Monday, November 19, 2012

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.

4 comments:

  1. You're welcome. ;) I really like these still lifes (lives?). They might not be that fun to do but you've done them well.
    --Kate

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  2. Nice sketches of the flowers. Yes, still lifes do come in handy when you really can't get to go out. I love the cars hanging from the ceiling and that bird's eye view at the museum. Nice group of sketches!!

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  3. I love your sketches! You inspire me every day.

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  4. Thank you, Kate, Joan and Cindy! Today it stopped raining long enough for me to want to go out for some coffee. ;-)

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