Ink and Watercolor sketch of octopus. Normally I start with a pencil outline, then go over it with micron pens. But I'm learning to skip the pencil step and just sketch with ink. I helps you not to overthink things. Once you lay the ink line down on the paper it's there to stay. You can't erase and there isn't an undo like you have when working digitally. You just have to work around any "mistakes" you make. I'm also working on sketching faster because I just don't have that much free time these days. Trying to produce a new sketch every day is a real challenge.
Observations from an expedition to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which features an incredible paleontology hall. I brought with me a pad of sticky notes, a couple Micron plastic nib pens, a set of Copic Markers, my fanny pack, and some headphones. Prehistoric life has been an infatuation of mine since childhood, and there is something very humbling about drawing in the shadows of these fallen giants.
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.
From my summer sketchbook 2016, during a long journey from Greece to Austria, when we stop for a night in Croatians mountains . When you dont take expensive highway you can end up in such a enigmatic and beautiful places like this one! :)
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.
This 11" x 14" bold, dynamic, geometric abstract makes a unique statement. Lines and curves, angles and shapes in stark black and white convey the arbitrary, yet methodical . . . random, yet systematic nature of the universe . . . and our lives.
In an attempt to be much more consistent with my drawing practice (and to tackle my insecurities about showing people my drawings) I am hoping that posting some of my sketches online will help keep me accountable. So day 1 sketch, I managed to find a very cheap used college set of Rotring Rapidograph pens online, when they arrived today I was delighted to see that they had NEVER been used! After a bit of a happy dance I got a couple of the pens assembled and started to figure out how they work. This is a quick sketch on tracing paper not that I was tracing anything I just need to invest in better paper with less tooth to be able to use these pens without having ink flow issues.
It's not about waiting around for inspiration to strike, it's about showing up every single day -- and maybe something amazing happens that day, or maybe it doesnt...Regardless, Rise and Grind ♡
This piece began as a multi-colored abstract . . . but it was nowhere . . . nothing . . . and had no essence. So, I tried to take it in the direction of a landscape . . . and that was horrible. I gave the entire piece a whitewash using a white acrylic paint pen. And then the idea popped into my head to Doodle over the colored background. The title reflects the fact that the piece only came to life with the addition of the Doodles . . .
Play : Intuitive work, where patterns balloon and swirl and twist and turn to create a new play field for our three.
Micron Pens on Cartridge Paper
8.27"W by 11.7"H
