FPN's PEN ART GALLERY

[juanjo]

Got sidetracked by life and work, but the weekend helped get something done ;-)

[Pira]

Inktober 2015 ~ #26 is a small branch of Red Chokecherries drawn with Diamine Poppy Red, Standardgraph Reed Green, Walnut Ink and Platinum Carbon Black on Stillman&Birn's Zeta paper

 

Inktober 2015 ~ #26 by Pira Urosevic, on Flickr

[linearM]

Another Monday morning drawing session and another 20 minute sketch. I used a TWSBI Diamond 530 with an XF nib and Noodler's Kiowa Pecan on tan toned paper.

[inkstainedruth]

Here's mine for today; I'm actually back on track, and am getting this uploaded before midnight! Actually did it late this afternoon, but then had choir rehearsal this evening and didn't get home till around 9:30; and then had a bunch of minor chores to get done before logging back onto FPN.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[juanjo]

Another Monday morning drawing session and another 20 minute sketch. I used a TWSBI Diamond 530 with an XF nib and Noodler's Kiowa Pecan on tan toned paper.

 

Lovely. What is the size of the sketch, to get an idea of the thickness of the lines? I love the effect of this ink and your drawing, with the effect of charcoal and beautiful tone gradations. Is this last feature due to the ink or pen pressure? My drawings end up very black-and-whitey unless I use brush pens, would you have any suggestions to fix this?

[linearM]

Thanks for the complement. The actual figure was 9 inches high and 8 inches wide. The nib was an XF but I turn the pen over and sketch with the front of the nib which gives me an even finer line. I develop the tones by cross hatching the lines. I'll show a closeup of the drawing below.

[Pira]

Inktober 2015 ~ #27 is a clump of Gem-studded Puffballs drawn with Walnut Ink, Iroshizuku ~ Kiri-same and Platinum Carbon Black on Stillman&Birn, Zeta paper

 

Inktober 2015 ~ #27 by Pira Urosevic, on Flickr

[juanjo]

Thanks for the complement. The actual figure was 9 inches high and 8 inches wide. The nib was an XF but I turn the pen over and sketch with the front of the nib which gives me an even finer line. I develop the tones by cross hatching the lines. I'll show a closeup of the drawing below.

 

Nicely done. It creates a beautiful subtle gradation when seen "from a distance". Need to work in my technique further. I have become lazy and do not work on the shadows as much as I used to :-)

[linearM]

Juanjo, you have a very confident line in your drawings. They make me feel they are the result of close observation. I think you would enjoy elaborating on the line with a bit of shadow play.

 

Pira, it is almost as if you have been following me on my morning walks and observing the plants I see. We must live in very similar environments. The inks give your drawings so much light, transparency, and vibrancy. You must have an equal love of inks and plants. How many inks do you have?

[Pira]

 

Nicely done. It creates a beautiful subtle gradation when seen "from a distance". Need to work in my technique further. I have become lazy and do not work on the shadows as much as I used to :-)

 

I think what we put into our artwork waxes and wanes depending on many things going on in our lives at any given time. The important thing is to just keep drawing, and you do that very well.

 

 

 

 

Pira, it is almost as if you have been following me on my morning walks and observing the plants I see. We must live in very similar environments. The inks give your drawings so much light, transparency, and vibrancy. You must have an equal love of inks and plants. How many inks do you have?

 

I live in a city in South Western Ontario if that gives you an idea of the environment. Luckily it's in a heavly treed neighbourhood so I am constantly watching my surroundings as I walk my dog, for inspiration...in paticular for things to related to autumn & numbers for this Inktober thing.

 

Fountain pen ink is fascinating stuff and a lot of fun to use, although it has it's own finicky characteristics which make it a challenge. Always learning something with it. Sadly the vibrancy will fade but then that's the nature of this changable medium. It's very organic and seems to have a life of it's own. As for loving plants and inks equally...I do. I have way too many inks. So many I have to keep track of them in a notebook. While many are samples, I will admit to having over a hundred bottles. Not surprisingly I have my favourites that always seem to end up in my pens.

[linearM]

From Minnesota here. Just to show you what I mean we had a red dogwood in front of our house, a porcelain berry vine on the south side and a burning bush behind our house. On my morning walk I see Virginia creeper, sumac, and bittersweet.

 

I don't have nearly as many inks as you. Do you find that the inks fade rapidly when exposed to light? What are you doing with all of your botanical drawings?

[Pira]

From Minnesota here. Just to show you what I mean we had a red dogwood in front of our house, a porcelain berry vine on the south side and a burning bush behind our house. On my morning walk I see Virginia creeper, sumac, and bittersweet.

 

I don't have nearly as many inks as you. Do you find that the inks fade rapidly when exposed to light? What are you doing with all of your botanical drawings?

 

So definitely a similar climatic zone...except when you get winter, you GET WINTER.

 

The plethora of inks in my possession happened because I was new to them, and was like a kid in a candy store. A person seriously doesn't 'need' more than a few fountain pen inks. I'm mostly limiting myself to samples and trades now (usually for artwork), in part because I want to start exploring more permanent ones....and I've discovered the shades that I like to write with.

 

As for fading rapidly.... One of my fascinations with these inks is that they are not permanent. That alone might freak people out, but for me it's that shift that I find interesting. From the moment it's exposed to oxygen and light, ink begins to change. Some change as they dry...others shift after a few days or weeks. I keep all of my drawings in the dark and yet they continue to change even then, unless they are of the more permanent kind like gall or document inks. Sunlight? I don't keep any in the direct sun because that's just the kiss of death to them. Everything fades but fountain pen ink does it like it's a job.

 

What will I do with my botanical drawings? Nothing. They'll get fired into the cupboard with all the rest. It's all for my practice. I didn't draw for decades then one day, as my youngest child started senior public school (grade 7) I realized I had no more excuses to not carve out time every day & put pen to paper. So I told myself to stop being afraid of making mistakes and get on with it. 3 1/2 years of doodlng and going strong

[inkstainedruth]

Here is today's drawing (and also the one that was supposed to have been done yesterday -- I had to run a bunch of errands after going to the dentist, by which point I was exhausted (and then spent several hours staring at the computer screen trying to figure out hotel info for when I go out to Ohio Pen Show in a few weeks -- and after all that I think I'm ending up in the place I stayed last year... which ends up being about half the price per night as the location hotel is).

So, even though it was really crummy weather all day (and I was feeling completely draggy), I made myself draw. So, good practice.

I have to say, I've really enjoyed InkTober overall. I had done a few sketches and drawings with my pens over the past couple of years, but this is bringing it into sharper focus. I was like Pira -- not doing a lot of drawing other than some really specific stuff over the years since college (and those were done in pencil and then inked with rollerball pens -- and a lot of whiteout to correct the inking mistakes. So not only has this been good discipline to draw regularly, but it's also forcing me to work directly with pen and ink and not use a pencil sketch as a crutch.

And one other thing: I get regular emails from the Artist's Daily Network and there was one a week or two ago that somewhat annoyed me. It had to do with still life paintings and how someone would buy a bunch of flowers and then go through them to to get "just the right one". And that reminded me of an article that someone had posted a link to on Facebook awhile back where the author was decrying "contemporary" art as being of no value -- because art is supposed to be "uplifting" and "beautiful". And I wanted to hit the author with a brick -- because one of the most powerful paintings I've ever seen isn't remotely beautiful. It's Pablo Picasso's "Guernica". (Oh, and it was clear that "critic" had never taken a whole lot of art history classes, or he'd know that Picasso had "traditional" (i.e., academic) training -- and then went on from there.... So, my sketches have, over the past month, included stuff that author would probably not consider "art". But it's been training my eye and my hand.

 

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Luma]

Here is today's drawing (and also the one that was supposed to have been done yesterday -- I had to run a bunch of errands after going to the dentist, by which point I was exhausted (and then spent several hours staring at the computer screen trying to figure out hotel info for when I go out to Ohio Pen Show in a few weeks -- and after all that I think I'm ending up in the place I stayed last year... which ends up being about half the price per night as the location hotel is).

So, even though it was really crummy weather all day (and I was feeling completely draggy), I made myself draw. So, good practice.

I have to say, I've really enjoyed InkTober overall. I had done a few sketches and drawings with my pens over the past couple of years, but this is bringing it into sharper focus. I was like Pira -- not doing a lot of drawing other than some really specific stuff over the years since college (and those were done in pencil and then inked with rollerball pens -- and a lot of whiteout to correct the inking mistakes. So not only has this been good discipline to draw regularly, but it's also forcing me to work directly with pen and ink and not use a pencil sketch as a crutch.

And one other thing: I get regular emails from the Artist's Daily Network and there was one a week or two ago that somewhat annoyed me. It had to do with still life paintings and how someone would buy a bunch of flowers and then go through them to to get "just the right one". And that reminded me of an article that someone had posted a link to on Facebook awhile back where the author was decrying "contemporary" art as being of no value -- because art is supposed to be "uplifting" and "beautiful". And I wanted to hit the author with a brick -- because one of the most powerful paintings I've ever seen isn't remotely beautiful. It's Pablo Picasso's "Guernica". (Oh, and it was clear that "critic" had never taken a whole lot of art history classes, or he'd know that Picasso had "traditional" (i.e., academic) training -- and then went on from there.... So, my sketches have, over the past month, included stuff that author would probably not consider "art". But it's been training my eye and my hand.

 

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Quick! Someone come up with a catchy name for November using the word Ink so that Ruth can keep posting her sketches!!!

[Pira]

Inktober 2015 ~ #28 is a bunch of Lily-of-the-valley drawn with: Diamine Poppy Red & Amber, Walnut ink, Stadardgraph Reed Green and Platinum Carbon Black on Stillman&Birn, Zeta paper.

 

...only three more days to go. Guh...

 

Inktober 2015 ~ #28 by Pira Urosevic, on Flickr

[Pira]

... I made myself draw. So, good practice.

 

I have to say, I've really enjoyed InkTober overall. I had done a few sketches and drawings with my pens over the past couple of years, but this is bringing it into sharper focus. I was like Pira -- not doing a lot of drawing other than some really specific stuff over the years since college (and those were done in pencil and then inked with rollerball pens -- and a lot of whiteout to correct the inking mistakes. So not only has this been good discipline to draw regularly, but it's also forcing me to work directly with pen and ink and not use a pencil sketch as a crutch.

And one other thing: I get regular emails from the Artist's Daily Network and there was one a week or two ago that somewhat annoyed me. It had to do with still life paintings and how someone would buy a bunch of flowers and then go through them to to get "just the right one". And that reminded me of an article that someone had posted a link to on Facebook awhile back where the author was decrying "contemporary" art as being of no value -- because art is supposed to be "uplifting" and "beautiful". And I wanted to hit the author with a brick -- because one of the most powerful paintings I've ever seen isn't remotely beautiful. It's Pablo Picasso's "Guernica". (Oh, and it was clear that "critic" had never taken a whole lot of art history classes, or he'd know that Picasso had "traditional" (i.e., academic) training -- and then went on from there.... So, my sketches have, over the past month, included stuff that author would probably not consider "art". But it's been training my eye and my hand.

 

 

 

 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

That's the spirit Ruth. Keep them coming.

 

I use pencil lines just because I am 'illustrating' rather than sketching persay,...and that circle you see in so many of my drawings is there to 'contain my design'... because I can't seem to centre myself on the page otherwise. Of course I could just erase that light line in the end, but I have come to like it. *shrugs*....whatever works for to get us drawing, right?

 

Heh...just the right flower. I am rather enjoying drawing so many of these autumn florals because they have been through a full season and are at the end of things so to speak. I don't go into great detail on purpose, but I am appreciating the less than perfect state of the plants and find them much more interesting than perfect ones My biggest worry is cramming the number of items I chose to illustrate into the drawing to match the number of the day. You can be assured that October 31st is going to be a challenge I am not looking forward to...and yes I really DO stupid little side challenges for myself like that to keep it interesting.

 

Don't worry about what the 'establishment' defines as art. There is a simple quote I like to lean on when I get caught up in that feeling that I just can't be bothered to attempt something creative because I am untrained and others are better..... "To not draw something because you don't feel skilled enough is like staring at the hoop & never even attempting to throw the basketball." If you feel the need to draw then do it and enjoy the process. You do it for you and that is all that matters.

 

..yes I'm married to a basketball coach. How can you tell ?

 

 

 

Quick! Someone come up with a catchy name for November using the word Ink so that Ruth can keep posting her sketches!!!

 

 

I second that

Edited October 29, 2015 by Pira

[linearM]

Month of the Ink Drawn Line, Month of the Ink Drawn Sketch People, Month of People Drawn To INK. Any more ideas?

[I.M.]

NaDrawMo!

 

I've been enjoying seeing this thread spring to life this month, and it's good to see that not just Inktober participants have been encouraged to share their artwork here too. I'll carry on staring at the hoop, aiming instead for the fiction-writing hoop at the other end of the court.

Edited October 29, 2015 by I.M.

[Sailor Kenshin]

My first new sketch in ages, done with a Platinum 3776 Bourgogne (M) and a mix of Platinum Black, JH Rouge Caroubier, and MB Corn Poppy.

 

 

[Pira]

Inktober 2015 ~ #29 ...for National Cat Day I dashed off a Pussy Willow.

 

Inktober 2015 ~ #29 by Pira Urosevic, on Flickr