Spring Floral Flourishes

 

Last night the Westcoast Calligraphy Society put on a marvelous Zoom program taught by Heather Held in Toronto.

Our project piece was an Easter egg but I was also thrilled with my practice sheet (below).  Too bad you can't see the shiny Stickles!

I had such fun, and I'm with Heather when she told us how she found this much easier than lettering.  After a false start with a falcon nib I found a Hunt 56 in my box, which further research today tells me is closer to the Hunt 22 that she was using.  Sometimes I come out of these evenings glad that I tried, but feeling ham-fisted and wondering if calligraphy is for me at all.  It is a rare treat to do so well the first time.  (By no means are these perfect, but for a first time attempt, they aren't too bad.)

I was reminded of a similar session presented by Wendy Cowley in 2014 (pointed pen mandalas) and how pleased I was with my results from that evening as well.  

Engaging or Relaxing?

 

Sleep Therapy continues to inform my art, as I look for things to do at midnight that are relaxing rather than engaging.  I've played with coloring books (relaxing), drawing (engaging), and slopping watercolor paint around (the jury is still out on this one).

After a boring but relaxing session with a colouring page, I thought about creating my own colouring book filled with trucks.  So, I drew these trucks to paint later. 

All of these trucks were inspired by the wonderful photographs by @mozarts_ride on Instagram.

Midnight Madness

 

I'm still playing around in my journal at midnight.  Last night my toys included a parallel pen, gel pens and watercolours.

Ending With Shapes

 

Yes, I did make it to 100 last night.  After playing around with different pencils and pens for a couple of days I returned to my favorite method for drawing people - shapes rather than lines.  A waterbrush and watercolour are the best tools for this.

A quick search on my blog tells me that this is how I did the entire challenge in 2019.  I'd forgotten how much easier this is for me; obviously I don't draw people much.

A little line work added now that they are dry might be fun too, and might make the end result better.  Or not. LOL

Without A Plan

 

I didn't plan to participate in #oneweek100people this year, but it turned out to be a great thing to do at midnight when trying to stay awake.  (I'm restricting my sleep in an attempt to improve my insomnia.)

Each year, urban sketchers Marc Taro Holmes and Liz Steel run this drawing challenge with the simple goal to draw 100 people in 1 week.  It really helps to have a plan and/or approach going into this challenge, and when I picked it up I had neither.  I only had a need to stay awake, a new Talbots catalogue and a bright (?) idea in a foggy brain.  The first day of the challenge was almost over!

These were done with a Pilot Parallel Pen and walnut ink.  I took a course last weekend which used this pen for calligraphy and gave me encouragement to dust mine off and just play!

By Wednesday I developed a bit of a plan and an approach to finish.  A bit of research informed me that this 1 week challenge is actually only 5 days, so 37 in 2 days wasn't quite going to get me there!  Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.....

Bumbling Around Duluth

 

I think I got lost in the train museum.

It's a Girl!

 

This was done in my new A4 Royal Talens journal.  The paper buckled from the watercolor on the other side, but I don't really mind that.  If I use a little less water (maybe a pan set and a water brush) it will be fine.  There is no bleed through at all.

The paper is lovely and smooth, but the colour is a little on the creamy side rather than bright white.  (This affects the colour of the watercolour.)  The journals are well priced, which encourages lots of experimentation.   I like it a lot, so I have ordered a smaller one.

Virtual Sketch Leicester Visits York

 

VirtualSketchLeicester is a Facebook Group

Sketching With a Folded Pen

 

At the February Westcoast Calligraphy Society meeting, we were playing with our folded pens.  The instructor kept saying "it's a drawing tool", so naturally I gave it a try.

"What's a folded pen?" you might be asking.  Well, I took a picture for you on my next attempt.

You draw with the tip and add more ink by changing the angle of the pen on the paper.  This increases the amount of the open part of the pen that is contacting the paper.  (Think of holding a taco with the open part down - the filling falls out, right?)

And then, to test the waterproof qualities of the sumi ink I was using, I added watercolour:

The verdict on the pen is 5/10.  I like it better for lettering.  

Because you have to dip the pen in ink rather than having the convenience of a cartridge, the ink matters too.  I'll only score the sumi ink 2/10.  It takes too long to dry which can result in smudging.  (You can see where I dragged my hand through the ink on the first drawing.)  It isn't truly waterproof either, so it isn't really suited for watercolour.  I don't think that I let it dry overnight, but who wants to do that when you're drawing?

Photo reference:  mozarts_ride