Tag: Ink drawings

Drawings

Despite the lockdown we’ve been having quite a busy time what with one thing and another, and I’ve found it difficult in the last few weeks to work on any larger paintings. Especially since my studio is in the kitchen, and larger paintings have to go on the kitchen table, then the lot must be cleared away before meals if we are to be more than two using it. Is it any wonder that I work with water-based media? Oils would be impossible, what with the smell of turpentine and the permanent drips everywhere.

I’m not complaining, though, because I do love to work on paper. Often I just make a series of drawings.

Can you see the lovely deckled edges?

I treated myself to a bunch of sheets of handmade paper from Nepal, Bhutan and India. I found it on Etsy, at a marvelous shop called TornEdgePaper, which has a huge selection at very reasonable prices, should anyone be interested. They’re all different shades, and thicknesses and surfaces, and, although some are so thin and delicate as to be almost transparent, they are impressively strong.

I’ve been using ink, pencil, graphite, gesso, watercolor and collage.

Trying out different effects.

The one below is a floral study on tinted paper, using aquarelle pencils. Irises make such weird and wonderful shapes.

An ink drawing, this time on normal watercolor paper, featuring a raven with a gold leaf background.

Last but not least, a pencil drawing with origami paper collage. It’s titled ‘Boy on horse with birds’, and I imagined him as a kind of young samouraï.

 

Inktober 2019

Two years ago I wrote about Inktober, an Instagram challenge where people have to post a daily ink drawing. There is a list of daily prompts, which are in no way obligatory, and any ink medium goes: fountain pen, biro, brush, micro liner, dip pen. You can add watercolor, collage or anything else. There are no rules and no prizes – it’s a fun thing.

I have never yet managed to post something on all the days, and I’m only intermittently inspired by the prompts, but I always determine to take part, because I enjoy the whole camaraderie going on. It pushes me to experiment, and I always feel I’ll do better next year. At the end of the month I’ll share some of my masterpieces with you, but meanwhile, I would like to present some exceptional artists and illustrators, who mostly follow the prompts with humor and imagination. I’ve noted the particular prompt for each drawing.
So, without further delay, here are:
The incomparable Nina and her stripey men. Prompt: Enchanted.
Simon Curd whose small monsters come with a little poem each day. Prompt:Swing
Kate Richardson with more monsters, happy ones. Prompt: Swing
Monica Rathke at Whosebirthdayisit. Prompt: Husky
David Bülow at bulow_ink with his architectural perspectives. Prompt: Bait
And for something a little more gothic, Aleks Klepnev. No prompt. 

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Click on the URLs if you want to see more of each – definitely worth it, and a fun way to pass the time on a Sunday afternoon. There are many others to be found, some follow prompts and some not, but it’s always fascinating to see the different reactions people have to the same prompt.