Not to scale

Quick gel pen on a pre-painted page of my current writing journal. This paper is slick and lined, but hey, it was close. I sit amid piles of knitting paraphenalia and art supplies, and write about the mess!

Potential in fabrics and yarns

When I was growing up, a dressform was always around for my mother's sewing. Now my daughter has one. The watercolors here remind me of the fabrics and yarns we all use, creating textured, colorful flow around the body.

W/c and sharpie on 140# paper.

The winder

It's hard to put down the needles when the fever is upon me. However, here's a new tool in my fiber kit, a yarn winder that makes balls from skeins. The cone and disk swing around at weird, changing angles to the base, the support cone-shape isn't symmetrical, and I didn't take the time to do much accuracy in perspective.

The paper is the supersoft laid stuff in a journal--kind of like drawing on toilet paper. I scanned it so the feathery edge of the paper shows--another fiber element to the exercise. (End of excuses.)

Brush pen and w/c pencil.

Abstract #82

I like to find things in abstracts, even when they're my own unplanned images. This one reminds me of a house by a lake. And are those vertical things smoke? I'm just guessing.

W/c on 140# Arches.

Peering through the jungle

The jungle drapes and crowds, but beyond the tangle is a clear sky. That's the feeling this gives me now, not planned as I was painting.

Sometimes the poetry I write has the same unplanned escape-the-jungle images. It's getting through the tangle that's the challenge. I do it with art.

W/c on 140# Arches.

Fuzzy yarn

I've been knitting.

Pencil on drawing paper. It's floating, but I'm letting it be. Back to the needles.

Mini paintkits

I've made several of these: one is Daniel Smith w/c squeezed into an eyeshadow box and the other is W/N half-pans put into a small Altoids tin.

The larger Altoids tin can hold a lot more. When I sketch away from home, I mix in the lid, using a waterbrush.

This is a scan instead of a photo, so they're a little hard to see.

What emerged during the conversation

I always doodle when I'm on a phone call. I don't plan, I just make lines.

The one from this morning had more shape than most, and the faces appeared by themselves. For once, I'm not adding color. The paper is way too thin.

Tech pen on notebook paper.

Standing at an easel

This doesn't look different from my usual, but I drew the first pencil contours standing at an easel using full-arm movement. I learned I like drawing on my lap a lot better!

Inked over with a Sharpey and a little paint for color on Strathmore drawing paper.

The only color outside

Laurie, in 79 degree Tucson, said she wanted to see a drawing of the snow I mentioned. This quick sketch is on creamy Moleskine sketchpaper, so it in no way truly shows the dreary gray/white ambience surrounding the only color out the front window!

15 (F) degrees with a wind. I'd rather be in Tucson!

A painting a day

keeps drudgery away. Lovin' the Stonehenge paper with w/c.

Swirls and Blends

I started sketching some objects, didn't like how they looked, so painted over it all just playing with water flow and color blends.

Van Gogh pan w/c on Stonehenge paper.

Dusty cat

Dusty because I didn't use water on the pastels. I'm liking them better because I can do quick sketches and get intense colors.

And the cat actually held this position long enough for me to capture the contour, a rare moment.

Tech pen, nupastels, on Strathmore drawing paper.

Pepper grinder #2 on Stonehenge

I did this one from the bottom angle to make a very simple shape a bit more interesting.

Adding water to the orange and black pastels on the page really works to make an intense paint (Duh--pigment plus fluid). I'll try a binder other than water next time.

I like painting on Stonehenge paper. It's interesting they don't mention watermedia in their listed recommendations for techniques on this paper.

First Stonehenge tryout

I'm trying out Stonehenge paper with different media. My first test on any new paper is to draw with a water-soluble marker (Marvy, in this case), then add water to see how the paper takes the dissolving ink and lets it flow.

I really like how this paper acted in this first test. It has a soft, workable surface. (I know it's much loved by pencil artists.)

In what little I know of other papers, Stonehenge seems like a step between a cold-press w/c (not textured, though) and a hot-press w/c without the hard slickness. And MUCH better for waterflow than the Moleskine sketchpaper.

See below for other media.

More Stonehenge tests

I tried my regular tech pens on it and didn't like how the paper absorbed the line--enough to gray the blacks (with Microns and Zigs).

With my black Noodlers in a fountain pen, the ink worked better--stayed black. I did a quick scrabbly drawing of imagined items then a bit of pastel for filler, then w/c. I like how the paper takes the fluid.

The third test was with pastels.
My first try-out with them in a long time, but I knew the paper would be good for pastels. I just don't like the dust, so of course I added water to smear it around.

I was watching a movie about Modigliani and Picasso, and this woman emerged on the paper. Woman with guitar and a long Mod. face, I guess.

Next I'll try Stonehenge with pencil, the primary reason most people buy it.

Pepper Grinder series--#1

I enjoyed doing the Santa series, so I'll start the new year with pepper grinders, a good way to record the many we have, for some reason.

Pen and w/c on M. sketchpaper. This time I remembered to put soap in the water for the paint.

It makes the paper absorb super fast--maybe too much Joy (the detergent kind).

Back to Play

Back after a very busy trip, where the few drawings I did were for my father while visiting him in the nursing home. I left them all there.

Home to unpack and catch up with 500+ informative, interesting posts in the forum (in just 8 days)! This is merely a random doodle, just to get some paint flowing again. For me, the new year finally starts now.

W/c and soluble pen on Aquabee sketchpaper.