I actually completed an entire drawing without resorting to using an ink wash to soften my scribbly linework. If I could do this one over, I’d probably keep the treeline lighter and make the sunflower less “solid” looking. My goal was to create lights, darks, and grays with hatching and cross hatching. I created this drawing following a course by artist Philip Harris on the Domestika website.
Both are 9″ x 12″, Indigraph pen and ink on Canson multimedia paper
I tried another but realized at some point I wasn’t going to pull it off without an ink wash, so out came the water and brush.
Another ink and wash drawing on Khadi handmade paper. In addition to the pack of twenty sheets of paper, I now have two small hardcover journals and one larger square journal, all Khadi paper. It’s now my favorite. I would say the same thing if I was lucky enough to have the equivalent with Twinrocker paper, but they only do single sheets.
10″ x 14″, ink on Khadi handmade watercolor paper
I’ve been using a white Neocolor I (water resistant) crayon to create highlights,similar to using masking fluid. I put it down after the first line drawing but before the ink wash. Or, I use the crayon or to add in a few after I accidentally make something too dark. I dislike using gel pens. They never seem to work on whatever surface or medium I’m using, but when they do work, there’s often a opaque feeling to the whiteness. With a crayon or colored pencil, it’s easy to create a subtle highlight. However, once on the paper, it’s extremely hard to go over it again with ink. It’s also difficult to put in highlights on white paper before adding a wash. In the drawing above, the highlights on the leaves in the bottom left were created using the wax crayon before I put in an ink wash (several times to get it dark), and they kind of glow.
This old farm is in the floodplain, and it’s been hit by high waters several times. It’s probably empty, and now I’m worried that someday I’ll see bulldozers in the yard. Take a picture now, because you never know. Years ago, I snapped a picture of a barn and painted it, never thinking the barn would be knocked down the next summer.
12″ x 16″, ink on Khadi handmade cold press watercolor paper
I’m truly enjoying taking Smoothie77’s patreon course. I think it’s giving me confidence to try larger landscapes and even tackle a complicated tree like the one on the right, something I would have avoided a few months ago. I’m also enjoying using handmade paper, even with its quirks. I like having to answer the questions that get asked when something is slightly unpredictable. I have to think through things, and this paper challenges me in that way. It takes water strangely, soaks in ink easier when it’s dry, and my Lumos Pro fineliner bumps across the textured surface, which creates interesting lights and darks. Love it
