Currently Browsing: Monochromatic 14 articles
Blick’s White Sulphite Drawing Paper
The other day a friend stopped over with some of Blick’s White Sulphite Drawing Paper. She was going to do some gel printing on it, but she thought I might enjoy testing it. I did. I videotaped my first drawing session using this paper. You can hear my opinions about the paper and learn other […]
Studies: Observing the Subject Over and Over
Studies are something all visual artists do, pretty much every day. Studies are about cementing the observation of a subject into a visual approach you can apply to your paper or canvas. But studies don’t always happen before you make a more finished piece. On this page spread, which is in a Canson 180 Sketchbook […]
Making Your Own Loose Sheets
For the past several years I’ve really enjoyed working on the paper in the Canson 180 sketchbook. I couldn’t find anywhere to buy the paper unbound. This year, the first week of January, I was about to start another Canson 180 sketchbook. I like to have one going while I have an art-paper journal going. […]
In Context: The Trouble with Double Vision
Page spread in an 8 inch square, hand-bound journal made with the OLD Gutenberg paper (which is not the same as the currently available Gutenberg paper which I do not recommend for visual journaling). The text on the page explains everything, oh, with one “writo” as I like to call them. In the second paragraph […]
Thoughts on Nose Rings
Dick claims that we talk more than most married couples. I don’t know about that, but I do know that our conversations are far-ranging. This past fall my lung situation was pretty bad. I didn’t have a lot of energy for multiple bouts of the downsizing packing, unpacking, sorting—as well as work and cooking. So […]
Derwent Shade and Tone Set
Manufacturers of art materials are always looking for new ways to bring existing products to more people, often in different forms. The Derwent Shade and Tone Set is a recent example of that. I’m not testing a lot of stuff right now (downsizing, blah, blah, blah; and a lot of paint I want to use […]
More Alun Armstrong and More Messing about with a Dried Out Pen
I keep returning to Alun Armstrong the subject of my 31-day March 2021 project—I keep finding more drawings that didn’t get scanned because my backup equipment failed. (Issues still not resolved, making it very interesting here.) I just wrote a post last week about using a dried out brush pen and if you missed that […]
Looking Back at My March Project: Sketching Alun Armstrong
So much has kept me from scanning the many sketches of made of Alun Armstrong in March 2021 #MarchisSketchAlunArmstrongMonth. But I did manage to scan a few of the sketches in the past week. There are many, many more, some I quite like, some have no resemblance to Armstrong and I can only look at […]
Ink Wash Portrait: I Miss Gelatin-Sized Watercolor Papers
This is another comic guest from “As Yet Untitled with Alan Davies.” I’m sorry I don’t remember his name, the book is in storage. A lovely 8 x 7.5 inch journal that always seems a perfect size to me. I used brush pen and ink wash on this sketch. And I did pause the TV […]
Now Use Even Fewer Strokes…
Did you spend your weekend working with your brush pen like I suggested on Friday? If so you’re ready to use even fewer strokes. Draw your subject with as as few strokes as possible. Think before you draw a contour line or make texture marks. Do you really need ink marks for that contour? For […]