11″ x 15″, Dr. Bombay India Ink on Khadi watercolor paper
I didn’t plan this one out too much, just did a simplified pencil drawing of the Song Sparrow perching on the cup plant based on a photo I had taken. I let it sit for a day as it looks on the right, but in the morning light, I realized I had to do something drastic to get some contrast into it, so I used India ink straight and brushed it around the leaves. It’s now very dramatic and, I think, far more interesting.
More grackles. They’re so expressive.
12″x18″, India ink on Khadi smooth watercolor paper
I purposefully held back on this one. If I did this again, I’d probably spend more time on the plants (yellow pond lily or Spatterdock). I don’t think I’d add linework but would use more layering. I’d like to think I used restraint for once, but I think it’s more honest to say I wasn’t certain what to do so I stopped. In the end, it has a rather print-like feeling.
10″ x 14″, ballpoint ink on Khadi watercolor paper
I completed a small pencil sketch of this same scene a few months ago, and I kept it in the back of my mind that I’d like to do a larger piece. So, I did. Although I really like using a simple ballpoint pen, I have some concerns about the ink fading, absorbing into the paper, or containing strange, acidic ingredients. I’ll probably call it a fad and return to fountain pens, but it was awfully nice to create such a nice, inky-dark drawing with one simple tool. Well, I also used a water brush to lightly dilute some of the ink, which was mildly water soluble. I like that little bit of shading it creates.
Ballpoint pen is surprisingly fun but also a little messy as an art medium. Watch out for smearing!
Stalogy pen with black, low-viscosity ink on Canson multimedia paper
I based this off a photo I took at the precise moment a Great Blue Heron dove for a fish. My camera, a Canon PowerShot sx740 HS, is perfect for carrying around in my purse, but I haven’t mastered taking a really great photo, especially from a distance. That hasn’t stopped me from using it all the time, and nearly all my artwork is from my own reference photos.
In real life, the fish wasn’t as lucky as the one I drew. I added the fish and then decided to keep the theme of “almost” going by adding the little, tiny dragonfly above the fish.
