NEW KURETAKE PENS
I have my friend Caroline on the ArtKula forum to thank for these – she is the great temptress on the forum, introducing us to all sorts of art materials that we’ve just got to have!!
These water-based brush pens are a six-pack of gorgeous smoky grungey colours. Right up my street. They will co-ordinate very well with my newly-acquired ArtGraf Tailor Shapes, and also the Kuretake gansai tambi graphite watercolours.
I swatched them out in my sketchbook, which isn’t watercolour paper. I may have got better blending if I’d used that, but the swatches show how you can brush them out with a little water. Held vertically you can get quite a fine line, and I did some mark-making with the side of the brush tip.
Packaging
I am a great fan of Kuretake art products. However, I think they let themselves down with rather poor packaging. The gansai tambi paints come in cardboard boxes which can easily get stained with paint and water, and are probably not that durable. I solved that problem by using alternative storage which is working very well. These new pens come in a clamshell package. I managed to open the top half so it folds down, which is working OK for now. A nice plastic case or wallet would have been preferable, in my opinion.
I think these pens are going to be a useful addition to my arsenal! Thanks, Caroline!
