Monthly Ink Challenge - Season IV

January 12

@InesF great job. I like the contrast/whimsy of fuchsia boat with the antarctic landscape. :thumbup: I wonder if it's a warning that how our "pink" way of living is melting the ice shelves.

January 12

Wonderful sketch, @InesF! The glacier surface itself feels cold, but you're right, overall, it doesn't seem cold. As to perspective - it's hard to get it right and I think this is a challenging angle anyway! The sailboat next to a glacier was a surprise to me - I don't think I've ever seen that before!

January 14

On 1/12/2025 at 2:53 PM, yazeh said:

@InesF great job. I like the contrast/whimsy of fuchsia boat with the antarctic landscape. I wonder if it's a warning that how our "pink" way of living is melting the ice shelves.

Thank you, @yazeh, you are most welcome!

Indeed, the pinkish-red was intended as an eye-catcher and as a visual expression of the fact that we humans have a significant impact on nature.

January 14

On 1/12/2025 at 3:15 PM, LizEF said:

Wonderful sketch, @InesF! The glacier surface itself feels cold, but you're right, overall, it doesn't seem cold. As to perspective - it's hard to get it right and I think this is a challenging angle anyway! The sailboat next to a glacier was a surprise to me - I don't think I've ever seen that before!

Thank you, @LizEF, you are cordially welcome.

Still unhappy with the drawing, I can see it as a learning piece. Only after finishing it and at first look from distance I recognised this tilting perspective. At one blink of the eye the glacier front is seen from above (not intended) and at the next blink it is seen from below. It is in the gradual colour intensity which has the wrong direction in the sky - would it had been from bottom bright to dark at height, the perspective would had worked. ... 🤷‍♀️ OK, yes, now I know.

I always take my inspiration from image search, from text search and sometimes from AI-search. It all started with a scientific recherché about exotic microbes in cold environment in August 2024 and continued to grow into a pen-and-ink inspiration with these two (AI-generated?) images (one) and (two) in November 2024. There are many AI-generated images in the net, all showing the same red yacht! 👍 Haha!

January 14

52 minutes ago, InesF said:

I always take my inspiration from image search, from text search and sometimes from AI-search. It all started with a scientific recherché about exotic microbes in cold environment in August 2024 and continued to grow into a pen-and-ink inspiration with these two (AI-generated?) images (one) and (two) in November 2024. There are many AI-generated images in the net, all showing the same red yacht! 👍 Haha!

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing your inspiration.

January 14

@InesF sometimes, I use images to draw, more or less correctly, whatever I need to draw

But when I read your prompt it reminded me of the the animation movie Ice Age and the scene inside the glacier. This I found on Pinterest

January 16

On 1/14/2025 at 4:38 PM, yazeh said:

@InesF sometimes, I use images to draw, more or less correctly, whatever I need to draw

But when I read your prompt it reminded me of the the animation movie Ice Age and the scene inside the glacier. This I found on Pinterest

Oh yeah! Thank you! I have seen the movie but didn't have the scene in mind (at least not consciously any more). I laughed a lot during the movie!

It is a good find and a great inspiration image for Land Under Blue Ice! :thumbup:

January 16

6 hours ago, InesF said:

Oh yeah! Thank you! I have seen the movie but didn't have the scene in mind (at least not consciously any more). I laughed a lot during the movie!

It is a good find and a great inspiration image for Land Under Blue Ice!

It'll be greater to be able to draw it

February 2

Monthly Ink Challenge IV – February 2025

The set consists of:

KWZ Honey – in Conway Stewart JR Mirage M

Taccia Ukiyo-e Hokusai Sabimidori – in Montblanc Egyptomania EF

deAtramentis Altrosa – in Waldmann Tango M

fading out: Pelikan Edelstein Topaz + Jade Mix* – in Aurora Optima Antarctica M

*) The mix consists of 3 parts Topaz plus one part Jade.

Here the short introduction on an A5 sheet of Fritz Schimpf letter pad (the paper is slightly off-white, but white-balance is not quite successful here):

And here is the ink-set-progress-swatch-page:

Some background information to the pens and inks.

The limited edition Conway Stewart Jack Row Mirage fountain pen was the second four digit cost pen I ever bought. It has a silver body with gold wire coiled around. No surprise, it weights 66 Gram empty. The nib is a stiff medium-fine and writes a bit dry, making it best suitable for Iroshizuku, Herbin and some Diamine inks. For the February Challenge I selected KWZ Honey as the chronological third ink for the set because it complements the others nicely for the more colourful theme. After the first writing trials the combination with the Pelikan Edelstein Topaz + Jade Mix turned out to be of exceptional harmony – by chance, I discovered a new favourite duo.

Each Monthly Set should have one extra fine nib, with or without flex. February has the Montblanc Heritage Egyptomania which draws an almost mono-line with its gentle architect geometry. The vintage look of the pen (it was something like a revival of the 1920’s models), its nice hieroglyph ornament, its sturdiness and its geometry makes it a perfect everyday carry. The paper should not have a rough surface to avoid the nib catching and pulling cellulose fibres. Almost every EF nib I have used so far does work well with inks of medium to low surface tension. And so does this one. Since more than a year I liked to test Taccia Ukiyo-e Hokusai Sabimidori with the Egyptomania pen – and it combines very well! The ink lines are blue when directly looking down, are green from an angel and have a rusty-brown sheen under the right illumination. Those mysterious ink properties do somehow reflect and extend the mysteries around ancient Egypt (independent from the ink origin ).

The Waldmann Tango was a birthday present to myself in 2024 but was not in use since then. It is also a pen with silver body (weights 44 g) that is made with outstanding precision in all its dimensions as well as in the engraved guilloche pattern. Its surface is lacquered and polished for playful illusive light reflections. The stiff steel nib is also on the dry side but provides the same writing sensation as all the stiff gold nibs in my collection. Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz would had been my first choice for the February set but did not well with the Waldmann nib. So I choose the low surface tension deAtramentis Altrosa (that should, in theory, be similar to Rose Quartz, but isn’t in practise) which turned out to combine nicely with Sabimidori and with the Topaz Mix. However, due to its low surface tension there is neither shading nor sheen with this ink.

In January, almost everything was aid about the Aurora Optima Antarctica and about the Pelikan Edelstein Topaz + Jade Mix. With each sentence I write, this slightly modified ink gives me joy. It is about the colour as well as about the fantastic shading deriving from the rather dry writing Aurora nib. I intend to fade it out during February but I may decide differently and fade one of the other inks out first.

The inks of the February Set are quite colourful and represent a broad spectrum from icy cold to cosy warm. It is like walking along a stormy cold path and entering a carnival party indoors that has reached some degree of elevated excitement. A fitting inspiration quote therefore is:

In Carnival We Wear a Mask

Get inspired, choose your pens and inks and start bringing your creative ideas to paper!

Looking forward to your contributions!

See you around February 16^th (plus/minus a week).