Mini Ink and Wash Sketches

I have this little "Handbook" about 3 1/2 x 5 1/2" closed.  I keep this in a little home-made fabric pouch a special friend in the UK made and gave to me when I visited her two years ago.  (Thank you Clare) 

The little Handbook is the Maroon one you see.  The black is a small sketchbook.  I carry a couple Tombow marker pens, pencil, eraser, Rotring iInk pen, cartridges, waterbrush, and folded up paper towel.  Sometimes I'll switch those out and carry a small set of watercolor pans, travel brush, waterbrush, pencil, eraser, and watercolor block.

The other day when I knew I'd be sitting at Toyota service center for awhile, I braved it out and took this "kit" and actually worked a little sketch in ink and wash.  I don't normally do anything like this in public. Too squeamish; however, now and then I will try hoping to break free of this fear.  (I still prefer working in the comfort and privacy of my home.)

The sketch leaves a great deal to be desired but it is special to me simply because it meant I broke out of my comfort zone.  And believe me.....I was nervous!!!!  I made sure I didn't look around to see if the other people in the waiting area were watching me because if I made eye contact, I would have folded the lot back up and done something else (like read).

Although not intended, the lady in the pay window looks like she's talking on the telephone.  One of those happy accidents I suppose.  The hanging sign to the far right of the window was actually on another wall.  I just placed it there to fill the empty wall area.  It's an actual welcome sign but placing it where I did brings to mind that it should say... "Thank you, I'll take your money now."  :-)

It's been awhile since I've used the Rotring pen and I was having problems with it.  It would skip.  But I managed through that.  As I was applying the waterbrush, I made the mistake of hitting the outlet with a little too much water.  I forget just how strong this ink is and one has to be cautious when using waterbrush.  Oh well...........live and learn.

Going back to earlier in the day and before I went to the dealership, I had a few minutes as I waited before leaving the house.  When I decided I was going to take my sketching gear, I pulled out the Handbook and did a quick sketch of outside my window.  This for me was a good start to want to do more.

Once I get started with something like this, that itch continues and I ended up working another sketch while watching TV later in the evening.

This is of our fireplace.  I think I did more listening to the TV than watching because I was so focused on what I was doing.  No pencil work at all forcing myself to take care practicing observation skills while I worked.  The more I worked with the Rotring pen, the more sparing I became with the water.  The brush needs to be damp rather then wet in areas with heavy ink application.

One final mini sketch I'll share with this post was done yesterday.  We were experiencing scattered storms off and on throughout the day and evening.  If the weather is not too bad or blowing in under the porch, I will sit outside.  During one of the storms, I grabbed this little kit along with my watercolor palette and did yet another ink and wash sketch (with a splash of color).

It's of a resin based rock water fountain we purchased years ago from Lowes.  When the pump went out on the fountain, we just never replaced it.  It sat empty for the longest time and an idea hit to have holes drilled in the bottom and use it as a planter.   This sits down below the front porch just on the edge of a "point" where the woods meet the lawn.  I have a planter to one side of it.

Although yellow and purple flowers (pansies) are actually in the fountain, taking yellow to the ink turned green and purple would not have shown..........so I touched it with a bit of red.  The color is very subtle so not sure you will be able to view on screen.

These little journal books make it easy to do a 2-page spread and working small comes natural for me :-)