inktober #9

i'm not usually a rule-breaker,

but today i took Mr. Picasso's advice....

and "bent" the inktober guidelines

by adding some pencil to my ink drawing.

my heart is so happy, 

and it feels absolutely awesome to be an artist!

:))

inktober day nine,  prompt:  "broken"

click here for more info about inktober!

{supplies:  canson moulin du roy w/c paper,  pentel color brushes,

  waterbrush, .3 mechanical pencil}

inktober #4

here's my page for inktober day four,  prompt: "hungry".

{supplies:  pentel pocket brush, ranger distress markers, 

micron pens, white sakura gelly roll pen}

for more info about inktober, click here!

inktober #2

it's inktober day number two!

here's my take on our challenge prompt of "noisy".....

and these are the ink supplies i used!

xox

you can find more info about inktober here!

{supplies:  j. herbin ambre de birmanie fountain pen ink, 

pilot flair pen, crayola marker, black uni pin}

thumb giddiness

i was in the middle of a really messy journal page the other day, and ended up blotting my inky fingers on a random scrap of paper. later, the little fingerprints caught my attention and i was instantly taken back to a time when i was a kid.....and, boy, did i ever love, love, love creating little thumbprint people! i had spiral notebooks filled with boring calculus and history notes.....and fun, whimsical little thumbprint people dancing in the margins of the page (after all, how else does a girl ever survive calculus and history?!)!

and with such a happy walk down memory lane, i really couldn't resist picking up a blue ink pen and finishing out those random prints on the paper......a few ink marks here and there, and now i'm in total

thumb giddiness!

so the moral of my story is: make sure you check all of those little scraps of artsy goodness hanging around your workspace.....you may just have some creative happiness waiting to be discovered!!

pure play

i have a sweet bloggy-kindred-spirit (she actually has sugar-coated-heart-shaped-wool-felt -wings adorned with beautiful beads, sequins, and other fabulous sparkly things!) who has given me some fantastic advice to help me through this creative-tough-spot that i've been in.......take out some of my favorite supplies, don't worry about doing a "finished project", and just play.

so i took her up on that little gem of wisdom, and had a ton of fun trying some things on fabric that i normally would have done on paper. i didn't use any new techniques, i just played!

here's what i used:

*the fabric is called "drill 40"....i bought it at joann fabrics (it's sold by the yard on a bolt with the muslin fabrics). it's a little heavier like canvas, but tightly woven so it's easier to write on.

*a round foam stamp

*ink pads (i used dye ink, but any would probably work)

*micron pens

*watercolor pencils (i used derwent inktense)

*watercolor brush

*pilot fine point fabric pen (sold here)

on a different note.....thank you SO much for your sweet encouragement and fun comments (you always make me smile!!) about the water challenges that we're having in our house right now. after extensive plumber-type-testing, we've been told that the problem is due to a hole in the shower pan.....which is plumber speak for "we're going to tear up the tile, replace the pan liner, re-tile, re-grout, patch up all the holes in the wall, patch up all the holes in the family room ceiling, repaint the wall damage, repaint the ceiling damage, re-stretch the carpet that's been pulled back, clean said carpet, and get lots and lots of dust and other construction-type goo all over the house".

the silver lining: it's all covered by warranty....woo hoo!

the silver lining, part 2: looks like i get to go shopping for more chocolate....woo hoo!

scanner 101

firstly, an enormous hug and thank you to my fabulous husband, walther, who surprised me with a new scanner for my birthday!! while i still consider myself fairly electronically challenged, i would have never dreamed that i could be so excited about a scanner! there is nothing more disappointing than to spend a lot of time on a piece of art, and then not have a true image of it.

this image shows a scan of a drawing that i did in black ink (remember my josef siebel shoes?). the "before" image was scanned on my previous scanner...the HP C3180 all-in-one. the "after" image was scanned on my wonderful new scanner...the HP Scanjet G4010. the difference is amazing...the "after" image is a true representation of my drawing and i couldn't be more thrilled! the all-in-one scanner is a great scanner for documents and other basic scanning. but, if you're looking for a scanner that will give your artwork and photographs true color accuracy and high quality images, the G4010 gets my vote!

(for better comparison, click on the image)

books in a box

still getting familiar with my micron pen and trying to incorporate ink into my drawings. baby steps, baby steps. i'm really enjoying this process, though. one of these days i'll start using color, i promise! 

shades of ink

so, finally, no pencil and no shoes! i have been trying to get more comfortable with using ink in my drawing. i like this "sketchy" look, so i've been working on shading with my micron pen. it really isn't a very exciting subject, but it's part of the process, and for some reason i absolutely love to sit and do this shading. and...the sound of the pen scratching on the paper is great!