Hello, my name is Ilga Jansons,
and I'm a doodle addict. Edgewood, Washington Plus

I’ve worked in the fashion industry, tested equipment for NASA, been a high school teacher and a program manager at Microsoft. I’ve also been a general contractor, an indie-dyer for wool and yarn, and designed architectural etched glass. I am currently semi-retired and rediscovering my artistic roots. I keep drawings on a Pinterest board. https://www.pinterest.com/EdgewoodGarden/ilgas-drawings/

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Ilga Jansons' Uploads

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I've been so impressed with the ball point pen art that I have seen on this site, that I decided to give it a try. This is a Betta fish (Siamese fighting fish) done in red, blue, and purple ball point pens. Obviously, I have much to learn....but it was great fun and I have ordered some more colors since I plan on experimenting more. I've enclosed a photo of the work in progress and the various reference photos I used. The colors are more true to the final scan than in the flash photo of my drawing table.

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When I am angry and frustrated with the world (politics, wild fires, injustice, etc.) I seem to be drawn to drawing raptors. The first one is today's sketch, the other two are from former days. Blackwing pencil and woodless B4 pencil on Canson sketch paper.

Pigma micron pen drawing of a hawk

Yesterday, I was drawing during the Metropolitan Opera's daily streaming. My husband, Mike came by and looked dumbfounded. "Samson and Delilah inspired THIS subject matter?" Walked off shaking his head. We have a good laugh!

Drawing Prompt Submission

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There are many reference photos for iguanas on the internet. This drawing relies on three difference reference images. The drawing was done with a micron .005 pen and then coloring added with pencils. He was a lot of fun....I think there may be more iguanas or other lizards and reptiles in my future!

This started as some scribbling with Inktense pencils on large plain drawing paper. Then I was done, I wanted to wet the the drawing to release the "ink," but I found that the paper would not take water without drastic buckling. So, it remains a drawing rather than becoming a painting.

More ballpoint pen experiments. This was trying to "blend" colors, using ball point pens in a similar way to colored pencils. I found Layering evenly to be pretty difficult, esp with the pens blotching and very very limited burnishing. The interesting thing is that the paper doesn't seem to get "tired" the way it does with pencils. This is just cheap printer card stock.

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Still playing with ballpoint pens. This time, I tried a “scribble” drawing, holding the pen way back on the shaft and making little circles and scribbles….then layering them over and over. It was actually very liberating and fun. I did this on a Canson sketch paper….which didn’t wear through, but did buckle a little towards the end.

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My first ballpoint pen person. This was a lot more time consuming than I expected, but I'm glad I hung in there and finally finished it. The reference for the drawing was a Getty Image.

Maia, one of two current German Shepherds was born here at our house ten years ago. She is a grand old lady with a big ears, a big ruff and a sweet personality. This drawing was done from a photo reference AND her sleeping at my feet. I used Pigma Micron Pens in black and brown with a little graphite smudging to add a bit of shadow.

It's never been my practice to stick pins into insects and collect them that way, but drawing them is quite appealing. These are created with Prismacolor pencils and a Micron pen.

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Poppies are among my favorite flowers---vibrant AND delicate. Great swaths of "bread poppies" garnish our garden. We harvest seeds for lemon-seed cake and poppy-seed rolls. (No, we don't harvest that other stuff.) They reseed generously and we have beautiful crops of red and purple flowers each year. I've been working on this colored pencil drawing for the past week. Enclosed are some images of the progress over that time.

A few days ago, I started a Pigma Micron pen 005 drawing of a tiger. Yesterday, I decided that it would be nice with colored pencil. I used Berol (1990's) Prismacolor, Koh-I-Noor Polycolor, Faber-Castell Polychromes colored pencils.

We had our yearly meeting (via Skype this year, rather than in person) with our financial adviser. It was an hour spent drawing this giraffe during the call. She's referenced from an on-line photo.

Most evenings, I watch a couple of news programs streaming on my computer. During that time, I also make it a point to draw a person (usually from an on-line reference photo) with a No.2 yellow pencil (generally Ticonderoga) on whatever paper is handy on my desk. It's good practice and keeps my hands busy. These are some "News Doodles" done this past week.

This a ball-point pen drawing done with a black BIC-Stick pen. Based on a Pixel photo reference of a Harpy Eagle.

A silly frog to end the month. Prismacolor pencils on a tinted pastel paper.

Annuals are encouraged to seed in the less formal beds in our large garden. We tend them, photograph them, and I draw and paint them. This is a colored pencil (Prismacolor) drawing of one of our seedling poppies. It was an odd form. Not exactly a single, nor a double and lacked the common cross markings in the throat.

Pasha was a beloved German Shorthaired Pointer rescue dog. He came to us a bedraggled youngster and lived to become a "grand old man." This pencil drawing was done as a tribute after he "crossed the rainbow bridge."

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This, not very ferocious fellow, was my social distancing Easter weekend project that I finished yesterday. A colored pencil drawing on Strathmore 400 colored pencil pad with several different wax and oil colored pencils.

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Ilga Jansons' Uploads