Cleaning Day for Water & Ink Brushes
On my last trip, my water brushes became clogged. I lost the ability to easily add spots of color while standing in line or waiting to catch a train. After a great deal of soaking in warm water and soap, I finally unclogged them. I worried that I might run into the same problem with my ink brushes. I own three, nice ink brush pens which I haven’t taken full advantage of. When one recently ran dry, I opted to refill the cartridge with a diluted ink to add a value wash to quick ink studies.
One thing leads to another and I am easily distracted by the inspiration to draw. I ended up pulling out my copic markers and doing a study using an ordinary fountain pen for the initial drawing, an ink brush for the blacks, the copic markers for the values and a touch of red watercolor for the lettering. I decided that I wanted to experiment more with ink brushes filled with color and have ordered a set of the Elmer’s Paintables markers that can be emptied and filled will a selection of inks I’ve received over the years from Ink Drop (Gouletpens.com). I might also like these ink pens for the sketches of live performances, dance and yoga. I’ll let you know.
Image: Cleaning Day – ink, marker and watercolor sketchbook drawing.
Chris, are you traveling on your own when doing these sketches? If not, is your companion patient about the time it takes to make art?
Vel,
Most often I travel alone. It is difficult to find companions who are flexible enough to entertain themselves while I’m lost in my sketchbook. Fortunately, thanks to the workshops I’ve been teaching over the last couple of years, I’ve found a handful of excellent travel companions who enjoy being lost in their sketchbooks as much as I in mine. Still, I like traveling solo, not having to switch back and forth between being social and being an artist. When I do travel with non-artists, I make use of my pocket art kit whenever I am waiting and conversation has come to a halt. Being late to bed and early to rise also gives me time on my own.