Drawing A Circle

Forty years with one pencil

I am an art supply hoarder. I am also at a point in my career where I can afford to buy good art materials. I have drawers and boxes, shelves and bags, full of some coveted stuff. Don’t ask about my blank sketchbook collection or the boxes of ready-to-use pencils. I am just helping to keep certain manufacturers in business, with the hope that these things will be put to good use. And they will. So why, on deadline for a new picture book, am I using something I was gifted way back in the early eighties?

Let me explain. My father was a mechanical engineer in the mining industry. His office had engineers, metallurgists, draftsmen, construction engineers, and so on. One day, when they were discarding old drafting tools, he brought home for me a lead holder, leads, and a pencil pointer. I loved to draw, and he must have thought this was something I could use. Boy, did I. I have carried this pencil for over forty years. I have misplaced it and found it again. I have set it aside for other pencils only to return to it later. I used up most of the leads he gave me and replenished the stock.

This clutch pencil¹ is all metal. Heavy for its size. Between me and the previous owner, repeated use, especially sharpening with the pencil pointer has worn part of the textured grip smooth. The red coating has chips in it and has even been worn away on all it’s edges. The chrome is wearing off near the point.

So why — when I have loads of Blackwing, Ohto, Mitsu-Bishi, Penco, Koh-I-Noor, Tombow, Pentel, Staedtler and so on — would I go into my box, take this old thing out, and render the forty-odd pages of a picture book with it?

Well, it has a nice balance. It feels good in the hand. Its weight adds to the drawing experience. The worn grip, the chip, stopping to sharpen the lead in the pointer — all of it feels good. And yes, there is nostalgia, even sentiment: the gift, my father, family, all embedded in it as I take it up and begin my scribbling.

So after all the researching and purchasing, testing and drawing, I have come full circle — back to a pencil my father brought home.

1. I think I have a Fullerton Acutron 1030, made in Italy, but any identifying writing has long since worn away.