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.

More Pen and Ink...

Tools of the trade sometimes inspire! Last Fall I got a 9X12 wire bound multi-media paper pad. Fountain pen ink and watercolors both tend to soak right through regular sketch paper.  This recent one is from an internet artist challenge, but which one? Oops. This one is in Mont Blanc's "Toffee" ink, a favorite.

Pitcher and Pinecones, 9X12

I Love the color of this ink, especially on cream paper. The paper in this pad is very bright white, but is nice and sturdy so the fountain pen doesn't scratch groves in it, nor does it soak through to the other side.

Next is one I did last November at the duck pond in the Hayward Japanese gardens. I had to do it from a photo, because ducks, well they fidget. It's annoying and wonderful.

Japanese Gardens, 9X12

This was a lesson in not drawing at high noon. I liked this colorful little guy, and he was relatively easy to draw. The huge boulders at the back were more difficult. I remember mother saying rocks were one of the most difficult things to convey. She's right. But I'm not sure she ever tried snow though.

On the Nineth Day of Christmas,

That's really the Nineth day of Christmas! The Rose Bowl Parade!

Roses from my garden 6X6 watercolor

In honour of which is the above little piece. Well, by now I think the game is over, was it Oregon or Wisconsin? I'll have to check to find out, I've been painting. Need all the practice I can get. My apologies, these roses are from a neighbors garden from last summer. Again I was switching inks and pens in the middle of doing this. The Rapidograph still has Toffee Brown ink in it which is for fountain pens and not waterproof. So I tried one of my dip pens with waterproof ink, but today I could not make a fine line if my life depended on it! So, I cheated. After doing the center bloom with the dip pen I pencil sketched the others, painted them and once dry went back with the Rapidograph to get the fine lines I wanted. This becomes apparent in the differences between the the roses. It was too late for that one.
The New Year has begun! Enjoy it.

Almost Christmas!

I can't believe I haven't posted all month! I've been drawing a lot and exploring the pen and ink thing, also I've been finishing some UFO's (UnFinished Objects) a Needle Arts term. It's satisfying to work with lace and even to make lace, and to embroider a sheer and delicate fabric with silk thread.

But last night when I got home from church there was this leaf on the back steps. It caught my fancy. So, here it is in my first watercolor attempt in weeks:

So, now it's time to do something seasonal. The Christmas cards are almost finished, time to paint one more. Merry Christmas!