InkTober 2015

I'm a little late with this post, but I'll be participating in InkTober for the second time this year. Last year I was completely unprepared, not knowing what it was until scrolling through my instagram feed at 11:30 pm on the first day. I quickly sketched out something and posted it before midnight. Inktober is a month long daily drawing challenge using pen and ink in its various forms, with your daily drawings then being posted on social media. This year, I've prepared my folder of ideas and decided on a weekly theme of subjects for the month. This week's theme is "Cameras from my collection." Check in with me daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to see the daily pen and ink drawing.

Plein Air Painting at Sachs Bridge

On Sunday, I finally had a chance to get out and try Plein Air Watercolor Painting with a homemade watercolor field easel. I first saw the easel on one of my favorite YouTube channels, The Mind of Watercolor, and had wanted to make one for myself. I've been sketching in my small watercolor journal with photographs that I've taken for reference, but I really wanted to experience sketching out in the open after seeing it done on some of my favorite YouTube channels. I already had the materials I needed to construct the easel and I had a fairly strong and stable camera tripod to mount it on. I "borrowed" my son's no longer used camp stool to finish out my Plein Air setup and I was eager to get out there. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go out to the marina by Lake Marburg at Codorus State Park or drive over to Devil's Den at Gettysburg. On the way over to Gettysburg, I decided that maybe I would check out the Sach's covered bridge to see if there were many people there. There was no one else there when I arrived, so I walked around a bit to see what would be the best angle to capture the bridge and also not be in the way of anyone's photos while painting. After much fiddling and fussing with my supplies to get everything just so, I started sketching while also keeping a lookout for wild things in the tall grass behind me. After a while, I settled in and really started to get into the drawing and was about to start painting when the first onlooker came over to see what I working on. I will have to get used to people talking to me and watching me paint, which is not easy for me to do. One other gentlemen came over later to see what I was working on. I really only sketch and paint for my own enjoyment, with no intentions of displaying my work to sell, so it really shouldn't matter what someone else might think of my abilities. I really just want to enjoy what I'm doing now that our kids have grown and I have time to pursue my creative hobbies. It was starting to get really hot and also near lunchtime, so I decided to finish up and head home. I will say that I really enjoyed Plein Air Painting and would like to get out there again soon.

Outdoor Sketching

I finally went outside to try some outdoor sketching at Lake Marburg over at Codorus State Park on Saturday. I found a picnic table underneath a shade tree by the shore and started creating my sketch. I began with a light pencil drawing and then drew in the basic line art with a Pigmamicron pen. I had my pocket watercolor set with me and decided to try out the new flat waterbrush I had just gotten. I was using a larger sketchbook than I normally carry and thought the wider waterbrush would be better suited for the larger watercolor sketch. Once I started adding the watercolor I had to work fast so that it didn't dry before I could drop in some other colors. I found the waterbrush worked pretty well for me but eventually I want to experiment with tube paints, palettes and larger brushes. I liked the process of creating an outdoor painting, the weather was beautiful and it was very relaxing to focus on the sketch. I want to try more of this to see if I want to invest in a Plein Air setup.

Weekend Sketches

A few weekend sketches here, two pen and ink line doodles with the new Pentel Pocket Brush Pen that I picked up last week at Plaza Art in Baltimore. The third sketch is an entry in my Moleskine Watercolor Journal, made with Windsor & Newton Cotman Pocket Watercolor Sketcher's Box and Pigmamicron pen. I've been on a quest of sorts to find the perfect pen and ink brush pen, I've tried several. I've tried the Pilot Pocket Brush Pen, both hard and soft versions, both producing very nice thick and thin strokes, with the soft one producing thicker and heavier lines than the hard one. I also ordered the Tombow Hard and Soft Fude Brush Pens, these are ok, but I like them the least of the brush pens that I've tried. I have used the Pentel Fude Brush Pen for a number of sketches and find I can control the thin and thick lines I get with this brush pen very well. It is a a little larger in the hand than the other brush pens, feeling a bit more the size of a brush than pen as the other ones do. The line art sketches above were made with the smaller Pentel Pocket Brush Pen with available cartridge refills. This pen is more expensive than the Pentel Fude Brush Pen but has the capability to be refilled with ink cartridges as the Pentel Fude Brush Pen does not.

The third watercolor sketch continues my fascination with drawing skulls, but we all know that I love skulls, skeletons and anatomy and have a small collection of anatomy models, some of which I've assembled and painted myself. This skull was a yard sale find and features green glowing light-up eyes in a skull head made of a foam like material. 

Argus C3

The Argus C3, the camera I'm currently carrying in my bag and shooting with. I bought this camera from ebay and it seems to be in working order. I've loaded it with Kentmere 100 that I'll develop in Kodak D-76. Watercolor painting created with Sakura Koi Watercolor Pocket Field Kit using Niji waterbrush in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

Lunch Time Watercolor Sketch

Today's sketch was completed during my lunch break using my Sakura Koi Pocket Water Colors and Niji Waterbrush. The little Koi waterbrush that fits inside the pocket water color box is pretty nifty to have in a pinch, but I prefer the Niji Waterbrush. The bristles seem to hold their shape a little better than the Koi. I'm using the small tip Niji Waterbrush, but I'm planning to get the other sizes in the line to have a little more variety. Last night, I picked up another pocket watercolor kit to try out, the Windsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Sketcher's Box. This one is just a bit smaller than the Koi and includes a nice little brush in a metal case. I'll be trying that one out later this week. Today's sketch is from a photo of my front porch that I originally had planned to paint from life, but Sunday got away from me before I knew it. 

Today's Sketch

I haven't been sketching that much this week as I caught an extreme case of poison something on my arms while working in my yard last week. A trip to the doctor for some Prednisone and being back at work after a two week vacation pretty much wiped me out every evening. Today's sketch is from a photo I took out at Natural Bridge, Virginia. Pigma Micron pen, pocket watercolor field sketch box, and waterbrush in Moleskine watercolor journal.

Last Day of Vacation

It's the last day of my two week vacation and I've had a very nice time off with my wife.  I accomplished most of the things on my vacation to do list, but some will have to wait until my next. Here is a watercolor sketch done from a photo taken during one of my lunchtime walks around Baltimore - St. Paul's Plaza. Watercolor field kit in my pocket watercolor journal.

New Website

I'm launching a new personal website with a blog where I'll be posting my sketches and photography explorations. This is an extension of my Facebook art page, Instagram feed and Flickr uploads. This sketch was made with a Pigma Micron pen in a new sketchbook that I picked up on a recent visit to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. I used a photo I had taken on a trip to the Nixon Nature Center in Jacobus, PA as reference.