I created a few pen and ink postcards for the Postcrossing group. If someone mentions they like handmade cards, I’ll send one, but if they don’t mention it, they’ll get a regular, purchased card. We have a ton to choose from, so they’re always fun to send. The owl went to Portugal and the crow to Germany.
All the others are monotypes from the gel plate, most with a charcoal drawing, and the Morandi-influenced bottles with some pan pastel.
10″ x 14, India ink on Khadi watercolor paper
About six months ago I splurged and purchased a reusable fineliner/brush pen called the Lumos Pro by Tom’s Studio. I used it quite a bit, enjoying the fact that I could use fountain pen ink in a clever wick-filling pen, and I could interchange the nibs. However, I ran into some problems when using handmade paper. The ink would stop flowing. On a more hot-pressed or smooth paper, it worked just fine.
For my birthday, I again treated myself to another small company artist’s pen. This one is the Indigraph, a fountain pen made specifically for India ink with a small water reservoir in the cap that keeps the ink from drying out. It works great. This pen is more usable on handmade paper than the Lumos, but the nib does get paper fibers stuck in it, so I have to be a little careful.
Indigraph is on top, and the Lumos Pro is on the bottom.
Between the two, I’m a little more fond of the Indigraph. It’s a comfortable pen, and I find a fountain pen nib works well with a variety of paper types, and India ink is such a wonderful, permanent medium. I far prefer the Indigraph’s design because it’s so easy to twist off the cap. The Lumos is difficult–the threads are just too fine for me. However, they’re both lovely, and every pen and ink drawing I’ve done in recent months has used one or the other, with the exception of the recent ballpoint pen drawing.
9″ x 12″, ink on Bockingford extra rough watercolor paper
How many can claim a fifteen-year old blog? Happy anniversary to this little corner of the web where I’ve documented all the arts and crafts I’ve obsessed about since 2006. Even with that strong blogging habit, at some point over the past year I slowed down on blog posts and increased Instagram posts. Instagram is easy and popular, and it’s all too easy to forget about writing. Recently, I decided I missed keeping up this ancient blog and it needed an update—and perhaps Instagram needs to go away. Long story short, you cannot control reels on your feed, and I found many objectionable.
So, here’s an update on the ol’ blog. I’ve not been as artsy lately, but I’ve still managed several sketchbook sketches…
I also sketched this large landscape using Derivan Liquid Pencil tinted with blue and yellow.
A quick pen and ink landscape…
And a still life on Pastelmat.
Here’s the question: Will this little blog still be here in another fifteen years?