Monthly Ink Challenge - Season III

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Set III – December

 

The December Ink Set consists of the following inks and fountain pens:

Robert Oster Bronze – in Montblanc Gold Leaf flex

Lamy Crystal Azurite – in Lamy Lady M

Diamine Holly – in Pelikan M605 Green-White EF

Diamine Noel – in Pelikan M600 Red-White EF-stub

 

Here is a handwritten sample of the inks with their pens:

 

 

The theme of this month is quite obviously Christmas season. The set is dominated by the traditional (kitschy?) colour set of green, red, white and gold in the pens as well as in the inks. The blurple is the extra colour which complements the standard set, has golden sheen, fits so nicely to the Lamy Lady and is No. 7 in the series.

 

The inspiration text is simple – but beware of the pitfall:

The fairy fulfills a wish.

 

For December I found a nice background story:

Andrew Lang edited between 1889 and 1910 a series of twelve Fairy Books, each a collection of short stories and fairy tales and each titled with another colour of the fairy (see Wikipedia, some of the books are available from Gutenberg.org). In 1939 J.R.R. Tolkien participated in the so called „Andrew Lang Lectures" at University of St. Andrews with the title On Fairy-Stories with great success.

 

My inspiration will be The Olive Fairy Book (No. 11 of the series). Paperblank made notebooks showing a part of the original drawing on the cover:

 

 

Take your time, take your colour, become inspired and have a calm season!

See you latest at December 17^th.

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, InesF said:

Robert Oster Bronze

 

I shall have to ponder your prompt.  Perhaps Quin, Makhabesh, and Essri will encounter a fairy...   (I'm at the point now where I have to figure out their next adventure - at least one scene of it this week - and am drawing blanks...)

[inkstainedruth]

2 hours ago, InesF said:

Monthly Ink Set III – December

 

The December Ink Set consists of the following inks and fountain pens:

Robert Oster Bronze – in Montblanc Gold Leaf flex

Lamy Crystal Azurite – in Lamy Lady M

Diamine Holly – in Pelikan M605 Green-White EF

Diamine Noel – in Pelikan M600 Red-White EF-stub

 

Here is a handwritten sample of the inks with their pens:

 

 

The theme of this month is quite obviously Christmas season. The set is dominated by the traditional (kitschy?) colour set of green, red, white and gold in the pens as well as in the inks. The blurple is the extra colour which complements the standard set, has golden sheen, fits so nicely to the Lamy Lady and is No. 7 in the series.

 

The inspiration text is simple – but beware of the pitfall:

The fairy fulfills a wish.

 

For December I found a nice background story:

Andrew Lang edited between 1889 and 1910 a series of twelve Fairy Books, each a collection of short stories and fairy tales and each titled with another colour of the fairy (see Wikipedia, some of the books are available from Gutenberg.org). In 1939 J.R.R. Tolkien participated in the so called „Andrew Lang Lectures" at University of St. Andrews with the title On Fairy-Stories with great success.

 

My inspiration will be The Olive Fairy Book (No. 11 of the series). Paperblank made notebooks showing a part of the original drawing on the cover:

 

We had a copy of the Green Fairy Book growing up.  Wondering now if it's just a different name or edition but contains the same stories.  Not sure if that's one I got out of my dad's house (in which case it's in a box somewhere in the house).  

I think I did make sure to get my mom's copies of Romany Rye and Lavengro; I definitely made sure to get her copies of The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Henzau....  Which I should re-read at some point.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[InesF]

On 12/2/2023 at 9:47 PM, LizEF said:

I shall have to ponder your prompt.  Perhaps Quin, Makhabesh, and Essri will encounter a fairy...   (I'm at the point now where I have to figure out their next adventure - at least one scene of it this week - and am drawing blanks...)

Thank you, @LizEF, what a honor!

Fairies make excellent fantasy characters; they are so colourful, so charming and so lovely. 😊😇 And, they are full of cruel small-print. 😈🧚‍♀️

[InesF]

On 12/2/2023 at 10:41 PM, inkstainedruth said:

We had a copy of the Green Fairy Book growing up.  Wondering now if it's just a different name or edition but contains the same stories.  Not sure if that's one I got out of my dad's house (in which case it's in a box somewhere in the house).  

I think I did make sure to get my mom's copies of Romany Rye and Lavengro; I definitely made sure to get her copies of The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Henzau....

I guess, these books were much more common than I thought before. The more I research, the more surprises do they offer. There are even some of the fairy tales included from Brothers Grimm and others of very old times, hard to trace back. Andrew Langs collections may be the most comprehensive I found so far.

There is a Green Fairy Book (No. 3) and an Olive one (No. 11).

 

On 12/2/2023 at 10:41 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Which I should re-read at some point.

Definitely! 

I will also dig my way through these books, as far as available in digital form. I think, that will keep me busy for the next couple month ... 😊

[InesF]

As promised, here a quick drawing for December theme. The drawing is done with an Opus88 mini using Rohrer & Klingner Sketchink Frieda. All of the four December inks were use for the bands or for the (bad) Fairy. My drawing is titled "The Fairy fulfilled every wish!" and is heavy inspired by some of the short stories in the Olive Fairy Book of Andrew Lang.

 

 

Personal reasons hinder me from being online for a longer time. I will reply to all the other posts after Christmas. Sorry for this.

All the best to all of you,

have a peaceful and festive Season!

[LizEF]

Love the drawing, @InesF!  Wishing you all the best for the season and a speedy return to normal!

[WalterC]

On 11/15/2023 at 3:51 PM, knarflj said:

 I am definitely That Person who wonders where on earth authors get their ideas.

The writer Harlan Ellison answered the question of where on earth authors get their ideas with the single word: "Schenectedy".

[knarflj]

On 12/17/2023 at 1:10 PM, WalterC said:

The writer Harlan Ellison answered the question of where on earth authors get their ideas with the single word: "Schenectedy".

 

Too funny.  I may need to read some Harlan Ellison.

And Ines, what a fun drawing!  I have just requested the Olive Fairy Book from the library and look forward to seeing if I can find your inspiration.  

 

Wishing you (and everyone else here) a happy and blessed holiday season!

[inkstainedruth]

On 12/18/2023 at 7:51 PM, knarflj said:

 

Too funny.  I may need to read some Harlan Ellison.

And Ines, what a fun drawing!  I have just requested the Olive Fairy Book from the library and look forward to seeing if I can find your inspiration.  

 

Wishing you (and everyone else here) a happy and blessed holiday season!

My brother used to be a HUGE fan of Harlan Ellison's work when he was in middle or high school -- so one year for Christmas my mom got him a record of Harlan reading from his own works (apparently he reads aloud very well...).  Hmmm.  Wonder if my brother still has that LP all these years later....

When I was in high school I was at some SFWA thing with my parents in NYC (don't remember if it was a Nebula banquet or just a party -- with the banquet being on the West Coast that year).  And I met a guy who had a SF-themed radio talk show on IIRC WBAI in NYC (I don't remember the guy's name now, since it was, um, back when I was in high school; the show was called "Hour of the Wolf" for those in the greater NYC area who may have run across hearing it).

The guy said that he was going to have Harlan on his show one time and said, "Okay -- you have to be at the station by like 3 AM for prep." (I forget if it started at 5 or 5:30 AM on Fridays).  "So you're probably going to do better if you just stay up all night...."  Only Harlan said, "No, no, I'll get up on time...."  And the guy said it was the weirdest interview he'd EVER done -- because it was NOT Harlan being, well, Harlan....  He said it was more like "Hello... I'm Harlan Ellison....  Please don't hurt me...."  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[InesF]

On 12/19/2023 at 1:51 AM, knarflj said:

And Ines, what a fun drawing!  I have just requested the Olive Fairy Book from the library and look forward to seeing if I can find your inspiration.  

 

Wishing you (and everyone else here) a happy and blessed holiday season!

Thank you, you are welcome!  

 

All the best to you and to all the others still reading and contributing to the Monthly Ink Challenge! Your replies keep me motivated!

Have a good Christmas season and all the best for 2024!

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Set III – January

 

The January Ink Set consists of the following inks and fountain pens:

Lamy Crystal Agate – in Pelikan M605 White-White M-stub

Waterman Inspired Blue – in Aurora Optima Antarctica M

Rohrer & Klingner Isatis tinctoria – in Leonardo MZ Nuvola soft-EF

Fritz Schimpf Sundowner – in Scribo Piuma Impressione EF flex

 

Here is a handwritten sample of the inks with their pens:

 

 

The colour palette is clearly inspired by the winter morning sky in the northern hemisphere. The pens are all in white, grey or cold blue, symbolizing snow, ice and overcast skies during the early hours of the day.

 

I must admit that this was one of the most challenging ink sets I have created to date. However, it turned out as one of the most beautiful! The premise was to use only white (grey), turquoise, or teal inks and pens. I experimented with around 15 inks and nine pens, but I couldn't achieve a harmonious set at first. Some inks were too dark, while others didn't complement the pens well. As a result, I had to make compromises, I had to skip blue-black in favour of either a red or an orange ink. Despite being named Sundowner, the morning sky has this inks beautiful orange hue. Although the Isatis ink's name doesn't suggest a sky colour, it reflects the colour of the morning clouds and pairs perfectly with the Leonardo Nuvola pen. ¹⁾

 

Here is what I wrote yesterday when I first tested the full four ink set in longer writing.

 

 

The inspiration text is, again, simple: „There will be ice!‟

It is cold outside, water is freezing and the sky is overcast most of the time. Nevertheless we enjoy being outdoors and exposed to the elements.

 

January doesn’t have much of a background story. Recently I finished reading the books of Fire And Ice from GRR Martin and I can’t get rid of the phrase: „winter is coming‟.

 

 

Take your time, take your colour, become inspired and have a calm winter time!

See you (outdoors) latest at January 14th.

 

 

 

¹⁾ I wrote this paragraph in my usual awkward English and then used perplexity.ai to re-formulate it without changing the content.

[LizEF]

Very nice combo, @InesF - cool, but not so cold I want to go get my coat!    Maybe I'll have to select a winter-appropriate color regardless of the votes, and then figure out an icy thing to do with it...   My brain is now pondering the impending ice!

[InesF]

On 12/31/2023 at 10:44 PM, LizEF said:

Very nice combo, @InesF - cool, but not so cold I want to go get my coat!   

Thank you, @LizEF, you are most welcome - with or without winter coat!   Bu you are right, the orange balances it all out. I fought a hard battle with the grey Agate, the blue-grey Isatis and a blue-black which was gloomy but didn't fit well. You may see it that way: there is always light at the horizon.  

 

On 12/31/2023 at 10:44 PM, LizEF said:

Maybe I'll have to select a winter-appropriate color regardless of the votes, and then figure out an icy thing to do with it...   My brain is now pondering the impending ice!

I'm looking forward - from now on not only to the next episode of the magic story. 

[LizEF]

13 hours ago, InesF said:

I'm looking forward - from now on not only to the next episode of the magic story. 

No pressure, no pressure...   I picked the ink, but now I'll need to figure out a design...

[InesF]

As promised I did an interpretation of the January Ink Set using all four inks and pens. After some quick sketches I decided to stick to the part "... exposed to the elements". Not perfectly cold and winter-like, but I'm quite happy with the outcome - and the Aurora Antarctica fountain pen may equalize when I missed the point. 😊

 

 

Looking forward to your interpretation of "there will be ice"!

[LizEF]

51 minutes ago, InesF said:

As promised I did an interpretation of the January Ink Set using all four inks and pens. After some quick sketches I decided to stick to the part "... exposed to the elements". Not perfectly cold and winter-like, but I'm quite happy with the outcome - and the Aurora Antarctica fountain pen may equalize when I missed the point. 😊

 

 

Looking forward to your interpretation of "there will be ice"!

Beautiful!   The two wave patterns are really well done.  I'm going to have to try doing those.   And that plant pattern with all its leaves - that's excellent - incredible depth of field - I never manage to get that much 3D in my doodles - maybe because I'm always using 2.5x3.5 inch (6.35x8.89 cm) cards.  Guess I should try a larger page.

 

I am delayed in my own doodle and have no idea if I'll get an idea and time to carry it out this month - plumbing problems and then a failed doorknob / lock - and now a week of snow (hooray for snow pack in the mountains, boo for the snowblower having to work overtime), and to top it off, sometime between now and Tuesday, I have to figure out at least one scene for Quin, Makhabesh, and Essri - and have been stuck on that for at least two weeks!  January is turning out to be the sort of adventure you don't want.   But, it's not half-over yet, and the second half may be better!  

[InesF]

23 hours ago, LizEF said:

Beautiful!   The two wave patterns are really well done.  I'm going to have to try doing those.   And that plant pattern with all its leaves - that's excellent - incredible depth of field - I never manage to get that much 3D in my doodles - maybe because I'm always using 2.5x3.5 inch (6.35x8.89 cm) cards.  Guess I should try a larger page.

Thank you, @LizEF, you are most welcome!

Indeed, it is of advantage to fit the size of the drawing to the linewidth of the pen. Don't worry, I'm more often missing that.

 

Enjoy the snow! 🤗

It's cold here, unfortunately with almost no snow - not much to do outdoors these days. 😐

[LizEF]

20 minutes ago, InesF said:

Enjoy the snow! 🤗

Small blessings - we're getting rain down here in the valley, so no snowblowing before church, but snow up in the mountains.  I suppose Austria also relies on having snow in the mountains, so I'm wishing you some snowfall as well!  (But not so much you get sick of it.)

 

The only amusement I get from snow is watching Klaw carefully touch his paw to it, trying to figure out what this white stuff is and whether it's OK to walk on / in it.

[LizEF]

On 12/31/2023 at 2:47 AM, InesF said:

The inspiration text is, again, simple: „There will be ice!‟

I decided to go literal...

Ink: Pilot Mixable Colour Turquoise, diluted to roughly 1 part water to 3 parts ink.

Pen: Pilot Kakuno, EF