Went out for a first ride on our new electric bike. Wow how much easier is it going up hills! Stopped to do a very quick sketch of the entrance to a cemetery in nearby village. Pelikan M200 with Noodlers ink. Found the Noodlers doesn’t feather anywhere as much as de Atramentis in my Moleskine….
Category: equipment
Embracing the wobble
I’m really into just drawing at the moment. Watercolours have been my go to for years and to be honest I find it easy to fudge a drawing by just splodging on some paint. So I’m going back to basics and am avoiding paint. I’m aiming to use just fountain pen (my fave Pelikan M200)…
Inktober drawing kit
Thought I should give it ago this year….an ink drawing every day for month of October. Interesting challenge to resist the watercolours! So got out my fountain pens, gave them a clean. Then found that my favourite vintage Mont Blanc is broken – the threaded part of the barrel is breaking away – so that…
Snail ate my Irises
Went out this morning and these Iris flower heads were lying on the ground. Stems nibbled through by naughty snails (or slugs)! So put them in a glass of water hoping they’ll flower and took the opportunity to draw them. This time in pencil, watercolour, colour pencils and some ink at the end. Really like…
Stand-up pencil case
Such a brilliant idea. A pencil case that stands up and one that’s easy to see what’s inside.
Brush pens and people
Had a great afternoon this week with the art group in Cafe de la Gare in Gourville, organised by Lulu Hancock. I go when I can to get a couple of hours of focused drawing time. Our model was Julie the bar owner, who was taking the pose of a Richard Diebenkorn painting. We were…
More mop brush watercolours
Loving the mop brush I bought recently. Makes life very splodgy! No control and loads of water makes for loose painting
New vibrant colours in watercolour palette
I’ve been getting bored with my usual watercolour palette. Partly due I think to having too many choices in it. So I’ve created another box, from a simple Muji plastic box, with just eight colours – three of which are greens. I’ve never ever used a ready mixed green in a palette but I’m starting…
Noodlers Ahab fountain pen
Messing about with the Ahab fountain pen and getting used to it’s flexible nib. Needs quite a lot of pressure to get a really heavy line, which makes for slower drawing and makes me draw more abstractly which I really like. Somehow it forces me to be more loose with the lines and definitely…
Orange sweater watercolour
Was about to add colour to face, hair and background, then decided that the focus on orange is much more powerful. Very juicy splodgy watercolour in Seawhite sketchbook. Lines with Noodlers Ahab pen – love it for it’s line weight variability.
Noodlers Ahab
This tin is a dream to draw. Every time I draw it, I get different reflections. This was done with my Noodlers Ahab pen and ink. I’m really enjoying my Ahab and love the flexibility of the nib that gives me some line variation – makes for lively sketching.
“Threads” sewing bag
…which I now use as a pencil case. The word “threads” is appliqued on the back..
How to photograph your artwork
How to photograph your artwork – How To – Artists & Illustrators This is from Artists & Illustrators magazine, and is incredibly useful. We all photograph our work all the time for putting onto Facebook etc – so here’s how to do it properly!
Watercolour mixes
Starting to really enjoy my very limited palette of watercolours. It started with Jane Blundell’s recommendation for four great colours: Hansa Yellow Medium, Qunacridone Magenta, Phthalo Blue RS, and Transparent Pyrrol Orange. But I found they weren’t quite there, so have added two others – Cerulean Blue and Yellow Ochre. These add a little more…
Super-minimal travelling watercolour kit
Filled empty pans with new Daniel Smith watercolour paints. Stuck them into an old Rotring pen tin, along with a piece of sponge, which left space for my trusty Roberson no. 8 travel watercolour brush and a pencil. My perfect, lightweight, small travel watercolour kit. The brush I realise I’ve had for at least…
Jane Blundell
I’m hoping for a delivery tomorrow – four new watercolours, as recommended by Jane Blundell on her blog. She’s based in Australia and has done loads of tests with different combinations of colours. The four I’m waiting for are from Daniel Smiths range of excellent colours: Hansa Yellow Medium PY97 Quinacridone Magenta Phthalo Blue RS Transparent…
Pen, pencil, brush
Three key bits of kit. Lamy Joy pen, Pentel mechanical pencil with blue leads (lines don’t show on reproductions) and Pentel waterbrush – ink and watercolour in sketchbook.
