2016 Inktober - Day 31 and Summary

It's funny but I really didn't want to commit to 31 days of sketching in ink only (my own personal added challenge of ink only).  Many folks worked the Inktober Challenge with ink but also with watercolor.

Except for only a couple sketches, I wanted to try and get my tones and shading with whatever necessary pen marks it would take using hatching, stippling, crosshatching, etc. rather than using a wash.  I did use an ink wash when trying out the Sailor Fude pen just to test out how the ink would bleed with a damp to wet brush.  But the majority have been worked with pen strokes only.

I still have a ways to go practicing in order to feel less anxiety taking that ink straight to paper without any pencil sketching first.  Not that using pencil first is bad.........I would just like to one day feel like I could pick up a pen and work a sketch like I feel when grabbing a pencil.  That might never happen and actually.........that's OK too :-)

Yesterday I sat and went through over 75 pen and ink only sketches I worked on Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Challenge back in 2012 comparing to the last 31 days of sketching.  I see a definite improvement, particularly with certain subjects and pen stroke methods.  That alone makes my working this challenge worthwhile.  And working this challenge did indeed pull me out of a slump...........until the next one.

31 Days of Sketching

2016 Inktober - Day 30

Today's sketch I wanted to do something that indicated what I used for this challenge to include the one pen I used most for sketching.

I'm not crazy about working hands..........not in pen and ink anyways.  Graphite I don't mind.  So with this one I had to just jump in because had I sat and thought about it, I might not have bothered.

It's a rough sketch  putting down lines even if in the wrong place and then just making corrections along the way.

The pen I used for this one is the Hero 578 Bent Nib Pen.  It's loaded with Lexington Gray ink which between a nib that feeds wet and the paper was a little slow drying.  I had to be careful not to rest my hand on the paper surface smearing the ink.  And the journal is so small that without a resting place for my hand on the page, my lines were definitely rough..........look at those fingernails!!!!  In bad need of a manicure, don't you think????.....hahaha.

2016 Inktober - Day 28

Today's sketch is of a bird I'd never seen until now.  After research of the color and markings, I learned the bird to be an American Redstart that migrates to Southern Florida for the Winter.

Cute little bird and neat calls.  The one I saw was a female with mainly gray coloring and the yellow streaks in wing feathers and the yellow pattern in tail feathers that distinguishes this bird from other types.  The males are much darker with the yellow really standing out when he flashes his tail (according to all I've read).

What was so neat about my first sighting was getting the opportunity to watch it take a bath in our birdbath right outside where I sit all day.  Then flew up in the tree to dry off (I suppose).  The one I saw was a little bigger than a Black Capped Chickadee.

My sketch doesn't indicate the coloring by any means, working in black and white only.  And I didn't shade all the gray in the bird either as I would have done had I painted this.  I was after the shape of the bird and the facial markings more than anything and just recording this new bird sighting.

Used two fountain pens - Sailor Fude and the Platinum Carbon desk pen.

2016 Inktober - Day 27

Today's sketch is my first practice with a giraffe.

Mark's brother in law has asked if I would consider doing a painting of a family of giraffes.  Before committing to a painting, I wanted to practice sketching them first.

Not knowing anything about giraffes, I contacted my dear friend in South Africa asking if she could send me photos from which I could practice.  She sent several photos and I chose a close-up of one to try the face first.

This was fun.......very interesting animal.....love their eyes!  I hope to sketch different angles of the face first and then will try the body and legs.

Sailor Fude and damp brush to wash a little of the ink out for shading.

2016 Inktober - Day 26

Today's is a quick sketch hoping I wouldn't let myself start feeling intimidated by the pen starting out.  Not sure that really helped but I can wish :-)  You'd think by now I'd start feeling less anxious jumping in with pen but I've not reached that point and wonder if I ever will.

Same journal as I've been using but switched back to the Platinum Carbon desk pen.

This is from a photo of a random person at Disney.  There were several others standing around her but she stood out the most to me so I chose only her to put on paper.  If I were working in a larger journal, I might have added more folks around her......then again, maybe not.....ha ha

2016 Inktober - Day 25

This particular sketch is from a photo taken earlier this year when my husband, youngest son and I drove out to Crystal River to check the area out for fishing.

Still using the Sailor Fude pen, I chose a section of the photo that had a lot of black area.  This pen sure made it easier to fill in all those dark areas.  And although the coverage might be streaky looking, I didn't find that so bad for the areas as it helped keep the door and windows from looking like a huge dark hole.  It kind of looks like you can see shapes inside breaking some of the black up a bit.

And with this one, I decided to take a ever so slightly damp brush to the ink lines to create a bit of tone washes.  Too wet and the ink will definitely bleed.

I'm often told I shouldn't point out my mistakes but in all honesty, I'd rather do so hoping others can learn from what I share.

I left something out and didn't realize it until after I had scanned the image and previewed the scan.  Of course there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it so I just call it a lesson learned.

I failed to add seating at the tables and yet I have a young boy sitting there to the left as you view it.  You can see his leg (dark area) near the base of the table but no seat.  It's like he's suspended in mid air in a sitting position :-)

Of course I could always say it leaves something to the viewers imagination they can fill in themselves but honestly............it was a goof on my part.........lol.

The one plus.........not many have taken notice in the groups I've posted it in.  Maybe the fact that the white umbrella takes center stage due to the contrast of it against the black helps the eye from really focusing on that little boy and the fact there's no seat for him to sit on.

2016 Inktober - Days 23 and 24

I'm working with a new pen that although fun to use, it definitely is creating a few extra challenges over and above the fact I'm using only pen and ink for the Inktober Challenge (no pencil guidelines).

In all honesty, I'm surprised I'm still at this but only about a week left to go.  Some people work well with committing to challenges like this.  They may welcome that "I've got to get this done" feeling to help motivate them.  I can't exactly say I feel that way.  I sketch or paint when the mood strikes and my brain and motivation has a tendency to shut down with the thoughts I HAVE to do something.

Anyways........I'm using a Sailor Fude which is a bent nib at 55 degrees.  Depending upon how you hold the pen (angle), determines line width.  Right now I'm finding it a bit of a challenge to control or know where the nib is on paper with the ink flow until it's too late and mark on paper.

Day 23 - From a photo taken back in 2010 during my two week stay with Clare and her family in the United Kingdom.

Normally I shy away from real dark values or areas like you see, but trying to take advantage and try it with this pen and the black ink that comes with it.  My problem is really knowing where to apply the heavier lines and it look right.  There's an art to Drawing and Inking (like with comics) and not something I know too much about.

Day 24 - (Worked this close enough to midnight to call it Day 24)

Sketched from a photo taken weekend before last while on the sketchcrawl at Brownwood Paddock Square.  Again using the Sailor Fude pen.  

All I can say is hmmmmmm............not sure how I feel about it and was relieved to call it done.  Seeing it on screen, I could go back and add some more darker areas (maybe to help balance it a bit more to my own liking) but this is one I just want to call it finished and plan for the next sketch.

I really missed being able to lightly sketch things in first with pencil but I'm sticking with my own rule with this Inktober Challenge of using straight pen and ink.  The challenges I dealt with on this one were:

1)  The sign and what's supposed to be a cows head (looks more like a poodle's head with horns) 

2)  Where and how much to put real dark heavy line marks, 

3)  Getting the right angle with the nib to paper to put down the thickness of marks at any given time, and

4)  I had trouble working over the gutter with the pen.  Either it grabbed the ink off the nib or it wouldn't do anything at all.

Seven more days to go questioning how on earth I actually worked Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Challenge (using pen and ink only) a few years ago!!  :-)

2016 Inktober Challenge - Day 22

With this one I just started sketching one of the flowers in a small arrangement sitting on my desk.  I really had no plan.

The small flower arrangement replaces (almost identical) a live arrangement Terry gifted me with and of course started fading after several days.  I was fortunate to find a little artificial group at Hobby Lobby that had same type of flowers and even the coloring or close to it.

Getting back to the sketch, I started out with one of the daisies.  Then added partials of two others.  I didn't want to include leaves as they are too far down in the arrangement to look right at the angle I was sketching the daisies.  I sat for awhile trying to decide what to do as the little grouping I was working on was smack dab center of my journal page.

I added some dark scribbling to suggest a darker type flower mixed in.  Still wasn't satisfied so I added more partial daisies trying to work my way to the right of the page (as you view it).  When I sat back and looked, it looked too boxy for my liking.  I could have added another daisy up top but I wanted to maintain an odd number............so again, I had to sit and think where do I want to go from here and how do I go about it.

Finally I finished the page and this is what I chose to do to finish it off....

Plat Carbon desk pen

2016 Inktober Days 20 and 21

Two more to add to my monthly collection......

Day 20

Thought I would comb through photos I took in 2010 when visiting the UK.  One of the things I loved seeing were all the various chimney pots and often more than one on top of a roof.  I learned they are made of terracotta and are named depending upon design.

Day 21

With my working in such a small sketchbook/journal, I am finding I need to wear these just to see what I'm doing.  I start out OK but then my eyes get tired rather quickly blurring so bad I can't tell what I'm doing.  This is when I have to resort to wearing these head magnifier glasses.  

Even working on a larger scale, I will at times have to wear these if sketching for any long period of time.  It's mainly when working pen and ink and having to hatch or crosshatch large areas.  I don't seem to struggle as bad when painting.

The positive.........at least there's something made to help us at times like this so we can continue what we love to do (as kindly stated to me in a group I'm in on Facebook).  Not something I thought of on my own but so makes sense to me and glad it was pointed out :-)

2016 Inktober Days 18 and 19

I'm really surprising myself that I'm still working the daily sketches.  Some days I might struggle being able to concentrate and really get into it but I'm still hanging in there.

Day 18 - Acorn cluster found right after Hurricane Matthew passed Florida.  We had a lot of limbs and small branches come down from the wind and lots of leaf tips which included this cluster of acorns.  The oaks here have tons of little acorns.  We were used to the larger leafed oaks back north and larger acorns.

This was one of those days I just really wasn't into sketching but did so anyways.  Tiny little sketch only taking up a quarter of a 3 x 4" page..........lol

Day 19 - Was looking through digital photos I had taken a week before the first Hurricane hit Florida from the West Coast.  This is from our visit to Cedar Keys that got hit hard by that hurricane.  Picture is of hubby.

2016 Inktober Challenge - Day 17

Speaking of birthday..........because my birthday fell on a weekday, my sons wanted to get together yesterday afternoon as a little celebration.

Of course a cake had to be made and here I am 95 days into what's called a Keto diet.  At this point I was not going to break down no matter how tempting it might be.

Hubby made the cake (yellow cake mix) and I iced it (mild chocolate icing).  What helped me through the temptation, I created a little cupcake made from low carb pancake mix.  I put about a half silicone cup of batter into the microwave and nooked it for about 35 seconds.  It puffed up beautifully.  For icing I used a pudding like desert made with home-made whip cream, sugar substitute, vanilla, and cream cheese.  Also low carb.  Sprinkled some unsweetened coconut flakes and pecan pieces on top and viola........my own birthday cake I could eat.  The family even had a candle stuck in the middle to make it authentic.

So they ate their cake and I ate mine.  Divided up the left over and split between my sons and eldest son's family leaving all temptation behind!

Here's a journal entry about it in my sketchbook as today's Inktober sketch :-)

2016 Inktober Day 15 Plus Bonus Experience

Yesterday was a fantastic day for me.  I was invited to be a part of a sketchcrawl in The Villages here in Florida.  My first experience too and it was a blast!!!!

Two people I knew but hadn't seen in awhile plus I met some of the nicest people in the remaining group.  I'm not exactly sure just how many were there but I'm thinking maybe around 18 trying to remember the two tables we took up when meeting up for lunch.

We met up at 8:30 in the morning walking around sketching what ever grabbed our attention.  The area of The Villages we met up at is of a Western theme which I thought was really cool.  On top of that, there was a farmers' market going on with all these canopies set up around the plaza area.

At 11:30 we met at one of the restaurants for lunch and to share our sketches and discuss future get togethers.  I was having such a great time, I hated to see it end.  BUT, we will be doing this again and I so look forward to it.

One thing I learned very quickly, I am S-U-P-E-R slow at sketching.  When at home I really don't think much about how fast or slow I'm working in my sketchbook.  Although now and then I'll challenge myself to quick sketches.  Anyways.....I took notice how several had two or three ink and watercolor sketches to my initial pencil sketch I still needed to ink and add color to.  I made it part way through the inking process but decided to stop and finish at home.  I also wanted to work in my ink only sketch for the Inktober challenge.

Here is the Inktober Day 15 Sketch: - These were two of the ladies I met who were sketching across from where I was sitting.

I was so tired when I got home from all the walking and excitement but determined to finish the page I had started while on site.  I only wish I had scanned the page after I went over in pen and ink before adding color to compare with the color version.  Oh well.....next time.

It was a goooooooooood day!!!  :-)

2016 Inktober - Days 13 and 14

Two more Inktober days down.  I'm finding it a bit easier each day facing that blank piece of paper with pen in hand.  Just goes to show daily practice does go a long way in helping with confidence.  For me not 100% but it's better than what it was when I started this 14 days ago.  I should 'TRY' to do this more often.  :-)

Day 13 - was using one of my Pilot Preras with Lexy Gray ink.  Has always been one of my favorite pens (although I have a few favorites now).

Day 14 - Back to my Platinum Carbon desk pen.  It probably has one of the most reliable and consistent nibs out of all the pens I own to include using nib upside down and putting ink on paper.  This particular one I did not cut the stem off in order to post the cap.

Inktober 2016 - Days 10-12

Still hanging in there with the daily challenge (which surprises me).  19 Days remaining.......lol

Day 10 - Chose to use one of my Lamy Safari fountain pens.  I had checked the cartridge that was in the pen before starting and 'thought' it was full.  Proceeded to do this sketch and found it kept skipping.  I thought maybe it was just the paper.  Then I thought to check the cartridge again.  It looked full but when I took a syringe to pull out ink to see how much was in it, it was basically empty.  That explains the skipping.  Decided to change over to a converter and filled fresh Lexington Gray ink in it.  Viola..........wrote beautifully on scrap paper.

 Day 11 - My Birthday.  Decided to d a little quick sketch to represent that.  I meant to put six candles (representing 10 years each) but was side-tracked and forgot to add them.  Oh well, I can just say it was subconsciously wishing it was truly 4 (x 10) :-) 

Day 12 - Boy did I bite off a bit too much with this one using the technique I chose to go with.  It's a pattern from an outdoor garden statue.  I used the Lamy Safari with the XF nib and proceeded with nothing but dots (stippling).  Not only did this take a very long time to reach this point, my poor hand was aching.  My eyes grew very tired working these dots on a 3 x 4 inch pattern........so much so my eye sight was blurred even wearing glasses.  I should have taken a few breaks but I just wanted to get it done.

I could have refined this more but I had to stop myself and call it done.

Inktober 2016 Days 5 - 9

I'm a bit slow posting these with all the craziness with Hurricane Matthew.  First passing us and then on up the coast where I have family to include my husband being in Fayetteville.  They got hit really hard even for being inland.

I'm lucky I even managed the sketches but here they are :-)

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9 - Up until today, I have used ONLY pen and ink with no pencil guidelines (not mandatory with Inktober but my own set challenge along with the daily sketching).  The gun itself is all pen and ink but when I came to the shadow, I used a light pencil guideline to help with placement before jumping in with ink.

Inktober 2016 - Days 3 and 4

So far so good............four days into the 31 day challenge.

Day 3

This is a little keepsake from several years ago.  I have this one and another with a frog.  I just love the face on this..........lol

Day 4

Another little keepsake from when the boys were younger.  This motorcycle  is only about an inch and a quarter long.  I'm pretty sure this was my youngest son's as he was the one who was really into micro cars, trucks, etc.  My eldest was into legos and my middle son was more into sports and music.

Inktober 2016 - Days 1 and 2

Intober is a yearly global challenge where artists from around the world work an ink sketch each day during the month of October.  For more information, here is a direct link telling more about it.

This year I thought I would attempt it although I normally don't stick with challenges for too long and definitely not those with prompts.  Inktober has daily prompts but are optional for those who might wish to have them for ideas.  With me.........a subject has to grab me before I feel I can sketch it so prompts are out.

Here is Day 1 and Day 2.  I am using a Platinum Carbon desk pen and Lexington Gray ink.  I've chosen to use a small 3 x 4 inch leather handmade sketchbook that was gifted to me.

Day 1 - This garlic bulb was sitting on my kitchen counter and thought I'd sketch it before we tore it apart.  A few cloves have started to sprout so we might attempt to grow them.  The others we'll use.  We normally just use garlic salt or garlic powder for seasoning.  A time or two we bought jarred minced garlic.  For some reason Terry decided to buy the fresh which gave me a perfect first specimen to sketch.

 Day 2 - This little fabric doll came with a porcelain Native American doll Terry gave me many years ago as a Christmas gift.  Terry is part Wantun (if I'm spelling it right).....a small tribe out of California.  His native american heritage is from his father's side.