Currently Browsing: Experiments 221 articles
Looking at the Sennelier Ink Brush Pen
Note: I’ve just placed the sketches in order, in the gallery below. The order is important if you want to follow along with the experiment. I was working with photos of fair goers from @earthsworld. Early in April I saw an ad for the Sennelier Ink Brush Pen. They look like the Pentel ColorBrush. They […]
Another Green Sheet
When I’m testing a pen or a paper (or in this case both) I like to work with them for several days. So the day after that green lady from my previous post, I sketched this woman—again a fair goer from @earthsworld. My thoughts on this face were a bit different. I added a bit […]
Why That Color of Paper?
Artists make choices all day long. Sometimes the choices are obvious. I drew my dogs all the time, obviously because they were live in life models. I draw birds because they have occupied my mind my whole life. I work in watercolor and pen and ink because I love the notions and physical realities of […]
Hesitation: Reluctant to Start a New Project
Recently one of my students wrote to me that she was hesitant about starting a new project. Hesitancy springs from a lot of issues and conditions. Hesitancy can arise as resistance and part of the ongoing barrage of negative talk you might experience from your internal critic. It can also exist because you have […]
Working in a Grid
Last fall I started doing a series of talks and posts for my Patreon subscribers about working with grids. There are tons of reasons you might want to do this but the main reason is to keep your momentum going when you find you don’t have a lot of time to make art. Even if […]
Trying Out Dagger Brushes (Part Two of I haven’t a Clue How Many Posts)
Now and then I get a desire to test something new. Sometimes I hear about a new product, or a friend mentions something to me. Sometimes I go to the store and see something and wonder what it would be like to use that tool or medium. Other times, like recently, I unpack brushes that […]
Don’t Be Limited
I couldn’t leave a week during which I discussed the use of space on a page, without including this portrait from the end of last year. I’m the queen of running off the page. Not planning sufficiently. This means in my haste I often miss the thing that engaged me most—the base of […]
I Sneak a Little Azure Cobalt in…
I can’t help myself. I seem to always sneak in a little Azure Cobalt (Schmincke). There’s a green shirt, sneak some in. There’s a shadow on the neck, under the eyes, in the hair, sneak some in. It leaves such wonderful granulation. And then that brings us to green gold. I am powerless to […]
In Context: I Love a Bit of Marigold
In a scribbly mood. But it wasn’t enough, I still had to move some paint around. Uni Posca Markers scribbled down, black brush pen on top, and marigold gouache (Holbein, because I like to use it for backgrounds). Handbook 140 lb watercolor paper, in the 5 x 8 inch (or so—it isn’t in front of […]
Trying Out Some New Watercolor Brushes
What better time to test different types of watercolor brushes then when you are filling up the final pages of a journal made with great gelatin-sized paper!? That’s what I’m up to as the year moves to a close and I have 16 page spreads left in a hand-bound journal. Studio unpacking has progressed to […]