All these images are sketched in the Bright Ideas journal.
I can’t stop loving this crazy colored journal!

I spent time color mixing this week… fewer Bright Ideas…
But I did realize what this book is all about,
and it chose me rather than me setting out to do THAT,
which is those odd objects that fill a home which, when you die,
NO ONE will understand their meaning.
This book will be about the objects and their meaning…
Maybe it is because we had deaths enter our family this week.
Someone is dying.  It does make you think….
And then there was the tragic death of a young urban sketcherman…

This drawing is the one where it became clear what this journal was to become…

In a few days Mitchell and I celebrate the 18th
anniversary of our meeting — May is the month we met,
fell in love (at first sight — seriously we just knew)
and married…  I pulled out this little box last night to
remind Mitchell what a complete sentimental sap
I am for him, as it contains the business card with
his home number from our first meeting, and his address (added later as he had me over for dinner on our second date, and I wrote his address on the card he gave me).
This is also the first gift he ever gave me, that magical week, a tiny Shiva statue with one of his little characters and
his om doodles I was to find drawn on everything in our studio over time!  It touched him deeply to see it again.

So much geekie pen talk on the new FB page I joined of people who
draw with fountain pens…  I am not a collector.
My pens must perform or they get cleaned out and passed on.
So what is my criteria for favorite pens?
1) They MUST perform so that when Muse inspires she is not put on the
back burner because some stupid pen has to be fiddled with…
2)  They are beautiful to look at, sweet in your hand, good design.
If I had to choose one pen to take with me on a desert island, it would be
Platinum Carbon with an unlimited supply of ink cartridges.
My second favorite these days is the Lamy Al-Star, little fuss IF it has a broader pen nib, such as a 1.1 or a medium… And gorgeous in copper and another in green metals.

Tiny Buddha, 2-inches high, from my altar,
he  has a life of his own here, sitting under the tree ….

Bright Ideas multi-color journal with Platinum Carbon pen,
Lamy Al-Star with De Atramentis Document black ink,
White Uniball Signo pen, Fat white Pitt pen, and colored pencils.

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