Ingradient Art

This spider caught a leaf. I doubt it's poisonous. I'm not taking my chances though so I'm leaving it alone. It was chillen at the side of my house, by the entrance. It was unusually large for a spider in my area so I decided to take a picture. From that picture, I decided to practice my colored pencils skills. I usually work with black and white pencil and charcoal or digitally so this was a fun exercise for me.

I've been in need of having to kick start my artsiness all over again. These drawings of James are my attempts at doing just that. They're drawn using my Jinhao 8802 Shell fountain pen with the Monteverde Burgundy 2020 ink. This summer went by so quickly. I can't believe it's almost September. I also keep buying art supplies that I haven't had a chance to use yet, such as the Kaweco SketchUp mechanical pencil and a set of Arteza watercolor brush pens.

I've ventured into ink colors other than black or blue. I've been incorporating colorful inks into my drawings ever since. This drawing of a lion training its cub is using Noodler's Apache Sunset (orange). This ink seems to take forever to dry. I, at least, have plenty of practice keeping my wrist off the paper since I'm left-handed.

Here's a fountain pen drawing of Emerald City with Emerald de Chivor ink. It's a beautiful shimmery ink, but it seems to clog my pen easily. Growing up, my brother and I would watch The Wizard of Oz on a regular basis, especially during the holidays. We used to memorize the whole film. My favorite song was the Scarecrow's 'If I Only Had a Brain.'

Sharks are friends and cool. Here's a fountain pen drawing of a breaching great white shark with Noodler's Apache Sunset. Next time, I'm going to be more intentional in how I draw the water. All my focus was on the shark. The water horizon was more of an afterthought.

Why an owl? My wife's company logo is an owl. They also have cool eyes. I'm enjoying doing these animal drawings with fountain pens. The fact that it can take some time for the ink to dry forces me to be careful with my hand placement. Erasers are not an option, which forces me to slow down and be more intentional with what I'm putting on paper.

Cat drawings. Yay! The front and back of the Meow tote bag. I started this pre-quarantine during one of our last in-person Drunken Craft Circles. The front is a previous design for a Luna/Artemis fanart. The back is the word, “Meow” in various languages with some made-up font. Meow-Approved! My friend's cat, Otis. A close-up of Otis' face. Cats in Zoom videos are the most quarantine thing to happen. A cat butt in a Zoom video that's painted on a face mask? Yeah, I went there. ...

One positive thing for me in 2020 was that I became more artistically productive while quarantining with my family. Here's my collection of James drawings. Practicing cross-hatching during my new fountain pen obsession. Resting his head on my hand. A more cartoony version of James and his teefies. Snuggling with his mama. A bird's eye view of James laying down and more fountain pen cross-hatching practice. Drawn like a french girl #roseandjack4ever