A Maze - Page 57

Here is the scanned and edited version of the next page of the first maze.

Page 57

 

Here is the same page in the wild. This is the flower display in front of the house at the corner. It is pleasant to look at while waiting for the traffic light to change.

That's it.

Jonathan

Drawing The Line - 19

Finally I had to shallow the fact that Subway was not going to come through with any sponsorship for my Line Around The World Project. Of course I haven't actually asked them if they would sponsor it. In fact I doubt if they have any idea that such a project exists. For now the financing of this huge undertaking is entirely up to me. Fortunately the end of the Line is still within walking distance from my digs. Unfortunately the end of the Line is still within walking distance of my digs. I have fallen far behind the schedule I calculated in an earlier post. So it is time to get to work.

After the segments out on the wild coast of Big Sur, the sidewalks of Santa Clara make a rather pedestrian backdrop. I had been rather nervous about continuing the Line now that it has reached busier streets. Stage fright. That's why I rolled this segment out in the morning. Not very many people were out and about at seven in the morning, at least not on foot.

Here is the start of the segment, roll 63.

Almost immediately I had to cross a street. This street goes down to a busy post office so I had do a full scale street crossing operation here.

This is the view back from the end of roll 63. Notice that the section in the street has already been removed by me. The person in the view is someone walking to work or school. They are about to hear my usual, "Hi, I'm drawing a line around the world."

For some reason the lady just smiled, nodded and walked away even faster. Here is the view from the end of roll 64.

Here is a shot of the view looking along roll 64 to the west.

Here is the view back from the end of roll 65. The building to the left was once the location of a bakery. It closed a couple of years ago. No new business has moved in yet.

This next picture is looking south at the start of roll 66.

Here is the end of roll 66 looking south. The guy in the car responded to my, "Hi, I'm drawing a line around the world", with, "You've got a long way to go."

This is looking north from the end of roll 66. There was one of those vacuum trucks heading my way.

When it got even with me the driver yelled out, "What's going on?" To my standard reply, "Hi, I'm drawing a line around the world," he just stared at me a little crossed eyed (maybe that was because I had to lean in very close to his face to be heard above the noise of his truck) and put his foot on the gas.

So far I have done just slightly more that 1.5 miles of the Line Around the World. There is more fun ahead!

Here it is all in one shot.
 

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 56

Here it is! Better late than never, the next page of my first maze. First, the scanned and edited version.

Page 56

Here is the same page in the wild. One day last week I took a short walk down to the end of the block. There is the most amazing display of color at the corner house. I took several pictures of the maze there.

After a months long break, I actually rolled out another segment of my Line Around The World Project this morning. So stayed tuned for that.

Jonathan

Goulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Finale

For the May Ink Drop I did a five page test maze. It may or may not take all five pages to solve this maze, but you need all five pages for it to be complete. Just start at the circle with “Start” in it. Follow any likely path until you come to another circle with a number/letter combination in it. Go to the page given by the number and resume your journey from the circle on that page with the same number/letter combination. Keep going in the same manner until you get to the “End” or a dead end. If it is a dead end you reach, backtrack until you find an alternate path, just like any other maze.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Enjoy it. Once you solve it you will be ready for my longer mazes.

Jonathan

Gloulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Part 6

The last of May's Ink Drop samples to test was the Noodler's Apache Sunset. I wasn't sure what to expect from this ink and what I found was a nice orange which leans to the yellow side. It is somewhat pale on the page. It takes longer to dry than I'd like, but not as long as some of the Noodler's offerings. I'm still not sure what I think about it. I don't think that I would have much use for it in my maze drawing. For people that do actual real art it would come in handy though. It is the closest thing to a flesh color that I has used.

For the fifth and final page of my test maze I paired it with the Diamine Majestic Blue. I thought to make a a sunset scene but I had too many nodes left to complete the maze. The small smears and smudges on the Apache Sunset side are real, the bigger smears on the Blue side were caused by moisture on my fingers from the glass of diet coke I was drinking. It was the first time that I have done a color split like this one. It was fun.

So here it is:

A note about the Noodler's Fountain pens which were used for both inks in this page. The pens do work for drawing the maze. The lines are consistant and fine enough. The problem I had with them is that sometimes it takes a little messing about to get them flowing again if you set them aside for a while. But for the price they are hard to beat.

I will do one more post for the May Ink Drop in which I will post the scanned and edited pages for solving.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 55

Here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 55

Here is the same page in the wild. The sun has finally set and it is only the rosy afterglow which lights the page.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

Goulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Part 5

The May Ink Drop from Goulet Pens is called “Goulet Favorites”. The sample inks are ones that Brian and Rachel use and like a lot. So far I've tested four of these and while all of them are good inks, each with with its own appeal, two of them stand out as superior inks. I'm talking about the Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki and the J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune. Both of these are quick drying easy to handle inks which are a joy to use.

I have already talked about them when I posted the pages where I first used them. Here is a page of my test maze where I used both of these inks together. I used the J. Herbin in my Ducati and the pen/ink combo was smooth as satin sheets on a moonless night (I've never actually tried that, but it sounds pretty darn smooth).

The Kon-Peki worked very well in the Pilot Vanishing Point. I have to say that I'm a big fan of the Vanishing Point pens. They are great travelers. The nib hides away until you click it out and it never fails to write right off. No messing about to get it flowing. Once you are done, Click, and the nib is hidden away and you can slip it into your pocket. No need to wear a pocket protector (unless you want to make a fashion statement) because the pens never leak. I will say that compared to the Ducati they seem a bit scratchy. Both of my Pilots are Fine Nibs and the Ducati is a Medium so that might account for some of the difference.

In addition to drawing the test mazes I post for the Ink Drop, I'm also drawing several pages of me fifth maze with these inks. Here is a page of this big maze in progress. It also uses my favorite inks.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 54

Here it is, a Monday morning in the middle of May and it is looking very much as though it is going to rain today. It has been a very strange year weather-wise. It is a great day to snuggle up to a freshly printed maze and solve away.

Here is today's page of my first maze.

Page 54

This is not the best place to start the maze. If you are new to it, please check it out from the beginning.

Here is the 54^th page in the wild. Sunset at the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California. The page catches the last of the golden light.

 

That's all for today!

 

Jonathan

Goulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Part 4

For the third page of the May test maze I used the Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki and Diamine Majestic Blue. I own a bottle of Majestic Blue and used it for a few pages of my fourth maze. I like the color and the reddish sheen that it shows when viewed at an angle. On one page of the fourth maze I used both Majestic Blue and Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue. The two inks are so close to each other that only the reddish sheen shows that two inks were used. The Majestic Blue does take awhile to dry. It is easy to smudge it even if you are careful. Even after it is dry it will stain your fingertips if you handle the inked surfaces of the paper. For letter writing this is not a problem. For maze drawing it is not a desirable characteristic. But I do like its richness.

The Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki is of course a big favorite of mine. I like it more and more as I use it. I guess to be fair I should try it out in the Noodler's Fountain pen as I did with the Majestic Blue. Here is the third page out of five pages of this test maze.

I have completed the maze. The solution is as devious as I could manage. I'll be scanning all five pages this week.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 53

Okay, this is a re post of the post lost in the crash. If the original comes back, I'll delete this one.

Here is the latest page of my first maze. It appears to be almost indistinguishable from all of the pages that have preceded it. It is true that this maze contains quite a bit of sameness. Only when looked at in detail, as one must do in order to solve the maze, does one realize each page is quite different.

Here it is in its scanned and edited version.

Page 53

This is the same page in the wild. This is down in the Little Yosemite of Sunol Regional Park. There is a rule against even touching the water here. I don't know when that rule came into effect, but years ago we use to wade and play around in the cold water. I remember writing in my journal in the shade of the boulders on a hot summer afternoon.

 

Much of the park was and still is ranch land. Some paths take you pass grazing cattle. One time we had to pass by a big bull with no fence between him and us. We must have survived our passing since I'm writing this. (I like that bit, “survived our passing”. It sounds almost spiritual.) Anyway the valley looks like this:

 

While walking along the creek looking for a short cut I almost stepped on this fellow sunning himself on a rock.

I recognized him immediately, but I pretended not to just to annoy him. Celebrities hate it when someone doesn't recognize them, though they they pretend to despise the attention. Somehow this fellow could tell that I knew who he was and said:

Lizard: Yeah I used to be a star.

Me: What was you last film?

Lizard: The one where me and my cousin were fighting near the edge of a cliff. We end up in a death embrace and rolled over the edge and fell into the sea below. Now THAT was acting. We made a big splash with that scene!

Me: I remember that one. I laughed so hard I pulled a muscle in my side.

Lizard: That was before people began settling for this CGI crap the studios use nowadays. Those Jurassic Park characters were so fake. You call that acting?

Me: I guess you and your cousin have gone the way of the dinosaurs huh?

Lizard: Very funny. We're still big, it is just the movies that have gotten small!

Jonathan

Goulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Part 3

For the second page of this test maze I decided to use the combo of Nooder's Cactus Fruit Eel and J. Herbin Poussière de Lune. This made a nice pairing. It had a semi military air about it. Gray and red. Anyone familiar with war games will recognize this combination as the Confederate Army colors.

I discussed the Noodler's ink previously and again I found it to be a long drying ink. I tried to be careful with it and was fairly successful with it. The J. Herbin Poussière de Lune was a delight to use. I tried it in my Ducati which a very smooth writing nib. It is a very nice gray color. It reminded me of pencil graphite from a very soft be sharp pencil. This ink is a definite keeper. That makes two of the May Ink Drop samples that I would definitely purchase.

Here is a picture of this test page. Alongside the maze are the two pens I used to draw it.

 

I can definitely state that the May Ink Drop test maze will be 5 pages long. I completed the line work for it this morning. All I have to do is solve, scan and edit it. Stay tuned.

Jonathan

Goulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Part 2

The plan for my testing of the May Ink Drop samples from the Goulet Pen Company is to draw a single maze consisting of several pages. I thought it would be only three pages, but I now know it will be at least four pages. It will be a relatively simple maze despite being several pages long. I will post the scanned pages in the finale post for the May Ink Drop.

The first page was drawn using two of the month's samples. These are the Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki and the Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel. Both of these inks are great in their own way. Without a doubt the Kon-Peki is superior in several respects, the most important is in drying time. It dries very quickly. I had a single small smudge in all the work I've done with it so far. The ink doesn't seem to shade at all. It looks quite a bit darker when it is first put on the paper than it does once it is dry. It is a blue very similar to Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue, but since there is no shading the line is much more consistent. I like this ink very much.

The Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel is a very nice red-purple ink. Like many of the Noodler's inks it takes some time to dry. Not anywhere near the time that last month's Black Swan in English Roses takes, but long enough that I had to be very careful to avoid smudging. With the fine nib Pilot pen I was using there isn't any shading to speak of. I like the color and it is a fine ink, but not my favorite.

Here is a picture of this page of the maze. It is not complete yet. I haven't put in the node numbers and won't until I get all the linework of the pages done. Also shown are the two Pilot Vanishing Point pens I used. By the way Goulet Pens is now selling these and at a better price than I paid for mine.

Here is a page from my fifth maze that I did with the same inks and pens. If you look close you can see where the Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel smeared a little.

That's it for now!

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 52

Happy Monday! Talk about an oxymoron! I have just the cure for your Monday blues, the next page of my first maze. We are talking page 52 here! Now you have a full deck if not the whole maze.

First the scanned and edited version.

Page 52

Here is the same page in the wild. Last Wednesday we took little trip to Sunol Regional Park. It was a warm day, almost 90 degrees. There were still quite a few wild flowers in the hills though.

We hiked out to a jumble of rocks, boulders and a flowing creek called Little Yosemite. The round trip hike was probably only three miles or so, but that was enough.

Posted here in this picture are a couple of the hazards of the park. Ticks and mountain lions. I suppose there are rattlesnakes here too, though I have never seen one.

The park is a small valley surrounded by hills like this.

At least 15 years ago I was here with my family and happened to get pictures of a fairy. Here's a picture.

I have done two pages of my May Ink Drop maze. I will have to expand it from three pages to four or five.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 51

Here is the latest page of the first maze. You should be into the swing of it now. It gets easier and easier doesn't it?

First the scanned and edited version.

Page 51

Here is the same page in the wild. This is my favorite bench on the Central California coast at my favorite time of day. Not bad for a mid winter evening is it?

I'm busy on the May Ink Drop mazes. I'm loving the Pilot Iroshoizuku Kon-Peki.

Jonathan

Goulet Pens May 2011 Ink Drop - Part 1

Because of the nature of the April Ink Drop where we had to guess the inks, I finished testing them early. I actually had a couple of days where I had four fountain pens sitting cleaned out and waiting. This gave me a little break from my occupation of maze drawing. That break is now over because I received the May Ink Drop today.

 

Spoiler Alert!

 

The May theme is “Goulet Favorites”. These are inks which Rachel and Brian like.

They are:

Diamine Majestic Blue (I have this one and like it very much)

J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune

Noodler's Apache Sunset

Noodler's Cactus Fruit Eel

Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki

It looks like a good variety of colors to try. I'm really looking forward to trying the Pilot ink in one of my Pilot Vanishing Points.

Here's what the Drop looks like without the extras (book mark, sticker and labels for the April samples with the real names). For once I can jump right in with these inks. I think I will do another simple three page maze. So stay tuned.

 

After our weekly trip to the library this evening, we went out into our backyard garden to smell the flowers. When I say “backyard” I mean our metaphorical backyard. San Jose has a Municipal Rose Garden which is in full bloom now. Here are some quick pictures.

There is so much color and beauty that it is almost overwhelming.

Now it is time to ink up some pens, lock myself into my cell and work on my mazes.

Jonathan