Grey and misty light,
Eager branches bursting bright.
Spring is on the wind.
I recently have gone through a bit of a pen addiction (see previous post), and one of the results of said addiction are these, doodles. I’m not sure why I started them, and I’m really not sure why I had to keep doing them, but do them I did. We’re at 31 and counting. The ink, from regular old Sharpie markers, really spreads well on these watercolor postcards I’ve used for actual watercolor paintings before. This diffusion allows me to, for the most part, blend pen strokes into each other enough to create pleasingly solid areas of color, without too much bleeding beyond where I want the ink to go.
Again, I’m not sure why I needed to do this many. But I did, and here they are, in chronological order. The one on the top of the page is my favorite. Do you have a favorite?
I seriously need to get back to doing, anything but this, hopefully look for more watercolors soon. Damn doodles.
Ok, so, this is a thing. A mild pensession, if you will. Markersession? That’s not as catchy… Anyway…….
I’ve been collecting pens and markers for a little while now. Maybe, a long while. We’ll go with a decadeish. I have sets of super fancy suuuuuper tiny liner pens, awesomely colored slightly less super tiny drawing pens, regular old ballpoint pens, fancy ballpoint pens, calligraphy pens, sparkly gel pens, brush markers, dual tipped markers, ridiculously expensive dual tipped markers, and your good old classic Sharpie markers. Yes, I keep them organized, yes, I have extreme preferences regarding what pen is good for what situation, and yes, I probably have a bit of OCD, who doesn’t. Each type of drawing utensil and each brand has a different feel, is useful for specific types of art on different types of paper, and all strike me as utterly perfect in ebbing and flowing waves. I’m clearly riding one of these waves now.
My Sharpie collection has experienced a marked increase lately, thank you Amazon Prime, and I couldn’t be happier with that. As art supplies go (if you consider them art supplies, which is a heated debate in the community, those nerds), Sharpies are pretty cheap. No, they are not perfect, you can’t refill them, replace the tips, and it’s not archival ink, but man, they are satisfying. And at less than a dollar each when you get packs, you can buy a ton before it gets ridiculous. Comparatively speaking, of course.
If (when) you do go the “gotta catch ’em all” route, there is a wide range of colors in both fine and ultra fine point. Each color does have a name, even though the markers themselves are not labeled. Through some sleuthing, I have managed to find said names and make handy little color charts that, while not quite as impressive as the watercolor ones from this earlier post, are useful nonetheless. The these charts are endlessly fascinating to me. I enjoy not only the process of the making but also the end product. You can mix your colors up all you want, but you always can go back to your neat charts to see what your choices are.
The image at the top of this post is a hint of what is to come, a mild obsession with doodles and an experiment in colors. Enjoy the madness here, then hop forward to see what kind of things can be done when you have bought alllllllll the Sharpies!!!
(Maybe not all the Sharpies, because seriously, there are more colors, and I want them……… very badly…………..).
I’ve discussed color charts in a few recent posts, so I figured I’d finish that up on the watercolor front with a nice little tin of colors, filled with the additional ones I chose after having played with the giant sample sheets. Isn’t it just precious?!
So far, I’ve been learning watercolor techniques with a set of 14 paints from a variety of makers. These above, to be specific. My starter set has served me nicely. I’ve done a few pieces, see previous posts, and am very much enjoying the medium.
However, many other paints exist. One brand alone, Daniel Smith, makes more than 230 different kinds, dots of which they very nicely have put on sample pages for us curious nerds. Once in hand, you can see their whole catalog without spending thousands of dollars on tubes of paint you might not even want (or more likely, can’t justify buying).
After a few days (and nights) of work, here is what this colorful tedium looks like all nice and painted out.
I’m going to select a few more paints, maybe even another 14, from these happy little dots and literally expand my palette. Exciting!
But which ones do I chose….?!
what Was, what Is, and what Will Be 