Currently Browsing: Ink Wash 15 articles
Notes to Yourself in Your Journal
I find the practice of making even brief notes during or at the end of a sketching session help me focus where I want to go next. If something turns out too elongated I try again, often with a different pen or tool, as I did here. And I might even make a small diagram […]
In Context: A Show, a Sketch, a Note
I hate it when a show has only a season. I don’t seem to stop myself from watching. Then when there are no more episodes I’m hooked, but bereft. This happened was going to happen with this show, so I stopped early. One of the many wonky sketches I did in April when I […]
Don’t Sweat Ink Blots
Look if you’re making an illustration for a client or inking a piece to hang on the wall, an ink blot can be unfortunate. But if you’re working quickly in your journal and you get a blot—laugh, smile, take a big breath, wonder at the unique shape that the ink made as it fell […]
Keeping Your Mind in the Present Moment
Seems like you can’t turn around these days without someone telling you to keep your mind in the present moment. I tell my students that all the time. I have told students for 30 years that being able to keep your mind in the present moment is one of the main benefits of journaling. I’m […]
The Property Brothers Make Change Seem Easy (with Hard Work)
I’m probably the only person on the planet who sees “Property Brothers” as a show about change, adaptation, and living in the present moment. (As I write this I’m also including “Property Brothers: Buying and Selling,” as I watched them all simultaneously; and I have since started watching the new, “Property Brothers: Forever Home.”) While […]
What Has Happened to Hercule Poirot?
Actor John Malkovich takes on Hercule Poirot in “The ABC Murders” available on Amazon Prime. I recommend watching this version of Agatha Christie’s book by the same name not just to keep abreast of how the interpretation of Christie’s work continues to morph with each new “generation,” but also because it is simply fun to […]
In Context: Page from My Green-lined Journal
After my first eye surgery I struggled to get used to the corrections in one eye and living with the fact that the right eye cataract couldn’t be corrected until the next surgery; so what output am I capable of? I also wasn’t able to exercise. So I watched a lot of television. I returned […]
In Context: Looking at the Arteza Watercolor Book Part 3
Here’s a page from the large Arteza Watercolor Book I’m reviewing. Nothing written on this page, so I’ll just spell it out. I started with direct brush ink wash, but wanted more, so continued with watercolor (with some white gouache added to some of the colors). Now you can’t see any of the ink wash. […]
Rewatching “Death in Paradise”
In January I started rewatching “Death in Paradise.” It’s a “murder/detective/fish-out-of-water” show that I have enjoyed since first seeing it on PBS several years ago. I don’t want to give significant details away about the whole arc of the series, but basically an English policeman, not well liked at home for being a bit fussy […]