Currently Browsing: Nideggen 56 articles
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 […]
The Dynamics of Hair
I’m also interested in the dynamics of hair not just as in beards, but in hairstyles. This brings me back all the time to the 1960s. (I collect old school yearbooks.) Here’s a page spread from a book I bound using the now defunct Zerkall Nideggen— toned paper with a wavy laid pattern and delightful […]
Goofy Collage Play
I like to keep my waste scraps—those bits of paper that go under my journal pages when I’m painting off the edges of the page. Those papers get the most interesting collection of marks and colors. I tear or cut them up and use them for collage. Then of course I sketch on top of […]
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.
Lighting As You See It
In a week where I’ve written about creative momentum and using any space of time for your drawing habit, I wanted to remind you that simple, quick (30-minute) sketches can be so valuable if you follow through on your intention. The two direct brush portraits I did on this page spread were my end of […]
Sit Down and Work
I’ve frequently written about the need to sit down and work even if you don’t feel you have the creative juice to do so. Lately physical issues have been sapping my energy. But I have a not-so-secret weapon to combat lack of energy—a life-long art habit. It might not always feel comfortable or even […]
Thinking about Portraiture, Doodles, and Stylization
When I sketch I think about a lot of things. Not just the process of sketching. My mind turns over how I’m experiencing the sketching. Questions arise as to why am I sketching what I’m sketching. A thousand thoughts for every sketch. My brain is always going. Typically I write these thoughts on a separate […]
Wishful Spending: An Artist Trap
“Wishful Spending”—in which people purchase “items that stand in for the activities they would like to do or the people they would like to be.” —Carrie M. Lane, “More Than Pretty Boxes: How the Rise of Professional Organizing Shows Us The Way We Work Isn’t Working,” as quoted in Jennifer Wilson’s “Chaos Theory” review, New […]
Why Put All That Effort into an Background You Can’t See?
On Instagram earlier this week I posted this mixed media portrait and commented about the effort involved in creating the “beehive” hairstyle. I also commented about how I wouldn’t make that effort. Yet there are all sorts of things we put effort into daily. Sometimes hourly (I’m thinking of my PT heavy life right now). […]
Things That Make Change Seem Possible
I’ve been posting pages from my current (just about full) hand-bound journal made with the now defunct Nideggen paper (which is toned, has a lovely fiber fleck, and a delightful wavy-laid texture on a basically smooth paper.) Here’s an “in context” which basically explains my love of paper, my love of this paper specifically, and […]