Ink wash experiments

Ink wash, 6X8

For Christmas I received a bottle of Private Reserve Ink in Midnight Blues. It's for fountain pens and is great for washes. I just found that out. It's very dark for writing, but add a little water and it lightens into a rich blue. Using a brush pen filled with water I started experimenting yesterday. So many plein air sketchers talk about using ink washes, I had to figure out how to do it.

I recently found a set of Winsor & Newton inks on the bargain shelf at Michaels (someone had stolen the black) at a greatly reduced price. It's a set of eight, well seven, but I already have black. Now I look forward to trying this with them. I still want to continue drawing in them, now I want to try adding a little water with the brush pen to see what happens.

This was a quick experiment with Mont Blonc's Toffee ink. It writes and draws as a rich dark brown, but with the brush pen it attenuates to a redder color. It was wonderful to see what happens as you play with it and smoosh it around to see what it does.

I went back to one of my current sketch books in which I had drawings with this same ink and just touched in a little water. Wow. Ok some did NOT look better for it, but it was "wicked brilliant" what it did to some. It seems to work best to soften shadows, but leave the outlines as much as possible.
Those pictures are not posted because it was light weight sketch paper and is now ruffly from the water. I wish I knew of a hard bound sketch book with heavier paper that could stand a bit of water. Not quite 140lb paper, but something heavier than in the "Reflections" books I have. They are good for sketching and drawing, as long as you don't get too much ink on the page or it will soak through. Yes, it's that light. Pentel and Tombow seem to do alright, and the Rapidograph. But I have to be careful with fountain pens, anything that can let a lot of ink flow.

Can anyone suggest one? I prefer hard bound, but that may have to change.

Exploring the world of pen and ink...

Preliminary sketch

In searching for something else, I came upon a fountain pen with a fine point that was specifically for sketching. In a weak (one of many) moment I ordered it. I had not really played with pen and ink, since it is a bit unforgiving. However I found the deep black ink on white paper irresistible. In a hardbound sketch journal I sometimes carry I sketched this pavilion in our local Japanese Gardens. Thank heaven I also took a photo. A friend saw it in my book and asked for a larger version, so a journey began.
The results follow. Each time I do it some things get better, others get "flubbed." Here is the second attempt:

Second attempt

The pavilion is set on a pool with wonderful rocks and evergreens around it. Finally using a small straight edge to keep it from getting too sloppy I found my two main challenges were the inset part of the railings and how much vegetation to include. How much is enough and how much is too much? and it's so angular, and I'm not.
Then came this one:

Next attempt (3?)

 Is this too much background? Do you lose the pavilion in it? This time I find the reflections annoying. Maybe that can be fixed, or at least modified to be less odd?
And now there is this one:

Most recent attempt

OK, less background, reflections still not right. On this one I had just picked up some Faber-Castel Pitt pens with different points. The Medium and Brush ones were good for getting a deep black under the roof edges and shadows at the top of the pillars. The rail still comes out messy. Maybe I shouldn't have done this at noon?

HELP!

Where do I go from here? This is when I want a class. I've spent hours and hours drawing, modeling in classes and going home and doing the assignment the students were given. Still not enough. I do like the pen and ink, though, no more dragging my hand through it and smearing grey all over my hands and the picture. With a dip pen I am really messy, I get it all over me, but with the fountain pen and these Pitt pens it's a lot cleaner, well, I'M a lot cleaner. But they do not give you much of a second chance. Since that's inherent in the medium, it seems to matter less, it's a "do the best you can" medium. I hope. It takes a better draftsman I guess.

Any comments?