Jan. Pen and Ink works.

Better late than never I guess, the above pen and ink drawing of a farm house is from the December WetCanvas pen and ink forum challenge images. I started it back in December and just never got it done. I even took it with me to Chicago but ended up not working on it, not feeling in the mood to do this type of pen work.

Size is 4 x 4 inches on Bristol Board Smooth. Done with my smaller nib technical pens. This is mostly line not cross hatch, the toning is just lots of thin lines close together. I am still playing with pen techniques, for this drawing I didn't use outlines just directional lines. Not sure about the trees in background, They don't exactly look like trees, but I am not sure it is necessary that they do. The house is the focal point, trees are just in the background and wouldn't really be noticed by a viewer.

The WetCanvas channels/forums have one dedicated to drawing plein air, or rather from life, no photo references. Part of their usual activities is to generate a list of things to draw from life, it isn't quite weekly since each "Scavenger Hunt" list runs for 9 days but it is frequent enough. I have been missing this kind of challenge. The Everyday Matters group used to have a weekly theme but new themes haven't been issued for over a year. Anyway I may not join this group very often but felt like it this past week.

So above is my own vegetable peeler drawn from life. This little guy is old, dating back to when I first went out on my own, oh over 40 years ago. But it still works just fine so I have never replaced it. Drawn in the sketchbook I had previously dedicated to the Everyday matters drawings I used graphite to show my peeler.

I haven't done a new bookmark for ages and figured it was time that I got back to making some, so above is the finished drawing part of a new bookmark. Done on Stonehenge paper with colored pens. Fish, more or less based on the fish I drew for #Inktober. Still needs some finishing details including a tassel, but at least I have it started. I worked on this while listening to an audible book I borrowed from the library. Need to get more books to listen to this way, lets me draw at the same time I listen.

I don't think the above is finished. I am thinking about adding color. All it is right now is a stipple background for the darks. I drew this first with pencil and then stippled around the drawn shapes. Once I had the stipple mostly done I erased out the pencil and made corrections. I just made up the design as I went along with no particular image in mind.

Still thinking about what colors to add. I will be using colored pencil as this is done on Bristol Board Smooth which doesn't like water. If I had used hot press watercolor paper I think I would be using some of my Inktense pencils, but because I didn't think that far ahead I think I will go the safer road and just use regular colored pencils.

A photograph from last week. We had a light dusting of snow on Friday morning, here is a photograph of the sky and rooftops showing clearing clouds and that snowy frosting. Looks monochromatic, but it is really a color photograph, just not a lot of color to show in this one.

That is it for today. I hope to get back to being more productive than I have been art wise. It does seem like I need to take these little breaks from creating. Anyway per usual comments are welcome.