Another Inktober drawing, this one using mostly India ink on Khadi paper. I bought a bottle of Higgins ink in brown, and it was a nice change from black and white. I ended up using Bombay inks to add some color.
I’ve used watercolor, colored pencil, soft pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, graphite, and ink, but never oils. I bought five R&H Pigment Sticks in blue, red, yellow, black, and white, not knowing what to expect. I knew they act like oil paint but in a stick form so can be used a little more like a pastel. However, all the examples I found of oil sticks were bold and abstract while I knew I wanted something more realistic. I gave it a try with the first coat going on heavy and the rest with brushes and clay shapers. It turned out okay for a first try, although the trees were less than stellar.
I hemmed and hawed about how much color to use, and in the end I threw caution to the wind and jumped in with the Bombay India inks and a brush. This was an absorbing project that lasted a week.
For the record, my blog program now offers options to generate text and photos with A.I. This is something I’ll never do.
October rolled around, and I set down my oil pastels and picked up my Indigraph fountain pen. But first, I put on two more coats of gesso on this canvas board and a generous amount of ink that created a very active background. I decided to use reds and yellows with a hint of blue to create an analogous color scheme of orange, plum, and red. I’m a little intimidated by the size, but so far, this has been super fun.