De Atramentis Document Ink, and white gel pens—which Ron uses frequently on top of walnut washes to make his highlights pop!
🐿️
Thank you, Ron, for sharing your art with us! A new addition to our Sketching Tools page, Daniel Smith Walnut Ink is now available on our website! Link in bio.
Learn to bend the rules of perspective with Jenny Jing Zhang’s (@jennymouse2003 ) playful and unique take on sketching the urban landscape in her upcoming live workshop! This online workshop, Bending Perspective: Explore Dynamic and Expressive Cityscapes, will take place on Saturday, May 30th, 10am–12:30pm. We hope to see you there!
🏙️
Jenny recommends bringing a fountain pen, pencil, and a dip pen. Jenny uses different nibs with the Chinco pen nib holder or one-time use chopsticks as a stand-in dip pen! Bring whatever brushes you already have—Jenny will guide participants through brush options during the workshop. Lastly, Jenny will be using Fabriano Mixed Media paper, so be sure to have loose paper or a sketchbook that can handle some watercolor!
🥢
Shop these supplies, and register for Live or Recorded Access for Bending Perspective via the link in our bio!
🛤️
#OnlineWorkshop #LearnWithArtToolkit #Cityscape #Perspective
Did you know you can fill your Water Brush with Walnut Ink?
🖌
The natural, even pigment lends itself to a smooth wash and to building layers of depth in your sketches. Like transparent watercolor, Daniel Smith Walnut Ink can be layered and lifted.
🟤
Load Walnut Ink spill-free with our Refill Syringe, available on our Accessories page, and which is included with both Pocket and A5 Art Toolkits with Tools!
Handmade in the United States, Daniel Smith Walnut Ink is derived from walnut husks. Use it with a paint brush or dip pen, and apply it as a wash or to build layers of depth in your sketches. Like transparent watercolor, this natural pigment can be layered and lifted.
🟤
The warm color adds character, giving your artwork a rich sepia tone and historical feel, like the classic works of da Vinci and Rembrandt.
👨🎨
In this video, we explored how the pigment of Walnut Ink played with white, beige, and grey-toned sketchbooks using a Neptune 1" Mottler.
📒
Find Walnut Ink, along with other new additions to our shop, via the link in our bio.
Nature journaling prompt no. 2: Sketch your tools! Not only is this a great way to experiment with and test out your materials (what do your pigments actually look like on the page vs. in the pan? How does the ink of your pen hold out against water?), but it’s also a great little practice for drawing from life. You can stage your brushes and palettes anyway you like, and maybe create some sample swatches for reference to see how your pigments blend—at the end, you’ll have a fun and handy little addition to your sketchbook.
🖌️
Today we’re sharing the prompt above, as well as participant art from Understanding Value: Bring Depth to Your Art with Ohn Mar Win (@ohn_mar_win ). Thank you, Brenda Tanksley, Laura Pozzi Brown, and Lisa Work for joining the workshop and sharing your art with us! The workshop introduces different techniques for understanding value, shape and color through sketching your art supplies.
🎨
In the workshop, Ohn Mar guides participants through the process of observational painting from start to finish. Begin with a warm up focused on highlights and shadows, move to an exercise in painting mid-tones, and close with a final painting in color.
🖍
Register for Recorded Access for this and all Art Toolkit workshops, or sign up for Live Access for our remaining Spring Workshop Series, via the link in our bio.
For Marketing Assistant Tammy Xiao’s sketches on the Sloop Clearwater, they drew inspiration from Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji, a series of woodblock prints in which the artist illustrated the land and seascape around Mt. Fuji in different seasons and from different perspectives. Tammy used a muted palette for their sketches, to pay homage to the colors that Hokusai used in his prints.
🗻
Here are Tammy’s supplies below, in hopes that they inspire you to create your own art project around trips, internships, or any learning environment!
🎓
Tammy had a Blue Pocket Art Toolkit filled with the following:
• A Black Demi Palette with Mini Pans filled with the following Daniel Smith paints (clockwise starting from upper left): Sepia, Indanthrone Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cerulean Blue Chromium; Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Rose; New Gamboge, Indian Red.
• A Sailor Fude De Mannen Fountain Pen
• An Aquash Water Brush, a Rosemary & Co R20 Short Flat Size 6 Brush, and a Neptune 1" Mottler.
📝
Read Tammy’s full blog post and see photos of their trip and artwork on "36 Views of the Clearwater," via the link in our bio!
In March, Marketing Assistant Tammy Xiao stepped away from their normal work at Art Toolkit to spend a month as a winter maintenance trainee with the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (@sloopclearwater ), a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the Hudson River. The organization owns and operates a historic 106' Hudson River Sloop replica that is recognized as America’s Environmental Flagship.
⛵
Tammy caught the tail end of winter maintenance and missed a lot of the official training, but still got to experience welding, make baggy wrinkles, do some painting and woodworking, and assist with youth programs.
🪓
Read about their experience integrating a daily art habit while working on the boat on the blog post, “36 Views of the Clearwater,” via the link in our bio.
⚓︎
#HudsonRiver #BoatMaintenance #ArtEveryDay
We met Johnny Thomas at NAMTA (@namtaartmaterialsassociation ) in Seattle last spring and loved his moody skies, dramatic washes, and his advice to “trust the water.” Today we’re sharing some of his art with you!
🦋
Johnny Thomas (@johnnythomasart ), a watercolor artist based in Southern Louisiana, is always chasing the challenge that comes with the medium. He was drawn to watercolor because of what it requires of you: to work with rather than against it. His process stays loose, letting the water move, building up layers, and then coming back in with details once everything settles.
🦐
His go-to tools are cold-press paper, a solid round brush, and a handful of paints he knows well. Johnny primarily uses Holbein paints and Silver travel brushes, and his favorite palette for travel is the Folio Palette because it keeps everything compact and ready to go.
🖌️
“One thing I didn’t expect from art is how it opened the door to travel and connecting with other artists. It’s taken me to places I probably never would have seen otherwise, and given me the chance to paint them in my own way while I’m there.”
🌅
Thank you, Johnny, for sharing your art and story with us! See more artwork and support him on his Patreon and on his socials, @johnnythomasart .
🦬
#ArtistFeature #Watercolor #Louisiana
For best results with our new Drawing Gum, we recommend following tips from the manufacturer, Pebeo!
🖌️
• Protect your brush by first dipping it in dishwasher detergent. Squeeze any excess detergent out with your fingers, then dip in, and apply Drawing Gum to your paper.
• Wash your brush in warm water within five minutes.
• Test masking fluid on a small area of your paper to ensure in can be applied and removed smoothly with a Liquid Frisket Remover.
🧼
For more information, visit Pebeo’s website.
Protect your brights with Pebeo Drawing Gum, a removable liquid frisket that masks areas of watercolor, gouache, graphite, and ink sketches!
✒️
Apply Drawing Gum with a brush to areas of your painting you would like to keep white, and wait for the liquid to dry and become waterproof—about 30 seconds to five minutes depending on the thickness of the layer applied and the surface. Then, paint over the masked areas and, once your painting has completely dried, peel off the Drawing Gum with your fingers or a Liquid Frisket Remover.
🖼️
Pebeo Drawing Gum dries blue-gray, making it visible on paper. It is water-soluble when wet and dilutes and cleans with water.
💦
Learn more about our new masking supplies on our Accessories page via the link in our bio!
@pebeo_officiel
@pebeo_usa
