This Morning's Sketch

This one is worked in the Strathmore Visual WC journal.  Used pencil first, painted in watercolor, and then with pen and ink. 

Stippling

This is what I worked on last night as I watched TV.  Worked in the Fabriano Venezia with pen and ink only.  Still practicing with challenging plant structures.

Daisy Practice

Practicing multi-petal flowers....which I find difficult at times as I tend to get lost when doing the line work.

Global Handbook journal

Showing the steps as I work through these flowers.  Pencil first followed by a rolled kneaded eraser.  I roll that across the pencil lines to pick up extra graphite to lighten before taking pen and ink to it.  Then watercolor.

These were worked on Stonehenge 90 lb paper.

Just Playing With Color and Wet in Wet

Using a scrap piece of Strathmore Imperial 500 watercolor paper, I worked these examples comparing watercolor, Zig Real Brush, and Albrecht Durer Watercolor pencils (wet).

This too was worked on Strathmore Imperial 500 watercolor paper.

Worked in the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook.

Strathmore Visual WC journal.

This next page, worked in the Fabriano Venezia journal, is part of a flower pattern on one of my night gowns.

Trying to Regain Motivation to Sketch and Paint

It's been a trying month for family so haven't had much motivation to do a great deal of sketching or painting.  This post basically catches me up with what I've managed to do in the last few days.  I'm trying to push forward even though my heart's still not quite into it yet.

After several weeks and finally getting the inks and fountain pens I wanted to fill with my new inks, I worked this page in the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook.  I figured stippling was a good way to start back into sketching.

 This is of a flycatcher I've seen for the first time outside our living room window.  He and a female showed up the end of May and continue showing up in our palm and our feeders.  Worked in the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook with a .7 mechanical pencil.

Testing out the new inks and making a more formal chart in the Strathmore Visual WC journal.

Color coordinating color of inks to color of pen barrels the best I could.  Ended up getting four Lamy Vistas with the clear bodies for some of he colors plus one Al Astar for the gray ink.

This is finally getting my May Challenge completed that a friend of mine and I set for each other each month.  May was tools of some kind.  Worked in the Stillman & Birn Beta journal.

Rohrer & Klingner Sketch Inks

Playing with Sketch Inks on different paper surfaces.

These two pages are Fabriano Artistico 140 lb Soft Press paper.   The inks are being applied either with Lamy Safari EF fountain pens, a dip pen, or a glass pen.  Large areas of color washes are created by scribbling the ink on white plexiglass and using a waterbrush to pick up ink to paint with.

This next example is using the Stillman & Birn Beta journal using different pens for application testing drying times for each.

These next two pages are worked in the Strathmore Visual WC journal.  After playing with these inks, I've decided to get the remaining three colors in the near future.  I want to load each in their own pen for general sketching when I don't need the ink to dry slow.  If I want to work a line and wash effect, I'll use the glass pen.  But even with that, depending on paper surface, the ink dries almost immediately as happened with the barn.  At least I can create pools of ink color and apply with a waterbrush if nothing else :-)