Category Archives: ink painting

Inky Thots: Birmingham Two Twinkles

Twinkle is all about the shimmer! Birmingham Pen Co has fifteen Twinkle inks right now, and if you love shimmer, these are the best! These inks are Mitchell’s favorites.  He loves shimmery inks, and Tributary Twinkle is probably his favorite.  … Continue reading

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Inky Thots: Robert Oster Monsoon Clouds

  From the post Wednesday! I love sketching with soluble grey inks, but this last month I popped a new greyish purplish color in my Benu Talisman pen, which I am loving: PEN CHALET’s Exclusive, Robert Oster Monsoon Clouds.  To … Continue reading

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Robert Oster’s Monsoon Clouds Ink Sketches

I don’t usually show the images I sketch from, but this is an exception. This is a view I see almost every night: Savitri curled into my right side while I try to sketch. She thinks she helps, and as … Continue reading

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Inky Thots: Robert Oster African Gold

Robert Oster Signature African Gold is my favorite gold sketching and suitable for the office and of course, my artwork. It is a rich gold going into a blackish sheen. I don’t think of it as a shading ink. Others … Continue reading

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Gibbs, Acrobat Cat

He gets into everything… He is a chonky fella now so it is a bit worrisome when he decides to walk along a narrow 2-inch walkway or worse, try and walk along the edge of a basket!!! I say “NO!”  … Continue reading

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Gratitude, not just at Thanksgiving

One key to surviving depression is gratitude. Every day I write about what I am grateful for, even if it is just a line during the day in my journal. The more depressed I am the more I do gratitude … Continue reading

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Accordion Hearts

Home sick last week, a cold… Feeling really punky. Not able to wrap my fuzzy mind around anything, so went to icon I’ve doodled and painted all my life, hearts. Cheery.  A symbol of love.  What’s not to like? I … Continue reading

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Tools: How I Make My Swabs

I am asked this a lot, and it is on my inks page, but thought I’d repost it here. For my large ink test I laydown roughly a half-square of ink, above. I let it dry, then load the bottom … Continue reading

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Tools: TWO Bamboo Sketchbooks by Hahnemühle

Hahnemühle makes two bamboo sketchbooks: the Hahnemühle Bamboo SketchBook, shown below, which is 50lbs; and the Carnet de Voyage, aka the Bamboo Mixed Media journal by some, shown above, spiral bound and coming in at 265lbs, which I reviewed in … Continue reading

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Bright Ideas: Waterman Inks

Waterman inks are ancient, not a trendy newcomer. They come in few but lovely colors, are a great price, and they take good care of our pens. Happy New Moon! Bright Ideas multi-color journal (which I am not sure is … Continue reading

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Inky Thots: Robert Oster Muddy Dragon

Swatched on watercolor paper, as that is the paper I use the most when not writing. I am a fan of all the “Muddy” colors (see below) but I must admit that this Muddy Dragon is one of my favorite … Continue reading

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Tools: Leonardo Officina Italiana Pen

Red is my favorite color… I love pens! I love gifts! Imagine how thrilled I am with three favorite things coming together in one pen? Thrilled! Leonardo Officina Italiana Pen in Red Passion… Filled with Robert Oster Direct Sun! This … Continue reading

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Tools: Wing Sung Brush Piston Pen

I bought three Wing Sung Brush Piston Pens from Etsy. I wanted to compare them with the plastic Pentel Vistage Water Brush (formerly known as the Pentel Aquash waterbrush pen), which I use normally like a waterbrush over watercolors, but … Continue reading

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Inky Thots: Birmingham Kentucky Bluegrass

Above, Kentucky Bluegrass ink on two different watercolor papers; right, in a Hahnemühle Nostalgie Sketchbook. Writing samples on a Post-it and on fountain-pen friendly paper in my Moo Journal, below Birmingham Kentucky Bluegrass ink is from the Crisp Formula ink … Continue reading

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Doodling, Drawing, Whatever

I draw whatever is in front of me while I am listening to just about anything. When I was listening to my brother talk about being on his way home from the hospital (no one called me to say he … Continue reading

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Portraits

I am not a portrait artist so this was a huge stretch for me — A wedding present (only a few years late) for two people we love. I  like this one a lot. Details — click to make these … Continue reading

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Dieting… Ugh

I hate dieting but I need to do something because I have to lose some weight. I decided to try something with a tiny A6  Hahnemühle Toned Watercolour Book. Each night I draw my food… So far I am just … Continue reading

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Sketchpack Project: Week 4, 2021

In years past I’ve created pretty sketch books during the Sketchpack Project, But this year I wanted to push myself to work on something difficult for me. To see the entire project, go here. (To see other years you go … Continue reading

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