Inside outside
Posted: May 9, 2017 Filed under: Uncategorized 32 CommentsA while back I bought one of those bamboo pens. You know the ones — a fat tube of bamboo with a carved nib that you dip in an ink bottle. I tried it out today on some watercolour paper and really like the effects you get with it. The thick line has varied widths and ends up being nicely textured as it goes over the hills and valleys of the paper (in this case Fluid paper). You can’t get very far with the line before it runs dry, so I ended up stopping and starting quite frequently but I think that makes you more observant about changes in direction and edges. Of course there’s no hiding mistakes with this pen, so you have to live with what you get. When it dried I painted over it in watercolour. Worth trying again for sure.
Shari Blaukopf's Sketchbook 
Really like this one!!
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Thanks so much Marie.
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Thank you for sharing this “experimentation”. Always informative and inspiring!
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Thanks Alison.
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Shoot! i hope it snows all summer. Your still life sketches while being housebound are awesome. I shall have to try some pen and ink too.
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Holly, it’s funny that you mention the word housebound. After my first son was born I had a show called “Housebound”. It was all large format watercolour landscapes of scenes inside my house — laundry, shoes, towels, gloves, etc. I still like to draw these types of things.
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I get stuck on all the starting and stopping so inevitably go back to my Lamy or Platinum Carbon because I want to keep going. I have a variety of dip pens and so far they are brand new after 8 months.
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Get them out and try them! Sometimes using new materials or a new pen really changes the way you draw and the way you see things.
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I like the effect you got with the bamboo pen…the lines have a bit of character to them because they are not so perfect. Love the light coming through the bottles.
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Thanks Joan. I loved drawing with the pen exactly for that reason. The character of the line is really nice.
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Shari, I really love this! I think the pen added something special. Reminds me a bit of stained glass.
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Thanks so much. Yes, it felt a bit like stained glass to me too because of the strong lines.
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wonderful the distortions of objects seen through the glass
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Thanks Aletha.
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Shari…have you tried soaking the bamboo pen in water for quite a while before using? I am told this enables it to retain more ink..
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Anne, I had never heard of that before. I will certainly investigate the possibility.
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Love this, Shari. Love still life paintings. You really captured the transparency of the glass. Another subject you could do a Craftsy class on.
I once had a pen like that. I remember it wasn’t easy to use. Wonder if I can find it?
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Thanks Judy. If you still have this pen hanging around, you should try it. Really nice to use.
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Nicely done. Thanks for our daily inspiration.
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Thanks Carolyn!
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Wonderful – those glass bottles look so real! Spooky too as your ‘dry’ brush pen sketch the other day set me thinking about Indian ink, bamboo pens and sharpened matchsticks.
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And I think when you said that my brush pen drawing looked like charcoal, it got me thinking. I was trying to find a similar ink that I could use with watercolour, because my brush pen is water soluble. So thank you for the inspiration.
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Such a nice study in pen and subject. Your work is always so clean and fresh. You always inspire me to try new things, new ways to be creative. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks Bernadette!
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I used to make reed pens from the bamboo stakes you buy in the gardening dept. Van Gogh was a fan of reed pens,
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Good idea Geri. I think I have some of those in my gardening shed. They are quite a bit finer than this bamboo and I bet they would be interesting to draw with.
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Gotta try this sometime!
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You should Dee!
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There’s a wonderful unity of color in this. Did you use a limited palette? The painting glows with light. The overall high tone of the values is beautifully controlled. It all hangs together with that bold pen line. This is very direct and quite special.
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Wow, thanks Jeff. I didn’t really use a limited palette because I dipped into lots of colours but I did use a lot of Cerulean Blue which does tie everything together. I can’t paint without that colour.
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I love this. I have taken both of your Craftsy’s classes. I would love for you to do one of ‘objects’ in pen & wash. I love seeing your daily drawings/paintings! Thanks again for sharing! ~Billie
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Thanks so much Billie. Glad you liked the classes. I would love to do another class with Craftsy and I’ve often been asked to do a class on still life. We’ll see…
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