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In Context: More Brush Pen Talk—Hair
You can click on the image to read the text note on the spread for this “In Context” post. More brush pen hair for the week. The bonus of stubble. When you are sketching with a brush pen life is really pretty great. (And you can cope better with all the times you aren’t sketching […]
TV Tips: Chef Shows—Lee Anne Wong
I’m a fan of competition cooking shows where leading chefs compete for prizes, money, titles… I have always enjoyed watching cooking shows since seeing Julia Child on PBS. (I most enjoyed her shows with Chef Jacques Pepin later in life.) In season 3 of “24 in 24” Chef Lee Anne Wong competed. I first saw […]
Simple Things to Sketch
There are a lot of simple things around your home to sketch. What you choose will reflect on what you’re interested in. Shapes, colors, values, negative space. Subjects around us keep us practicing for other subjects we’ve yet to meet. Enjoy exploring your home for simple subjects which yield greater understanding of all those skills […]
Staedtler Pigment Brush Pens with Color Ink: A Brief Review
Since the internet and phone are always paying attention to everything I do sometimes they suggest things they think might be of interest. Typically what is suggested isn’t what I’m interested in at all, because I am interested in what I’m interested in and usually nothing tangentially related. But the other day the internet suggested […]
Kuretake Ai Liner Brush—Sepia Brush Pen
I’ve reviewed the original Kuretake Ai Liner brush with black pigmented ink before on my blog. Recently I saw there is now a sepia version. Who doesn’t like sketching in sepia ink now and then? I ordered up a sepia Kuretake Ai Liner pen from JetPens. (They run around $7.50 and I typically buy enough […]
What Happened with the Excess Stamp Ink from Yesterday’s Post?
Yesterday I showed you what you could do in 15 minutes with some rubber-stamp ink to prepare some background textures in your journal. You’ll remember there was a scrap of watercolor paper I also painted with the leftover ink. (See the bottom right of the above photo.) Here’s a bit of pattern/texture making fun you […]
Quick, Colorful Background Textures for Your Journal Pages
Lately I’ve been discussing keeping your creative flow going even if you only have 15 minutes a day. And I’ve mentioned pre-painting backgrounds. Today I’m walking you through the use of pigmented rubber stamp ink—but you can also use liquid acrylics or acrylic inks. Remember—if you are not going to use wet media on your […]
Go with the Line—And Finish
When you draw directly with ink every mark you make is permanent (or is it? More on that in a moment). If you don’t nail the line positioning, length, and weight (thickness and thinness determined by pressure) it’s decision time—what do you do? I’ve seen a lot of students figuratively and literally throw up their […]
Guest Artist in My Journal
I had week off from blogging last week while I tried to balance physical therapy and reactions to various events, personal and national. In the latter category I was touched by the very sad death of Rob and Michelle Reiner. If you make a list of my favorite 30 films of all time almost all […]
In Context: My Life with Dried Out Pens
I am surrounded by dried out pens. I love that. Here’s a page that pretty much captures my day. Remember: If you don’t have “time to paint,” you’ve still got time for a sketch and some ink wash! (Brush pen and ink wash in a hand-bound journal made with the now defunct Nideggen. An Earth’s […]