further afield...
where I'm packing for a big trip and nerding out on pens and paper
I‘m heading to Bergen, and I don’t mean New Jersey
Tomorrow evening, I am departing JFK with my two friends Mike and Kris1 and our bicycles for a two-week trip to Norway, and I can’t figure out what to pack.
The plan is to spend a few days in Bergen before heading out on Tuesday by train, 250 miles east, into the middle of ingen steder2, to a glacier-filled plateau, where we will then spend four days riding our bikes back to Bergen. We expect to encounter every possible weather situation that one can imagine: the days might be sunny and warm, and then an hour later we might be riding in a freezing downpour. I have excellent rain gear and good bikepacking bags3. I’ll be bringing my camera with a couple of lenses, wrapped in dry bags, and safely nested in my new Routewerks handlebar bag (more on that below). I’ve got my bike tools and spare tubes, I’ve figured out shoes and underwear and my toothbrush situation, and I’ve got a book to read. Check, check and check.
That part is easy. My problem is that I can’t figure out my art supplies. Yes, art supplies. Pens, pencils, and sketchbooks for the inevitable drawing that I will do while I am in Norway.
Did you know that I like art supplies? My drawing table is covered in cans and jars of pencils and brushes and pens. I am someone who, before getting on the bus to meet friends at a bar in Center City, will consider which pens or pencils and small sketchbook to carry along with me. Just in case. Here, let me show you that bag, and what it looks like right now, full of my favorite fountain pens and fineliners.
I don’t like being without my drawing tools right here in Philly. So you can imagine my consternation about two weeks in Norway. Since I was a kid, through adulthood, through my life as a person who draws professionally, and especially through the pandemic, I find that sitting down and drawing calms me. It’s cathartic. When I go a day or two without being able to just doodle, even, I notice the anxiety builds.
I’ve had some practice with taking art supplies on trips recently. Last summer, when Sacha and I were in Provence for five weeks, I took a veritable studio with me. I had a few sketchbooks, my iPad, and I didn’t bother editing down my pens and pencils. We were going to be in the same house for nearly the entire five weeks, and I had plenty of time to use the whole kit. Take a look:
This trip will be a little different, and I need to pare some things down. First, I already know I’ll reluctantly be leaving behind my fountain pens.
I love my fountain pens.
But fountain pens are a pain in the ass to travel with. Even in France, this proved to be the case when I had to go out and find some waterproof fountain pen ink, and with the mess that they can make in one’s pen case. I ended up using my stubby little Uniball One-P pens most of the time to draw the sunny rolling hills and cypress trees of southern France.
For the frigid fjords of Flåm and wet streets of Bergen, I have to be even more circumspect in my choices. The Uniballs will be going with me, certainly. I used to draw with Uniballs all the time, but took a two-decade break before Mike Lowery recommended them for travel. They’re great, especially once you start playing with the different pen sizes (1mm, .5mm, .38mm, etc). More recently, I’ve been spending time with some of the ubiquitous fineliner pigment pens. Is there a catch-all term for these things? Every pen and art supply company makes its own brand, and they’re fairly interchangeable. Plus, they’re cheap, they can be found anywhere, and they’re waterproof.
My fountain pens are expressive things, so I was a little skeptical about these precise tools. But they’ve grown on me. I have eight or nine that I work with all the time, lately, ranging in sizes from 01 down to .005.4
They can be a little sterile, but that’s why I’ve been practicing!
Practice makes imperfect
Often, before one goes on a trip like this, one will go out for what we cyclists like to call shakedowns. Trial-runs. In fact, I took my bike out last night for my regular Wednesday evening ride, set up with the bags and gear that I’ll be using in Norway next week. I didn’t carry the clothes and rain gear, but I did include the camera. And while I didn’t stop and draw anything, I had my pens and a sketchbook. It all worked fine.
I had the opportunity for a different kind of shakedown this last weekend, when Sacha and I went camping. This was less about how to carry the gear than what gear I would want to carry. I took my bag full of pens and several sketchbooks, and I had the time to do a lot of drawing. We stayed in a campsite at the top of a mountain5 above the town of Jim Thorpe. The campground is called 100-mile-view, and while I didn’t measure the distance, I’ll take their word for it. The view was tremendous. Photos don’t really capture it, of course, but you get the idea.
I was in my happy place, sitting in a camp chair watching the Eastern Toehees doing their Toehee thing, and drawing landscapes, real and imagined, inspired by this view.
.
Some of these were drawn with my pain-in-the-ass-but-i-love-them fountain pens, and others were drawn with the fineliners. And while I know which is which, because I remember actually making the drawings, and the act of drawing with a $300 fountain pen is infinitely more an enjoyable and dreamy thing than using a $4 fineliner, I doubt anyone watching will have any idea.6
What about the sketchbook?
Good question. These drawings were made in an 8x10 Strathmore 500-series “art journal” which I bought in 2022, took to Iceland, then forgot about until we went to France. I love it. The paper is good, of course. I mean, it’s Strathmore 500. But the cover is this fun, weird, rubbery (?) surface which is flexible (important for stuffing into bike bags!) but also feels like it could withstand some trauma. I stopped by the art supply shop yesterday and was very happy to find a smaller 5.5 x 8 version of this thing, one that will happily fit into my daily-carry sling bag as well as be easily stashed in my bike gear.
The Strathmore book has 64 pages, which will likely be enough, since I doubt that Mike and Kris will want to spend too much time sitting around waiting for Brian to finish his masterpiece. But I’m taking a second, “regular” sketchbook with me as well, as a backup.
Pens only? No pencils?
Yeah, I’ll probably bring some pencils. But let’s please focus.
Sees senere for now. Watch this space this weekend for a Norway update.
It’s been almost a month since my last edition of this newsletter, and for that, I am sorry. I have been deep into finishing one book and starting another. When I’m completing edits and tweaks for a picture book, there isn’t much to show from that process. But here, here is an otter, somewhat annoyed, one of the stars of this particular picture book:
Likewise, when I’m beginning a book, the drawings are a mess and nothing makes any sense, so there is no point in showing anything from that process (nor am I really allowed to). But here is something completely different, a drawing from a new thing that maybe I can tell you all about by year’s end. I’m pretty excited about this.
the bike
Today I took my bike apart and packed it. But before I did that, I took a picture of the setup I’ll use in Norway. I’ll probably make a post all about this next week with equipment choices and so on. If you’re bike-curious and have questions about this, ask in the comments.
And, of course…
Cat content! Maple doesn’t relax often, so when she does, it’s a treat.
Thanks for reading.
This trip has been in the works for two years, and originally included the other members of our little gang, Stew and Dave. I’ve been camping and hanging out and raising our kids with these fellows for 18 years, and during that time, we’ve traveled to Scotland, the Adirondacks, and embarked on a six-day bike adventure from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., as well as dozens of other smaller excursions. Until last week, all five of us were planning to make this trip, but weird and unexpected health issues suddenly whittled the trip down to three of us.
translated: “nowhere.” But it’s also where, as I read, they filmed the ice planet Hoth scenes for Empire Strikes Back!
One of the ways in which the trip changes with the reduced personnel is that, since Dave doesn’t cycle, he was going to rent a car and more or less follow us along the route. This would allow us to keep extra clothing and gear in that car. Without Dave, there is no car, and we had to quickly adjust, planning for the new conditions.
What does that mean, 1mm? If so, it’s weirdly inconsistent when one brand’s 05 is a different size nib than another brand’s 05.
Okay, a hill. This is Pennsylvania after all.
This can get us into the weeds if I’m not careful, as there is always some loser who questions why spend the money on really nice drawing tools when the cheap ones can do the job just fine. To which I say, fine, your loss. A Walmart bike will (mostly) get you where you want to go. A used Civic will get you there, too. Nice things are nice because the process of using them is nice. Not really because the results are any different. I draw ten hours a day…
I love all the anecdotes! And I can actually hear you saying them! Hoping for a wildly successful trip for you and thank you for sharing your work! I love it!
great post. have a fun trip!