Brown Ink, Blue Highlights
I swapped black ink for brown in my Majohn Q1 fountain pen, and I think I love it. I can get more of a complimentary effect when using only two colors if I steer away from black.
Category: Pen
Ink, New Pen and Pencil
A chicken, getting ready to turn, and two snoozing ducks. Plus, I bought a goofy pen, the Majohn Q1 with a bent (fude) nib because of its unusual size and the large ink capacity. So far, I really like it. I also picked up this little Lamy mechanical pencil, which is designed for children. Works for me.
More Etched Sketchbook Sketches
I’m still enjoying my new mineral paper sketchbook, mostly choosing ink and pencils this past week.
I used ink with some sprinkles of salt to create this moody background, and then I used Faber-Castell Pitt matt graphite pencils for the Junco and branches. I never get tired of drawing a little bird in a tree.
More ink for this cup plant leaf.
And colored pencil for these Goldfinches with a few ink dried plants.
Monotype Prints on a Gelli Plate
I bought an 8”x10” Gelli plate to play around with. You know how it goes… one day I spotted a video on making monotypes on a Gelli plate, and the next day I’m researching small printing presses! Luckily, common sense, limited space, and a total lack of the understanding of print making brought me right back to buying an inexpensive Gelli plate.
Monotypes are weird because you have to ask yourself, why am I not painting this on a piece of paper? A monotype is a one-shot deal. You can get ghost (second) prints but they’re only that, a ghostly image. I purchased this specifically to be able to create a moody and somewhat unpredictable background that I’d draw or paint over. Honestly, so far that hasn’t really happened. I think it will take a lot of practice to achieve what’s in my imagination.
So far, I’ve practiced with block printing ink and an old brayer, with Neocolors and drops of ink. I’ve had some fun with stencils and filling in the open areas with crosshatching, which is very freeing and gets me to loosen up and embrace stylizing.