Still Life with Rain

11/19/12 Copic Multiliner SP pen, watercolor, S & B Beta 

In general, I’m not a huge fan of still lifes. Given a choice, I invariably opt for on-location sketching or even studio life drawing practice over sketching inanimate objects in my house. But today it rained so hard and continuously, accompanied by gusty high winds, that I hunkered down and couldn’t bear to go out, even to a coffee shop.

 

Fortunately, a mostly-fresh birthday bouquet from my spouse guy had enough color to keep me entertained. The first sketch, below, was a good opportunity to try a sample of Platinum Pigmented Sepia ink, one of several samples Kate gave me (thanks, Kate!). When I was shopping for brown ink samples a while back, the swatch shown online for this ink looked blah, so I skipped it. But in real life, it’s a pleasant, non-aggressive hue, and here’s what surprised me: it’s waterproof! I wasn’t necessarily looking for a waterproof brown ink – my interest was in finding one with a rich wash – but now that I’ve found this one, I’m thinking it would be a nice warm alternative to my usual Platinum Carbon Black. I especially like it on the ivory-colored Stillman & Birn Delta paper.

 

11/19/12 Platinum Pigmented Sepia ink, S & B Delta

The second still life, above, was drawn with my trusty Copic Multiliner SP pen, which I haven’t been using much since I got hooked on Lamy fountain pens. This time I sketched it on a bright white Stillman & Birn Beta page spread (again, thanks, Kate!), which has a cooler hue but maybe makes the colors pop a bit more.

 

OK, so still lifes have their place. But I’ve already got cabin fever.