Currently Browsing: pen and ink 22 articles
Working on Canson 180
Today I look at working with watercolor on a not-wet-media paper. In May I shared with you how I started working in a Canson 180 sketchbook given to me by a friend. Because recovery from cataract surgery has been protracted I’ve been rather cooped up, unable to drive, get to life drawing, etc. One […]
How Do I Keep a Journal or a Sketchbook?
I get asked all the time “How do I keep a journal or a sketchbook?” I teach journaling classes in which students create in visual journals. I teach drawing classes that require students keep a sketchbook. Some people also ask me how journals and sketchbooks differ. The questions have so much “extra” weight. What those […]
Stonehenge Aqua Review Part 2—Ink on the Cold Press Surface and Binding
This is part two of a multi-part review of Stonehenge Aqua (hot and cold press) 140 lb. watercolor papers. Please see part one (which contains a recommendation summary) at this link. While I may have started as a child with color pencils I quickly transitioned to pen and ink. As a result of that I’ve […]
Happy New Year 2019
It’s the first day of the New Year! I believe that everyday needs to be greeted as a first day. I believe that you need to do something creative each day. In the 10 plus years I’ve been writing the blog I’ve written about New Year’s Day each year. Here are links to some of […]
More Scribbling
When I use an approach that appeals to me or interests me in some way I want to try it again to see if I can apply it to different subjects. After I sketched the image shown in Monday’s post I spent several days making experiments. I scribbled with all sorts of pens, with all […]
Playing with Lines, Scribbling…
As the caption states, I was trying something new when I drew this. I used a couple different pens and then added watercolor washes. But when I was working with the pens I didn’t try to consider my lines carefully and keep them to a minimum—I scribbled. It was great fun. And I felt that […]
What Happened to Rozwoundup.Typepad.com?
Over the weekend I killed my Typepad account. In October 2008 I started my blog on Typepad. For 8 years it worked well as a platform to share my work with friends and students. But the design was static and the features offered on Typepad didn’t match the needs I had growing forward. I decided […]
Simple Approaches for Backgrounds—A Five-Part Series: Part 5 Lifting Off Color
This is Part Five of a five-part series on executing simple backgrounds in your journal or other artwork. Part One of this series can be found at this link. I’m going to end this series with the simplest approach to background texture—color lift off. To do this you need a paper with sufficient surface sizing […]
In Context: A Piecemeal Portrait of a Dog
Sometimes when I don’t like the paper in a journal I’m working in (here a Zeta Smooth, heavyweight journal from Stillman & Birn) I will sketch on Post-it Notes™ Sometimes I save those bits of paper and make a piecemeal portrait. (See the category list for additional piecemeal portraits.) See my four part review on […]
Using Little Bits of Paper
I write about using little bits of paper every so often. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I have another post on this coming up later this month. Here’s a sketch I started on a yellow legal pad. I was trying to decide if I would sketch or paint, and I wanted to […]