Renaissance Art

What does a gorgeous, 100-year-old red leather bound book with ornate colored drawings have to do with Carl Jung and a Swiss bank vault? Check out this article we found in the New York Times archive for the answer: The Holy Grail of the Unconscious

Just imagine what you can do with a leather journal and some imagination…If you’ve done anything similar with your Renaissance Art leather journal, we want to see it! Send an email with an image of your pages attached. Place “Holy Grail” in the subject line.

We like to get pics of what people do in the books we make for them.  A few days ago Dave sent us some of his.

If you have pics of what you are doing in our books or where you take them, sent them over and we will post them.  You can see some other pics in our Journaling section.

Click HERE to see some of Dave’s other work on his personal website.  My favorite is the one in the Sketchbook section titled Uncertainty = Infinite Possibilities which I used as a title on one of my personal blog entries.  Below are a couple of the pics he sent us.

Capturing a memory has become instantaneous and available to anyone these days – via pocket sized digital cameras to fully loaded cellular phones, the process has become so convenient, it’s also in danger of becoming forgettable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve downloaded my photos onto a computer and lost them among hundreds of shots.

The magic of drawing and sketching into a journal is that it makes you active. Whatever you choose to sketch is ultimately a part of you – you’re the lens, the filter, and the hand that makes a piece of art more than just an accurate depiction. You give it a soul.

That’s what we notice most from the pictures (yes, digital – we’re not knocking it) of the sketches we get from Renaissance Art customers. While the talent and technique are apparent, it’s what lies underneath – the choice to sketch a particular thing, the attempt to capture what inspired them to start, and the patience to finish the act – that is striking.

There’s still something so raw about sketching. By the time it gets to the paper, so many ideas, thoughts and emotions are imbued within the work. It’s not about the accuracy, and it’s not about the resolution. It’s truly about capturing one’s imagination.

The title sketch at the top of this post is from Sherry Berger, who sent us a link to her online portfolio HERE. Click on ‘Travel Sketches’ to view her work. Below, a couple of pictures of sketches from Steven Kidwell, VP of Design, Chippenhook.   Paper used in both book is our Arches Text Wove 120gsm 100% cotton rag paper.  We’ll be sharing more stunning work from our customers in the coming months.

Now we’ve mentioned before that the paper we use in Renaissance Art travel journals are watercolor friendly - from the photos sent in by our customers, you can certainly see that. We use Arches Text Wove paper, which is 120gsm (that’s the weight of paper) and 100% cotton rag. For those not familiar with paper stock, anything over 160gsm is considered card stock - 120gsm is the highest quality printing paper you can get.

While we try to provide our customers the best canvas for their in-journal art, we certainly cannot claim any responsibility for their artistic talent. Take Dr. Neil Watson, for example. He’s been using Renaissance Art leather journals for about 7 years, and as you can see from the picture above, his art nearly flies off the page.  Neil likes using heavier w/c and Gouache washes on our paper.  He says that when using heavier washes the paper will become wavy but then flattens out again when it dries.

Dr. Watson hails from Britain, where he was a hand surgeon for two decades before moving to the U.S. in the late 1980’s. He’s been making and teaching art ever since, and has even published four books. Here’s a couple of more pictures of his artwork below (click on the thumbnails), and his website is more than worth a visit - read about his fascinating life, and admire his breathtaking watercolors.

Check out: www.neilwatsonart.com

Just a little over a week into the new Renaissance-Art blog, and we’ve said farewell to an employee, had a celebrity sighting, and woke up nearly buried in snow. Who knows what to expect this week? We hope you’re enjoying the glimpse of the behind the scenes here in the studio - we promise to show you much more of the goings on here, from staff profiles to the step by step process of designing a new product.

One of the things we love sharing is the feedback we get from many of you. This week, we offer an e-mail from William Polm, all the way from sunny Southern California. Be sure to check out his Flickr page that shows off his great watercolor work. More on our paper quality another time, but you rest assured that our journals can handle watercolors and make them look as vibrant as William’s.

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From: William Polm
To: feedback@renaissance-art.com
Subject: Feedback

Hi guys,
3 days from ordering my book cover to receiving it this morning. Even with my 3rd day Fedex shipping, that’s fast!
The craftsmanship is, as always, superb. Beautiful leather, flawless sticking, and the amazing fit is perfect. What a joy it will be now to carry around my book!

I am over halfway through my third refill in the 9×12″ size. In it I’ve done watercolor paintings, pencil drawings, fountain pen personal journaling, and also I’ve glued and taped a few mementos, souvenirs, here and there. I took this size with me during my travels to 2 watercolor workshops and 1 visit to Kings Canyon National park to record my experiences last June. Actually, I also have the 5.5×8.5 size refill type journal (with wrap around cover), which I like best for sketching. I can remember sketching several times on the banks of the South Fork of the Kings River. (In case you’re interested, you can see one of these here: Third row down from the top, 4th from the left). That refill is almost completed now, all outdoor sketches.

I have painted watercolors at least 150 times on the Arches Text Wove paper, even acrylics a bit, and have written and drawn with fountain pen ink. The paper is almost magical with watercolors; they turn out lovely. And it takes ink with no problems of leakage through to the other side at all, with normal use.

What a feeling of quality your journals give to my artistic efforts.
Congrats and thanks for lovely, highest quality products.

Bill, retired, watercolorist, Southern California

P.S. Just in case, anything you might wish to use from the above words on your website, feel free.
I do frequently “spread the word” about your products, when I can, to other artists on the forums I participate in.

A little food for creative thoughts for the weekend.

Whether you’ve on your first, tenth, or hundredth journal, the anticipation of starting anew is both exciting and a little daunting.

From my own experience, an incredible amount of thought goes into the first entry. When I untie the strap and open up my own leather bound journal to the first page, making that first mark, whether it’s the first letter of a work, or the first stroke of a sketch, I feel a moment of incredible clarity and understanding – “I am starting to make something.”

It’s my favorite moment. But then, sometimes, I sit there, and the page remains blank – what if the first mark I make soils, rather than inspires? Stops rather than encourages? This book is too nice to write in! It can be a little much. So as much as we love receiving pictures of journals that are filled to the brim with riveting images and inspiring text, we’d love to hear…

How do you start? Email us or leave a comment below…

Every so often, we do get feedback from our customers, and we’d like to share some of it with you. It’s pretty incredible how far and wide Renaissance Art journals travel, and their owners have rather amazing tales to tell. Today, we have Chrys Tremththanmor from the UK, who ordered a custom, stamped leather journal for his trip to Patagonia. Judging from his email and the photos (click on them for the full size), it was quite a fruitful adventure. Boy, if we were only as lucky as our books…

Thanks, Chris!

(PS. Readers, feel free to write to us and send pictures about what you’ve been up to with your Renaissance Art journal!)

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From: Chrys Tremththanmor
Date: February 14, 2008 5:10:46 PM EST
To: service@renaissance-art.com
Subject: Feedback

Hi all

In January I went on my ‘holiday of a lifetime’, a month traveling through Patagonia. Although I am addicted to my Moleskines, and took one with me for jotting notes, for my travel journal I was looking for something just a bit more special. So I ordered one from you, complete with custom stamping on the cover and a front page.

The journal was perfect. The thick paper was very easy to write on, and also absorbed my rather amateur attempt at a watercolour of the Villarrica Volcano. The binding easily coped with all the stickers, receipts, and ticket stubs which I like to glue onto journal pages.

I thought you might like a couple of photos from the trip. One was taken in the Torres del Paine National Park. One of my fellow travelers was amused to compare my journal with his attempt (a few notes on lose pieces of paper). And, finally, a few sample pages.

Thanks again, and I shall be returning to you for a new journal when I take my next big trip!

Chrys T