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| 10/28/14 Sailor Jentle Doyou ink, Sailor pen, Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook |
Yesterday I stayed in all day, partly to work but mostly
because the rain that Seattle is so famous for is back (after an unusually dry
summer and early fall) with a vengeance.
To distract myself from tedious tasks such as earning a
living, I started thinking about the calligraphy-shaped “nib” I had crudely tried to carve on the ends of my sketching twigs. That
made me remember the actual calligraphy nibs I had purchased quite a while ago for
my Lamy pens. My intention at the time – long before I discovered the Sailor bent-nib pen – was to see if
I could get a variable line width from the calligraphy nibs. I’m not a calligrapher
by any means, so I wasn’t sure how to hold the nibs properly, and my lack of ability
to manipulate the thick and thin strokes discouraged me. I took the nibs off
the pens and forgot about them – until now.
Yesterday I dug out the 1.5mm
and 1.9mm nibs again and put
them back onto a couple of Lamys. (See, this is why I maintain such a large collection of pens that I don’t use much anymore for sketching – you never know when you’ll need some spares
for impulsive ideas on a rainy day.) Through my studio window I can see a very tall,
unattractive, particularly lopsided tree silhouetted against the sky. It
would make a good subject for sketching with a twig, so I decided to try it
with the calligraphy nibs. I also sketched it with my trusty Sailor (as sort of
a “control” in my completely scientific experiment, above).
Of the three, the Sailor definitely moves the most freely and
fluidly. But interestingly, the two calligraphy nibs remind me quite a bit of
sketching with the twig – difficult to maneuver, unpredictable, somewhat
haphazard – and entirely fun! While even the 1.9mm nib can’t make the bold
strokes that twigs can, both calligraphy nibs have one advantage over the
twigs: Ink flows easily. (With twigs, ink “flow” is more like ink blop.)
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| 10/28/14 Diamine Eclipse ink, 1.5mm calligraphy nib, S&B Alpha sketchbook |
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| 10/28/14 Diamine Sapphire ink, 1.9mm calligraphy nib, S&B Alpha sketchbook |
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| Nothing like having a new toy on a rainy day! And it's a good thing, because here's what I have to look forward to this week. |
One of PNW Sketchbook Skool klassmates is offering a workshop day on calligraphy (she's a professional calligrapher). It's in events on the PNW SBS Facebook page. Or, I could help a little as I've done some calligraphy in the past.
ReplyDeleteFun sketches with the different nibs. I'm making progress...I found my twigs and did a small jar with India ink and gauze...but I've been too busy lately to get any sketching done!!! I know if I have time to comment here I should have time to sketch. lol
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