Currently Browsing: Toned Paper 39 articles
Mixed Media Portrait on Toned Paper
If you’re going to play around with mixed media I encourage you to seek out toned papers. The strokes and values you achieve on the toned background make a fun departure from white paper. This sketch of an Earth’s World Fairgoer (who was wearing black lipstick) is in a hand bound journal I made with […]
Remembering My Budgerigar and the Naming of Pets
When we lived in Australia I had a budgerigar—a.k.a. budgie, a.k.a. grass parakeet. They are native to Australia and fly in great flocks over the iron-rich red desert of the interior of the continent. I thought I loved birds until I saw these in their natural habitat and then everything clicked together for me—geology, geography, […]
In Context—Painting Rocks
All my students are groaning right now as they read the title of this post: “In Context—Painting Rocks.” Don’t worry, I’m not going to go on about Ruskin, today. I just wanted to post this rock portrait because April marked a return to painting in color for me, after a long bout of pen and […]
Neocolor II or KingArt Artist Mixed Media Gel Sticks?
If you’ve been following along this past few weeks you’ll know that I used some “stick” media in my 2026 International Fake Journal Month Journal. And that led to questions, which led to a discussion, which led to me making some videos about Caran d’Ache Neocolor II Water-soluble Wax Pastels (CANII) here. And also this […]
Book Arts Pocket, Some Dogs, and Some Beans
Make your journal work for you by utilizing your book arts skills and make a pocket! Sometimes there are scraps lying on the drawing table and I sketch on those scraps. (And yes, tape scraps together to make bigger scraps if necessary [bottom right].) These dog sketches on scraps of Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media […]
Doodling: Let Your Mind Play—Remind It of the Value of Play
I’m often doddle and draw on non-art papers—simply because I’m sitting at my desk working and all that I have immediately around me is office supplies—bond copier paper and Post-It Notes™. (You see both of those types of paper in the first image today.) I wrote earlier this month, and many other times in the […]
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 […]
In Context: Familiar Faces
We all have subjects we love to draw over and over. This repetition allows us to go deeper into our understanding of form. In my notes on the page I refer to Rick Niece’s face as comfort food. He can be found on Sktchy and Instagram. He puts his talent and time into providing interesting […]
Another Reason to Sketch and Paint the Same Subject Multiple Times
Continuing my thoughts from Friday’s post I wanted to add another reason why it is a good idea to sketch and paint the same subject multiple times—the fun of trying different media out and seeing how the use of different media changes your interpretation. On this page spread I first sketched a a watercolor portrait […]
In Context: A Brush Pen Portrait and What I Was Reading
You can click on this image to see what I was reading about on this day. This is from a journal I bound using the now defunct Nideggen toned paper.