Sketchwork Moved!

Please visit Sketchwork at elizabethalley.com/sketchwork. After 12 years with Blogger, I am incorporating my blog into my website because the interface on Weebly is easier to deal with and has apps for iPad and my phone. It's a little glitchy, but it just makes it easier to post and so hopefully I'll post more? Hope to see you over there. I'll leave this here as long as Blogger lets me.

A Story about Pens

I drew this story about some kids who live behind us and make me think about the backyard I spent most of my childhood in. When I draw stories like this, I usually use diluted sumi ink for the grays, Sakura Pigma Sensei 04 black pens, Pentel brush pen and Pentel ink brush pen.

I came to love the Sakura Pigma Sensei after my husband bought a pack of different sizes for me to try out. Though I have my favorites, I do try to use new materials to see what else is out there. In that spirit, I recently bought some new brush pens from jetpens.com. I love the Pentel brush pen, but sometimes wonder if I would get more use out of a brush pen that had a little less give.

The Pilot Fude-Makase acts more like a felt tip pen than a brush pen, which I like. It doesn’t have too much give, allowing for a lot of control. It felt good to use it so I started using it on this drawing.

Before using it on the drawing, and really before buying it, I should have paid attention to the specifications and noticed it was neither waterproof nor lightfast. I painted over the pen marks with diluted sumi and noticed the ink running. I thought maybe the ink needed more time to dry so I came back later and tried again. It still ran, and turned a pinkish/purplish color that indicates a dye-based ink that will likely discolor when exposed to light (based on my previous experience with non-lightfast pens).

This story drawing lives in a sketchbook, so it won’t see the light of day very much. But just to be sure – because I really like the lines and marks from these pens – I made this chart. (If you have taken a class from me you know I love charts!) I went over the ink with water immediately after making the marks, again after an hour, and again the next day.

The verdict is that while using this pen did not ruin my drawing at all, it will not be a sketching pen or a story-drawing pen for me. But it will be a writing pen! It works beautifully in my Moleskine Cahier notebook (I prefer unlined), which I use for personal notes, so there is no water involved and I won’t mind if it eventually fades. Verdict number two is that I need to pay more attention when I buy stuff.

Testing a New Blogging App

Have we reached the point in technology when a small laptop feels too cumbersome? I may have. Lately I just want to use my iPad for everything. I can also draw on it, so that just makes it better than a laptop, right? In trying a bigger switch to smaller technology, I am testing a new app. Let’s see if this works!

Here’s a sketch from several weeks ago on a visit to the Memphis Botanic Gardens made with Pentel brush pen, watercolor and colored pencils, in a Stillman & Birn Alpha.