Currently Browsing: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
In Context—Just Draw
In the “In-Context Series” I promised I wouldn’t write a whole lot of text. Just let the page spread stand for itself, but sometimes I feel the need to say a little more, and include a detail image. This type of spread is what you often see in my journals: a prepainted page with a […]
Thoughts on The Issues Involved in Using Brush Pens
If you’ve never used a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (PPBP) before getting it going might be a little confusing at first. You need to unscrew the top from the barrel and insert the Pentel ink cartridge. There is a little cylindrical opening at one end of the cartridge. That’s the top. You need to push […]
My Love Affair with the Pentel Brush Pen
I love the brush pen so much that I write about it almost constantly. Every so often I make a concerted effort to get people to try it. That’s what this week is about. My blog posts are all brush-pen related. I’d like to begin by mentioning that I didn’t always like the brush pen. […]
Maybe a New Project? Maybe…?
Recently I’ve been talking with friends. Things happen in life. We need to talk things over. If we are very lucky our friends give us warm, compassionate, heartfelt, and world-wise wisdom while we chat. I think it is important that we listen to that advice. Listen both as a person and as an artist. Sometimes […]
My Goals for 2017 and The MCBA Visual Journal Collective’s Ninth Annual Portrait Party
This post was originally published on January 15, 2017 during my site transition. Note: The images in today’s post were sketched while I was sick with bronchitis and watching an episode of “Forged in Fire.” I LOVE THIS SHOW. Four blacksmiths compete in three rounds for $10,000. First they make a blade in 3 hours, then finish […]
Working in a Series: Tootsie Pop Portraits
Above: Brush pen, Daniel Smith watercolor (on the Tootsie Pop) and Schmincke Horadam gouache background. In the Seawhite of Brighton square sketchbook I was using earlier this year. Sides masked with Nichiban Artist's tape. I love Tootsie Pops. For years I couldn't get them because we lived in Australia. They speak of very early childhood […]
We Work With What We Have
Left: In the smallest landscape Hahnemühle Nostalgie sketchbook which is about 6 x 4.25 inches—a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch from a photo in the Sktchy app, while waiting in the doctor’s patient room. No new cartridges, just the barest flow of ink…I had to keep trying to move around the face and get in a […]
Summer Reading at the MCBA Visual Journal Collective
Above: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch with gouache. This is a quick sketch I made using colors set out for another project—forcing myself to use pigments I don't normally use. Shinola Sketchbook test journal; spread 16 x 9.5 inches. Tonight at 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts the MCBA Visual Journal […]
Quick Stop at Como Zoo
Above: Quick sketch of two ostriches on the verso page, then a more detailed head study on the recto page. One of the birds had wandered off to the edge of the paddock and we followed it. It was standing right at the fence peering over at the crowds so I was about 6 feet away […]
Why I Love Gouache
Above: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen sketch in a Japanese Lined Journal. This sketch was made on a spread first covered with Montana Acrylic Marker and washi tape. I then painted with gouache, just the areas of the portrait that I wanted to paint, using the paint opaquely when I wanted to obscure the lines and background color, […]