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.
10″x14″, ink on Khadi paper
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.
8″x10″, oil stick on canvas board
18″x24″ India ink on canvas board
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.
18″x24″, ink on gessoed canvas board
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.