“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.”
―J.R.R. Tolkien

A story from Walter.

A month before our trip, a visitor – avid hiker, world traveler, adventure seeker – came to the Peg and Awl shop. He talked about different life-altering travel experiences and, after a few epic tales, his worst hiking trip ever – three days of cold, wet, isolating misery on the Presidential Range Traverse in the White Mountains, New Hampshire. It’s a fifty mile stretch of earth with a trail carved out heading straight up some of the rockiest terrain on the East Coast. The trail serpentines up and down the summits of each peak in the range through dense moss-covered conifer forest and into the alpine zone.

All of this sounded amazing: rocky crevasses, secret waterfalls, mysterious forests, and sweeping views of gradient blue steadfast giants erupting from the earth. But these formidable mounds of rock took up residence in the world’s most unpredictable weather. With extreme mood swings, the sky lavishes its energizing sun upon hikers one moment and the next it envelops the peaks with fog so thick fellow travelers who were only a step apart walk adrift, lost. A warm 80° day can plummet into the single digits with several feet of snow along with it. This range, with all its majesty, has engulfed many adventurers, taking their lives. It stands as a reminder to tread intentionally as we have no control over awakening the beast. All we can do is study its movements, measure its barometric pressure, test its air quality, and hypothesize about its intentions.

We were already aware of the range’s reputation but as we drove closer to New Hampshire towards the White Mountains and our very possible doom, our excited worry was bolstered by the strangers first-hand cautionary tale.

Little did we know that we were in for three glorious days.

The Ascent

Our ascent began in the dense moss-covered forest bursting with life. Green erupted from the earth filling every seam and overflowing into the path. The dark soil, white pine, balsam fir, birch, mountain ash, trillium, bunchberry, moss, and many small flowering plants flourished together, inviting us further up, further in. Like a temptress the forest pulled us close and let us drink in all its beauty and too hastily let go as we climbed into the boreal and alpine zones. Stubborn, crotchety krummholz spruce and fir replaced the greenest green. Trees and rock seemed to turn on one another in the great battle of survival. The rocks gained the upper hand the higher we climbed until the trees retreated completely and let the sedges, grasses, and Diapensia carry on the fight. The guides warned us to step cautiously for if we trampled the smallest bit of alpine plants it would destroy one hundred years of growth. We found our footing on the steep rocks and scrambled up.

The Ammonosauc River

Tiny worlds full of life

Diapensia, a very slow growing plant

Emerging from the boreal zone

Ever upward

Our first glimpse of the Lakes in the Clouds Hut

The Lakes in the Clouds

Suddenly our destination sprang into sight, The Lakes in the Clouds, a wood shingled hut that could sleep and feed 92 adventurers. One of eight huts dotting the mountain range like stars in a constellation, it was built in the 1880s and has been a continual refuge for hungry and weary travelers. Ten caretakers were garrisoned there maintaining the building, cooking meals, and researching the plant growth, insect world, and weather patterns. Twice a week they carried food and supplies in on their backs, strapped to oak ladder boards marked with the names and initials of past caretakers. Loaded up with 60-100 lbs of supplies they navigated the steep rocky traverse to the huts.

A small self-contained community hummed inside each wood paneled hut. Energy was extracted from the sun, water from the ground, waste composted and the message of leave no trace was shared with all who passed through. Each choice was intentionally made to create a minimal impact while enjoying the perilous and beautiful White Mountains. Come evening, we listened eagerly to the weather report – the one thing that would dictate our plans for the next 12 to 24 hours.

Our safety depended on it.

Photographs by Silas

Illuminated by the golden sunset

Plein Air painting Mt. Monroe

Our home for one night

Søren Capturing Magic

Søren’s Sendak Artist Roll and Journal

The Lakes of the Clouds hut is nestled in just below Mount Washington

Three Glorious Days

We spent our three days exploring this majestic part of the world, painting, drawing, playing cards, conversing with our guides, and laughing a lot. We learned about plants and animals and heard stories of the Crawford family, pioneers in guiding hikers though this rough terrain. We watched the sun set and saw clouds glide over the ridge as we hiked. Our hats flew off in the wind, and we were absorbed by the dense fog. There were murmurings of ferocious thunderstorms but instead we were graced with rejuvenating rain and one of the largest rainbows I have ever seen. That’s the thing about peril, it doesn’t always end in doom. The unpredictability forces us to give up control and appreciate the the good times. It reminds us that beauty and impermanence are inseparable and like complimentary colors, they make their counterpart more vivid, more alive! With Robert Frost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay flowing though my mind we hiked down and out. Farewell to the mosses, the flowers, the trees. Farewell to the mountains, but hopefully not for long.

Plein Air Oil Painting of Mt. Monroe

Rocks and Hawkweed

The Hawkweed was amazing!

A rocky descent!

Hiking the ridge toward Mizpah Spring Hut

Wildland Trekking

This is my second trip with Wildland Trekking, a company whose goal is to inspire people and enrich their lives through experiencing the wonders of our amazing planet.

Trekking into the unkown

The oak ladder board

Hearty yet fragile alpine plants

Scout Plein Air Box Review

The Sendak Artist Roll Review

More Leslie Stroz Videos Featuring Peg and Awl!

Rating ALL of My Travel Watercolor PALETTES (the BEST and WORST)

BEST Watercolour Travel Set Ups for Every Artist (Boards, Pochade Boxes & DIY)

ART SUPPPLIES FOR TRAVEL - Pack with Me (Watercolour & Drawing)

The ULTIMATE Creative Van Conversion for ARTISTS || Van Tour

I love making journals and all kinds of books to fill up. To be clear, I make them to fill them. I am not a blank book collector. My books get dirty and bent and filled to the brim. They are meant for ideas, drawings, journaling, and more. (I may share in a future post!)

To start, we decided to share some unconventional journal making processes. Here, I filmed myself making my most recent journal from old book covers, antique textiles, an old painty escutcheon, a tetra pak print and other treasures. This is the second book* that I made like this with no plans. You can hear my wheels turning in this video from start to finish — enthusiastic, doubtful, and joyous throughout the process

My sister-in-law Ashley, one of the Peg and Awl crew, edited it — bloopers and all! We hope you enjoy it!

Do let us know what you think. Please ask questions and share your books made with our instructions. We’d love to see them and share some here!

Things you will need

1. Paper
2. Glue
3. Scissors
4. Thread
5. Needle
6. Ruler
7. Fabric
8. Pencil
9. Vintage book or something for your cover
10. Doodads if you’d like
11. Heavy books for a press

If you’ve just discovered us and our tutorials, go to Bookbinding at Home, Part 2: How to Stitch a Coverless Journal to learn how to stitch the inside of the book. If you have a cover you want to use, prepare your pages to fit! But don’t take your first one (or any) so seriously. You must play to learn:)

Adventures with the Scout Plein Air Box

In the beginning of September, I (Walter) felt the call of adventure, packed my Scout Plein Air Box and art supplies, a few changes of clothes and set out – this time a little further from home. An early morning Uber drive, two plane rides across the country, and a 4-hour van trip later, I found myself in the high country of Yosemite National Park, with a 50 lb pack on my back accompanied by three fellow adventurers and our guide. We were on a 5-day hike into the wilderness to escape the crowds of people and the endless demands of our busy lives, to camp under millions of stars that illuminated the night sky, to swim in the refreshingly freezing lakes fed by melting snow, to climb Vogelsang Peak, and for me to plein air paint.

Finding a nice spot to paint

Vogelsang is the one on the left

Painting by Fletcher Lake

The sunrise

A journal entry during the trip

I saw a bear yesterday! We were sitting drinking coffee and in the distant clearing a bear was moseying up the hill towards the lake. I burst out, “There’s a bear, there’s a bear!” We all jumped up and followed him. For a moment we lost him in the brush and when we got to the lake, he had somehow crossed from the left side of us to the right and he was super close! Preoccupied with breakfast, his head was down in the water. Occasionally he popped up with a mouthful of small fish. Chomping away, he looked around slowly then got back to snacking. When the water hole no longer proved satisfactory to his appetite, he turned away from us and went further into the reeds. We could see the tops of the tall grass shaking and hear the water splashing. He seemed to be having a grand time!

After breakfast we packed our day bags. With a few snacks, a rain jacket, and my paint box, I was ready. We set out through the meadow over a creek and began to climb a winding trail up to Vogelsang Lake. After a quick swim, we continued the trek to Vogelsang Summit. The going was steady but gradually slowed as the path steepened. When we reached the pass, we transitioned into rock scrambling. Loose gravel made for unsteady steps, and I stuck to boulder hopping, avoiding the gravely path as much as possible. On the final ascent we trail blazed through thick low piney brush. We bushwhacked our way up, intermittently discovering a patch of bare rock only to lose it again under the gnarly needled thicket.

The last few feet we had to hoist ourselves up onto rock ledges using the cracks as holds. As we scrambled up the final rock the world opened around us. Below lay a vast array of granite peaks dotted with ice melt lakes. The pine trees stitched each mountain together and the range went on as far as our eyes could see, disappearing into the hazy horizon. We could see Half Dome jutting up from the rest, completely bald, a formidable hunk of granite! We sat up on that razor edge ridge for a while and I attempted to capture the land below with my paints, brushes and canvas. During the descent we stopped at Vogelsang Lake for a late lunch and an invigorating swim before heading back to camp. What a day! How amazing life can be!

Rock scrambling

Painting atop Vogelsang

Leaving Vogelsang Summit

The Bear!

Vogelsang Lake in the distance

First painting of the trip

Right outside my tent

Goodnight!

Coming Soon: Postcards and Prints of the Yosemite National Park Plein Air Paintings!

Toulomne Meadows

Vogelsang Summit

Fletcher Lake

The view from my tent

The Scout Plein Air Box: A Backstory

The Scout Plein Air Box was inspired by our endeavor to make art every day. Each one is handmade in our West Chester, Pennsylvania workshop. It compactly secures all of your essential art supplies for painting outdoors. Fill your box with your favorite colors, paintbrushes, and sketchbook. Find your spot and quickly transform the box into a mini studio. Set it on a flat surface or mount it on a tripod, snap the liquid jars, brush holder, and easel in place, clip on your canvas and you are ready to paint. Read our earlier blog post for more of the Scout's story, or dig into its features and uses with our video walkthrough!

 

Truffle, Old Truffle (used!*), Hickory, Spice, Spice (lightly used) *our first Sendak! I’ve been using it since 2016

All About Our Canvas and Colours!

Waxed Canvas is a cotton canvas with wax embedded into the fibers. The wax darkens the colour of the textile, and makes it water resistant, giving it protection from the elements. It also shows marks of use, giving it the charming rugged look that we were drawn to fifteen years ago when we started Peg and Awl, and continue to love as we use it throughout the years!

We have been compiling the most frequently asked questions about waxed canvas. We’ve included photographs to illustrate our answers, especially with colour!

What Are The Marks On My Bag? Waxed canvas looks cozy and worn in from the start, because of the crazing – the creases and marks – that show up with use. Some colours are craze-ier than others! The Coal is the least mark prone, and shows the most dust and pet hair in the beginning, but with use, as with all the colours, the wax works its way into the cotton fibers, protecting it from the elements, including pet hair.

Can You Make a Sendak In _____? We use two different canvas weights – one for the Sendak and another for our Bags. The Sendak canvas is thinner and lighter because of all of the layers and intricacies of the artist roll. Some limited colours are only available in one weight. This is why we may introduce a colour in Bags that we don’t offer in Sendaks, and vice versa.

Why is this Canvas Softer that the Others? Most of our canvas comes from Fairfield Textile, and the waxiness is fairly consistent, but we love finding new colours and new manufacturers, so there can be variation in the canvases. Sweetshrub, Radish, and Rook are all a little softer and waxier than the others at first, but again, all wax works its way into the fibers with use.

Why Is The Colour Different? The wax reflects lighting differently so the range of tone in the photographs reflects the range of tone you may perceive in life. The colours may vary slightly from batch to batch because they are hand dyed. The wax will fade with use and the colour of the bag will lighten and evolve. We love all of this. Your bags will change through use, giving each one a one-of-a-kind patina with the stories and marks from your life!

Cool: Fog, Slate, Coal Colour Comparison

Warm: Truffle, Spice, Hickory Colour Comparison

Waxed Canvas Swatch Books!

We use two different canvas weights for our Sendaks and Bags. The Sendak canvas is thinner and lighter. The colours vary between the weights, and sometimes we cannot find the same colour in both, and sometimes, the 'same' colour isn’t the same at all — as in the case of Sweetshrub (Sendak) and Sumac (Bags). They are close, but the canvas weight and wax makes the colour different enough that we decided to give them different names. 

Bag Canvas Classic Colours

Bag Canvas Small Batch Colours

Sendak Canvas Classic Colours

Sendak Canvas Classic Colours

Sumac (Left) and Sweetshrub (Right) Colour Comparison

Our Leather

We use black and brown vegetable-tanned leather from Wickett and Craig for our bags and Sendaks. Fog and All Black are paired with black leather and all other colours are paired with brown leather.

We can do any leather and canvas combination that you wish! Just email us or write your request in your order notes. Please note, these are considered special orders and are not returnable.

August marks a full year for Peg and Awl in the barn at the Five Acre Wood in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and we just had our third studio tour. Each one sees wild change as the space evolves, but I hope settling in doesn’t stop that!

This year Walter showed his “Crossing the North Sea” paintings, which we will share in detail soon. Søren showed parts of many projects he’s been working on this past year, he debuted stickers which will be available for sale through his IG. Silas shared some pen and ink portraits and opened up commissions — his first will be a parrot named Loki! And I shared Shimmera, work from my poetry project, in side an old Post Office Station.

In addition to all of this, Peg and Awl treasures were fully stocked, and we shared some new experiments in colour. And we brought in some of our favourite art supplies from makers around the world. We will be expanding on these offerings, though most will be available for in-store purchase, we will be offering some online as we can!

Beam Paints were much loved during the tour as visitors got to play with all of the colours at our Risko Table from Art Graf! We will be bringing more of their colours in, including their new mineral palette, some new — not-yet-launched colours — and we will be working on some long-dreamed of collaborations!	I’ve been using Noodler’s Ink for years – Catfish Black – but have been intimidated by the options! We ordered a variety of inks and I was lost in the swatching. I’ll share more on this in the future as well.

A Rural Pen Ink, ever a favourite. Restocked in our storefront and our online shop!	After reading Breath by James Nester I took up chewing gum again! I do not like chewing plastic (most gums – even those found in my favourite local makets – are made of a plastic gum base.) When I found Refresh last winter whilst visiting New England, I found my gum! I found an old Necco Wafer store display at a Flea Market and couldn’t resist filling it with Refresh.

Ever a Flea-Marketer, I’ve been gathering vintage and antique art supplies and am working out ways to share the treasures both online and in our shop. [Below]

Vintage Pens! We have a variety in our store front and will share them on our website from time to time with our of a kinds. Sign up for our newsletter for the announcement!	Vintage Pencils

I have been loving Art Graf for years, and was thrilled to meet Jose and Patrice in New Orleans in April! We brought in a lot of their goodies including a Risko desk — the new demo area in the shop! Photograph by Emma of Skippy Cotton loving the Graphite Powder	Penco tape dispensers are perfect for washi tape and are in use at our work stations and available in the shop!

A corner in progress!	Søren doodling with Noodlers!

A close-up of the community art project, the result of art supply testing!	Our old general store filled with new Peg and Awl treasures!

Walters well-worn Scout and some new colour adventures! Pine and Wineberry (maybe, or help us name!)	My Marigold Finch. Marigold, our most recent small batch colour!