I love sketching with moody inks, touching them with a waterbrush
to move the inky colors in interesting directions.
Robert Oster Sydney Lavender came to me during my new love of purples, which stemmed from the interesting greys I was using, shown below.

The Sydney Opera House (doing a love of these this month) was created using my
Esterbrook “Estie”Blueberry with Robert Oster Sydney Lavender ink, on cold press watercolor paper, then the lines were touched with water using a Pentel Aquash waterbrush.  The lines do not stay visible but quickly lose themselves in wet color;
The lines were added back in after the water moved the ink and dried!

Remember that others review these inks just for writing;
I am also interested in how they are used for ink-painting!

Properties of
Robert Oster’s Sydney Lavender:

You can see how I began to fall in love with
Robert Oster’s complex purples after playing
with his amazing greys shown right.
Dazzling greys that move into blues and purples
and pink shades when hit with water,
yet look grey when writing.

This ink is well-behaved, and does not feather
on any of the papers I normally use, even Post-its.
I consider it a medium ink, neither wet nor dry,
and it evaporates quickly with a wet nib.
It has never smeared on me during a sketch.
It is not a sheening ink, which is great for me as
I love to sketch with inks and sheening and
shimmering are not part of that most times.
It contains so many other colors!
When hit with water it moves easily with
no resistance or ghosting.  It is not water resistant.

CARBAZOLE VIOLET

IMPERIAL PURPLE

INDIGO

PHTHALO BLUEGREEN

*Above, watercolors, from Daniel Smith.*

The paper towel test
shows how many colors
lay beneath Sydney Lavender!
When the edge is touched
with water it moves easily
into violet, maroon, pinks,
dark blue, and turquoise.
Looking at watercolor
comparisons, I offer
Daniel Smith’s Carbazole Violet, Imperial Purple, Amethyst, Maroon, Quinacridone Rose, Indigo, Turquoise and
Phthalo Blue-Green.

Amazing color ranges!

On smooth Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook paper, I sketched my
Esterbrook “Estie”Blueberry with Robert Oster Sydney Lavender ink.
In this simple sketch the ink looks blueberry colored!

Sketch above of our studio window view on a rainy grey day on
smooth Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook paper…
still not enough water to expose the undertones.

Here the undertones finally emerge as I moved so much water onto my
cat toy sketch on smooth Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook paper.

RO is experimenting and testing lightfast properties…
MOST water soluble ink companies do not pay attention to these things
because most artists who use ink are making prints of their work.

His inks are non-toxic.  I have more Robert Oster inks
than any other brand. Why?  Because no other brand
has the spectacular mix of pigments within a color,
which gives even his simplest inks such beauty to with which to sketch and paint that it is a shame to waste them on writing!

His bottles are not the most beautiful, but I am happy
they are environmentally friendly bottles, created
from recycled chemical waste! This matters to me;
I started with fountain pens to stop the plastic pen trash.
I can get the fattest pen into them to refill on the go.
Yes, they are a bit tippy.  I don’t care.
His inks make up for all that.

Robert Oster does not use boxes.  As mine all go into the trash, I am happy not to cut down a tree for a box around a bottle!

I bought  Robert Oster Sydney Lavender ink at Vanness;
click here to see my Robert Oster inks.

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