7 Likes
You’re on a roll, @sheralmyst ! Lovely work. 
It is obvious that you have developed a great deal of skill over the years. Each piece you show us just glows.
Mal and I have established an art & story time at roughly 9 o’clock every night. We’ve been doing this now since early last year. Mal makes delightful doodles, and I create a variety of sketches. We both work with a number of different media, India ink, watercolours, markers, water soluble crayons, etc., each in our own sketchbooks. We use Strathmore 5.5x8.5" sketchbooks, mixed media sketchbooks, and also watercolour sketchbooks.
I have used these sketchbooks for decades to play, to make colour notes for paintings, to record visual ideas, and just to relax and feed my compulsion to draw and paint when I can’t get to the studio or the easel. Or, as now, when a painting is fighting me every step of the way (the punk!) 
We work for about half an hour to an hour every evening before bedtime, and currently have started listening to Pratchett’s Discworld novels from the beginning again, but this time in the order in which they were written (currently, Pyramids).
Watercolour is not my favourite medium to use, though I do love to see when others do it artfully. I’m not very good at it, but I soldier on. I generally use it to record colour notes for larger paintings.
So I thought I would share these last couple of pieces, made in in my sketchbook (on 60lb. paper, in Faber Castell India ink and Winsor Newton watercolour).
Our Irises have begun to bloom and I have been photographing their progress since the first buds appeared, even though they came up as skinny things this year and we will have to dig them out and spread them apart for next year. I love the shapes of things, so I decided to push the angles in this one:
Each morning now I go out and slowly walk the perimeter of our large yard and collect images I want to paint, while getting some exercise and some sun on my arms. This ink and watercolour piece is either a buttercup or a cow parsley --I believe it is the latter, that I found along the northern edge under the trees. It is just a thumbnail --about 3"x2":
I’m looking forward to turning both of these pieces into paintings -either oil or acrylic.
5 Likes
I love those! Especially working in a small size. My grandparents collected art for many years and my grandmother would give me small ones from time to time. She would tell me, now these are to hang just inside a doorway in the small area between the door and window or wall. I listened. Now all those narrow spaces in my house have tiny paintings.
I miss working with India ink. Still have my quills. I wonder, would watered acrylic work over ink?
2 Likes
I don’t see why not. Acrylics seem to work no matter what.
I was just upstairs gazing somberly in my Abandoned Outpost of a studio, and fondled some of my art supplies as I thought of the recent works posted in the thread. So jealous! But I’m still afraid of my talents, or lack thereof. It’s so much easier for me to paint with words, which I’ve been happily doing the past few days. And after a fingernail trim to trim back a few tyupos, I should get back to the Grind. But such a nice grind. 
Maybe this weekend, art might happen, and music… maybe.
2 Likes
I am learning not to fear, fear. Just work, layer by layer, breathing between layers, and not let someone elses’s ‘eye’ dictate what my eye sees.
My hours and hours of YT viewing has been simply to watch technique in action and get a feel for what others are doing.
One thing I have realized, I had stopped really looking at things. Really looking at shapes and colors. Now I am trying to return to that. Funny how we stop. Too many life distractions.
There is an art guild here which has at least 30 regular artists in it. They have a show/sale each fall for 3 days. It showcases everything from jewelry making to basket weaving, pottery, paintings of all sorts, purse making and even chainsaw sculpture.
The paintings range from very primitive in style to a fabulous portrait artist who’s work is fit for the Queen herself. Art is art. If I can get enough work together by fall, and onto canvas of some type, I may join up.
3 Likes
[quote=“sheralmyst, post:244, topic:7619”]
I listened. Now all those narrow spaces in my house have tiny paintings. [/quote]
Good for you! All my tiny pieces are hidden away in sketchbooks. Such a lovely memory you must have of your grandmother.
There are only two kinds of inks that you could use acrylics or watercolours over, but both need to be completely dry and set. One is India ink, the other is acrylic ink.
I made the mistake of purchasing two beautiful refillable ink marker brushes that were quite expensive, and a bottle of ink of the same brand. I was disappointed to find that even three days later the ink smeared when it was re-wet. 
So yes, but be careful about the type of ink and how dry it is. You can also use the inks over acrylics/watercolour.
Oh, and I usually use some of Golden’s airbrush medium about 10% mixed with the water for diluting acrylics, so as not to lose the integrity of the film. I keep a small squeeze bottle of the mixture handy when working with acrylics.
It is easier for water to seek it’s own level, and look at the wonders it has created on the way. Too much angst ain’t good for the soul.
I know the feeling of yearning to “do it all”, but that takes a kind of discipline I don’t have. I still look longingly at my beautiful guitar and want to spend some quality time with it, write some more music, poetry, short stories… It hurts, but the improvement in my painting from the focusing on doing only that (uh… for the foreseeable future? --short as it may turn out to be) has been exponential.
We can have it all, but maybe less than simultaneously. 
I love this!
I think once we get to school, where the emphasis is on squeezing us into molds that help us get jobs, it is easy to forget to pay closer attention to the beauty around us. I couldn’t stand being cooped up in a classroom. I was always playing hooky and running off to the woods to explore and soak in the quiet glories of nature. Got in a lot of trouble for it but it was worth it!
Shapes are my favourite thing. Sometimes I make up forms out of one type of shape. Like triangles. Mal and I call them Euclidean Geometry Sketches. Put down a shape on the page, then add another shape next to it that relates to it. Keep doing that until something emerges.
Oh! Go for it!
There is a fall art fair like that here, too. I’m not sure if it is still active during these covid times, but joining the guild sounds like a great thing to do. And if you keep going the way you have been, I’m sure you will have enough work for a show (and will probably sell them all!). 
3 Likes
This is one thing I’m eternally grateful for, my childlike persona which views the universe through eyes of wonder. Hubble, and soon James Webb, images are amazing, and the sights of other worlds from our space probes. But right here on Earth, the view of a shady nook in a wood, a sunrise or sunset, an approaching storm… all manner of experiences in my life are filled with splendor to admire. This Creation really is something else, and I’m particularly happy that so many of us have the ability to capture all of it, and imagined scenes besides, in artistic form.
There is also my “polymorf” capacities as I jokingly refer to them, my aptitudes and talents in several areas. If anyone ever thought they had too many interests, you should ponder what it is to be a Renaissance Human. But it sounds like you’re there yourself! 
3 Likes
Polymorph! Imma steal that one, thanks!
Definition Of A Polymath
A polymath is a person with a wide expertise or broad knowledge spanning over a wide range of different subjects or a person who excels in a wide variety of disciplines or subjects. It means that the person’s knowledge is not limited to a single subject but draws on complex bodies of knowledge to provide a solution to a problem. Polymath is used to describe great thinkers of the Renaissance who excelled in several fields including science and art. Examples of a polymath in history include Leon Battista Alberti who was an accomplished architecture, painter, mathematician, and a poet, and Leonardo da Vinci who was renowned in the diverse field of art, science, music, and literature.
3 Likes
I live to inspire.
I usually don’t toot my own horn too loudly, though I’m feeling pretty good after writing twenty some-odd pages of material since Saturday. My nephew would say, “feeling froggy.” But rather than list off a bunch of rather vain-sounding trivia, I’ll just say that I’m basically a student of life, and what comes after. 
3 Likes
Has anyone used acrylic paint pens? What is the consistency? I was thinking just for quick color study with sketches…
3 Likes
Inspired by @TravelEcho . I have stacks of mushroom pics and have wanted to paint them for ages. This is about 3x5" and I am thinking of framing them with sticks from my yard. 
If I varnish or poly the sticks, I think they will keep for a good while. Mounting the paintings in will be the challenge but I have a few ideas.
Grass got away from on this one. My black was too wet
6 Likes
Aww! I love these! Nice work!
So that was India ink and acrylics?
2 Likes
I haven’t used those, but I have a set of WinsorNewton’s Watercolour markers that are about ten years old and still fresh!
Let me know how it goes if you use them.
3 Likes
No ink. All paint.
3 Likes
I found a woman who says put matte glazing medium on your painting to use the acrylic pens on top of acrylic paint. It seems that sometimes, because of acrylic’s porous nature, it sometimes wants to pull the paint up. The medium stops that from happening.
She also glazes all her work with gloss varnish to bring out the colors then applies a second coat in whatever final finish is desired.
She ads that sometimes the paint pens, especially black, want to smear when applying varnish so sometimes spray varnish is best over pens. But then you have fumes… 
I ordered a set of pens to play with. Apparently, they originated with graffiti artist’s. I am kind of excited about them. They come in a case. I am wanting something portable that can be used for a quick color study on the go. I will report back.
3 Likes
That sounds pretty exciting! Which brand did you go with for the acrylic paint markers?
I have been trying to design an extender that will let me use panels that are over 12" high with my EdgeProGear Medium Paintbox Easel. I should have thought of this while waiting over a year to save up the money to purchase the thing, since a lot of my pieces are vertical in format, but there ya go. I have a design worked out now so I still have to construct the thing. I love inventing things! I’m really lucky that I married an engineer. He can look at my design and say, “hmm… I think this would work better if…” 
And of course he is usually right. My approach is to get excited and quickly kluge together some sort of prototype, and he comes along and gently and patiently perfects it.
But today I opened a fresh packet of 12"x12" oil primed panels, and I just have to attach the metal plate to the back of it so it will hold on the magnets in the PaintBook and I can start painting again. I might even take it outside if the sun comes out to play.
I am noticing a tiny frisson of anxiety at the thought. It has been months since I have done anything in oils other than noodling the painting I abandoned all winter because I was so cold (and now I know why!). But I am also excited to get outside and paint again, spurred on by your lovely pieces and your excitement.
Last night during our art&story session I decided to try and paint a watercolour study/sketch of a photo I took of our peony buds earlier in the day-- but this time without first sketching it with India ink.
Although it isn’t yet finished, far from it as you can see, it is off to a good start, even though I mismanaged the proportions a bit. It was fun and engaging painting a la prima with watercolour. Tonight, I may try lifting out some areas so I can reposition some elements.
5 Likes
Lovely! Can’t wait to see the finished work!
I forget what brand of pens I bought, Not one of the top brands. Posca seems to be the preferred brand. They were developed in Japan so I am not surprised. There can be a stack of issues with the pens but many people seem to have found work arounds…I am ready to get my hands on them and find out. Most of them are refillable which is nice. Not sure if the ones I got are or not but it is a trial run so we will see…
3 Likes
Storms… 
No power today 
3 Likes
Oh, my… well, I don’t like that! 
Hopefully, you’re coming right back.
We’ve had severe storms too. At night, I heard sirens blaring in the distance, and I just shrugged it off, rolling over and wandered back to sleep. Humans worry me, but nature? No big deal.
No art yet. But on a more positive note, pages and pages of new material. Woo!
2 Likes
Power is back. 
Took all day but at least the rest of the day was pleasant weather. Snapped some new mushroom pics.
4 Likes