Favorites From March/April 2016 Sketchbook

Favorites From January 2016 Sketchbook

Sketching with a Calligraphy Pen

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Artists never color inside the lines, obey the rules or use art supplies the "right" way.  For example I'm working in a sketchbook that I bound myself that has print making paper in it, is only 130gms2, and yet I'm using it for watercolor, gouache, fountain pen, brush pen etc. media this paper was never actually created to accept. Oh well.  

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I'm also drawing with a calligraphy pen, a pen that's actually designed to hand letter with.  It's a great, inexpensive pen and I'm really enthused by the different sorts of lines it can make. I also like it's moderately bold line width.  This is a black  2.0 Yasutomo Calligraphy Marker  They come in several widths and colors, and I think they're fun to sketch with. (Plus you can write with them, like you're supposed to !) 

Sketching The Dogs

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I love animals and I especially love dogs. I'll never be without at least one in my life.  Dogs are so incredibly faithful, loyal and loving. They bring joy and goodness to your life, enriching your days and blessing your soul.  So, in many ways dogs are like sketching which also brings joy and goodness to my life, enriching my days and blessing my soul.  Thus sketching my dogs is a doubly good experience. Above is Quinn sketched with a Platinum Carbon fountain pen. It's my favorite pen above all my other fountains pens that cost many times more. Sometimes the simplicity of black and white and the rhythmic laying down of cross hatched lines is a wonderful way to sketch.

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Here's Molly in three views, also sketched with a Platinum, Carbon fountain pen but this time using Platinum Mix Free ink in Brown Earth. This ink unlike the black used for Quinn above is water soluble and allows me to go in with a wet brush to create tonal washes.

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Quinn sleeping on the sun-room sofa captured using a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and QoR watercolors.

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Molly and Quinn together, sleeping on the rug in the studio. Pets also make wonderful models. I have hundreds of sketches of our various pets from over the years. Dogs, Chip, Dale, Maggie, and rabbits Marshmallow and Rosie, guinea pig, Butterscotch and turtle Shelly.  Not only are they always available but you can sketch them while they're sleeping or in action. It's great drawing practice, but more than that it's a way to honor them and keep them with you even after they pass. Losing a beloved pet is a heartbreaking thing but intimate sketches drawn over years memorializes them and anchors them in your heart and mind far better than a photograph ever will.

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Quinn is young, not yet a year and joined our family in November 2014, at just six months old. He's quite a clown and very much my companion, always at my side. 

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Molly is just a bit over two and joined us in December of 2013 when she was 15 months old. She was a rescue, a cause that we most definitely support. She is a consummate watch dog, so even when she is sleeping she is usually sprawled out in front of a door or entry way, guarding us even in her sleep. This sketch was done on top of a mono-print, created with a Gelli plate, and framed with japanese washi tape.

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This has been a very cold, snowy winter and I've been forced to find creative and challenging ways to sketch primarily indoors. So an exploration into mono-printing rich, colorful and textural backgrounds has been something that's interested me lately.

Winter certainly curtails my ability to get outside into nature to sketch and as much as I bemoan that fact, I do find that, the limitation of having to stay indoors pushes me to find other ways to engage my creativity and my world. Whether that's trips to museums, flower shows, cafes, shopping malls and other indoor venues to sketch or exploring new approaches, materials and tools as above, the winter can be a rich time of discovering new things in my sketchbook. That said....I'm still very much looking forward to getting back outside to sketch!!

New Puppy Sketches

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Two weeks ago we added another Sheltie to our family. We have Molly, of course, who came to us from rescue last December 15th, less than a month after our dearest border collie Maggie passed over the rainbow bridge.  I am one of those dog loving souls who just can't be without a companion dog.

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Maggie was a rescue and it seemed fitting when I saw Molly on the rescue website described as "a Border Collie in a Sheltie body" that she would come to us. Well, actually I drove to New Jersey in a snow storm to get her.

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Now 11 months later we have added beautiful little Quinn, a biblack ( black and white) Sheltie just six months old. Shelties need other Shelties I think. They're a tremendously active breed, smart and love to run and play. In the absence of sheep to herd another Sheltie provides plenty of companionship and opportunities for exercise and using all their running and chasing skills.

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please not Quinn is a lot cuter than the sketch of his face conveys, I found it particularly challenging to sketch his face because his whole head is jet black and  it's actually hard to see his eyes and expression

Each pet I've ever had, be it dog, rabbit, turtle, guinea pig, has individual characteristics all their own. There are both physical characteristics like body shape, markings, fur type but also personality traits that are essential to capture to get the right feel in the sketch.

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Quinn is a fluffy ball of puppy energy, and Molly is no slacker either so I've been confined to sketching them mostly when they're exhausted and stretched out on the floor asleep.

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