Using Inktense Color Blocks

The last blog post had a bit of information about Derwent Ink-tense color blocks.  These are a new purchase that has been sitting in the studio for a month untouched while I try to deal with all the effects of a full knee replacement.  

So the fact that I even got out the materials and spent an hour or so playing with them is a good sign.  

I admit I've been having a pity-party here lately.  Some of it is understandable.  There has been quite a bit of physical discomfort involved in this AND then I had a set back with an infection AND then an allergic reaction to the antibiotics!   

Okay but now it's time to move forward and get serious about the Physical Therapy in the last 4 weeks before we head north.  

It is EXACTLY one month to the day now before our planned leaving date.  More on this another time.

I wanted to mention that the original colors for this 4 x 6" greeting card were extremely light.  See above.  Inktense is VERY intense and just explodes on the page.  You can color in too much before you add water and there is no way of scaling back.    

So do it lightly first and after the first wash of water..I did go back with a paint brush and add a little more color to most of the blocks to get it as bright as I wanted it.  When dry the color is permanent on the wc paper.  So I could put whatever I want on top of the color.  

Happy 12th Birthday to my grandson, Pat, in Illinois.  

I told him to hang on to the card and in the years ahead he can take it to Antiques Roadshow and they will say, "A card by the famous Ginny Stiles?".  $1,500.  😉

Something New to tweak the creative buttons

Inktense is solid ink.  That is, it is ink that has been compressed into pencil form or block form.   See blocks above.  The ink is water soluble after you first apply it to paper or fabric.  Then when it dries it is permanent.  It has watercolor qualities because it has a transparent quality to it.  While it is wet it behaves a little like watercolor depending on the surface.  

It can be applied with a brush, poured, grated, and layered.  There are tons of videos on ways to use it on YouTube.  This is someone painting a poppy with the blocks.  Note how little color needs to be initially laid down!  

I have used the pencils for years but have decided to try out some of the blocks now.  The colors do not match "standard" wc hues.  
They match each other..that is pencils and blocks match up.  But the company (Derwent) has developed it's own colors.  

Rather yummy colors including Fuchsia, Teal Green, Baked Earth, Sun yellow, etc.  
More on this another time.

I am busy with Physical Therapy for my knee...I am 11 days past surgery now and moving along pretty well.  Thanks to all my family and friends support!  

Hospital Sketches

The View from my chair...
Behind my TV and the Announcement Board is a little mural.  That's my closet under the clock.  

My view out the window

Yup, it's me.  Finally in a place where I can pop in and say hi again.  Whew...that "knee replacement surgery thing" is really a show-stopper.  Like all stories there is the good and the tough.

  

I had my knee replaced last Wednesday around noonish at Florida Waterman Hospital in Tavares, FL.  What a wonderful hospital.  Super nice room with huge picture windows.  Great nurses and helpful PT and my doctor (Donald Perry) gets a big thumbs up.  

For those of you who have gone this route already you know that they give you a "pain block" that makes you feel pretty darn good for the first 48 hours.  But as that wears off...reality sets in! I've decided against posting the photo of the surgery scar at this time.  

  

These sketches were done while the pain block was still working.  I became pretty famous on the floor as "artist-patient" in residence for awhile!  So I waved the staff good bye around 2 on Friday.  And I am writing this on Monday morning.  The home-health nurse dropped in on Saturday.  

The weekend home went okay..my daughter is here from Madison, WI answering my every beck and call.  I am icing the knee as much as possible and trying to wean myself off pain meds as much as possible.  I expect a call from PT anytime today setting up the home PT schedule for the first couple of weeks. I am forewarned that this is going to be tough going.  Grrr.

My daughter flies home this afternoon (boo hoo).  

My other daughter has been "coaching" me from Illinois by text.

And my neighbors here have been so delightful!  Can't say enough about the friends.  

Hoping to at least keep up some sketching during the PT and rehab.  I think the real "grit" part of this is ahead.  

The mural is completed

Keeping myself busy in the week before knee surgery turned out not to be a problem.  Although I would have preferred to have more say in the way my time is being used...like enjoying Zentangle® or doing outdoor sketching.  

Instead, out-of-routine problems like having my glass cooktop decide to "give up the ghost" and having to shop for a new one and planning to have it installed has taken up some inordinate time.  ☹️
But it's a small thing.  I remember reading somewhere when you stamp your feet in impatience you should be rather asking for grace.  Indeed we need to be gentle with ourselves sometimes. 

One joyful thing this week was the completion of the pool-side  mural that ten of us in the Fine Arts Club took on as our challenge this year.  (I am the tallest one in the middle.). I think we actually look at this now and marvel that we even tackled the project!  I know none of us really realized last year at this time the amount of time this would take.  Next season we'll host an actual grand opening and invite the whole park to the celebration.  But for now we are taking a well deserved bow.

I am so looking forward to the arrival of my daughter, Julie, from Madison, WI.  She comes on Monday to do care taking and be supportive through my surgery and the first few days home.  
I am anxious to get on with this now as I am sure you can tell.

Weather cool in central FL this week but looking marvelous next week in the mid 80s.  I am going to check out the Diva's challenge now as I think Zentangle is the very best calming thing now during the stress of this week ahead.  

Finishing up the Pen and Ink

Just reposting this as I finished the lower section.  I decided on some grasses and some leaves.  I looked up birch leaves to make sure I had them right...oaks I know!  I decided on no color for now...I could always change my mind another day.  

But it is framed and in the Hawthorne Art show for this afternoon!

Hoping to do another pen and ink soon as I found this fun and even relaxing to do.

The time for my knee replacement surgery is drawing near...a week from Wednesday so we are trying to get things in order here allowing for me to relax and rest and do my therapy.  My daughter, Julie, will arrive a week from Monday and stay a week with us...holding down the fort.  

Weather here in FL is lovely now...will be in mid 80s the whole time my daughter is visiting.  My two favorite months in Florida are November and April.  But March isn't bad.  Coping with the time change today.  

It is full spring here.  The Jacaranda trees are purple and the Tabebuia trees are bright yellow.  Azaleas are almost done now.

No hibiscus this spring since the hard freeze in January did them in. But they are re-greening now so there is hope.  Hawthorne bushes are in bloom and orange trees send amazing sweet smells.  The oaks here lose leaves and grow new ones in the spring...bright green and shiny.  We have a pair of sweet ducks on the pond now probably nesting.  (also a few small alligators!).  The song birds are nesting now.  Lots of sweet sounds in the yard!   

Carrying On in Black and White

Obviously anyone who loves Zentangle® would love black and white too.  It just follows. I posted the beginning of this drawing already and I've been spending some relaxing time playing with this a little more.  I know it's not done yet, but I am to the point where I have to think it through a little now.  One problem in the lower third of the drawing where I need to make some decisions about grounding the trees.  Lots of choices here.  Grasses/leaves, or even color.

One idea is to make some copies on the printer and then add color or details to kind of get a feel for how that would look.  I'd sort of like to finish it up next week.  

Testing and lab work and etc prior to my up coming knee surgery is almost over now.  I still have a lot of follow up appointments but that should wind up soon.  The surgery date has been pushed back to March 21 which may in the end be a good thing.  

After I do some of the "idea" work I may post so you can the options.  All depends on how much time I figure out for this.

Hawthorne is getting ready for the big art show and I'm doing the program and it needs to get to the printer this week.  So first things first.  Would you believe that the theme of the show is "Black and White"?  

(did I tell you I am going to be a great grandmother come July 19?)

How exciting is THAT!  

Painting a Mural for the Pool

My friend, Todd, took a preliminary photo of the mural that our Art Club in Hawthorne Community (Leesburg, Fl) has been working on all winter.  The project was more than we imagined actually.  And when the holidays appeared we took a break.  Then in January the weather turned "nippy" and we took another break.  

The park employees painted the background a lovely turquoise blue over last summer.  Then we did preliminary sketches and layouts in November...and in late January and Feb we began some serious painting.  We used a lot of just house paints to mix much of the larger areas...clouds, water and waves, sand and palms.  Some of the smaller items were acrylic paint (which is just house paint too actually).  

We have to finish the central bar area now and tweak some of the details. There are about 10 of us painting.  A pool party is planned for the end of March.  So we have incentive now to finish up.
More photos to come. 

Keeping Sane With Art

Last week I signed up for my friend, Jackie's pen and ink class.  Her subject matter was some old mailboxes along a road.  But I immediately thought of OUR old chipped mailbox up north in Wisconsin standing forlornly or maybe resolutely in front of our cabin sign.  The cabin name of "Rip's Place", by the way, is a reference to Rip Van Winkle who's ability to sleep was legendary.

The cabin is a great napping place.  (Note, we once had someone come to the cabin door asking for Rip.  How we laughed.)

So instead of Jackie's idea...I adapted it.  So much more fun to have it portray something that has personal meaning, right?  This is a quarter sheet of Arches 140# watercolor paper and Sakura Micron Pens, 01, 03 and PN.  

Above is just about an hour and half worth of beginning work.  I am enjoying the pen and ink.  Of course I work with pen and ink often in Zentangle and sketch in my sketchbooks in pen and ink all the time.  But this is an "extension" of that. 

It's a relaxing medium to work in...detailed but gentle and soothing to create. Just the beginning of the pine tree in the right upper corner is what I'll work on next.  I decided I wanted a good photograph of pine needles before I went further.  There are so many kinds of pines!  We have a number on our property.  

I do intend a little color on this when I am done.  Jackie says you can "rouge" it in oil, you can use pastel, colored pencil, or watercolor.  It'll be watercolor for me.  But just exactly what colors or which things will get color?  I'd like to keep it subtle.  I want it to be about ink...not about color.  So we'll see.  Keep watching.

Meanwhile I am getting ready for total knee replacement of my left knee on March 12.  The amount of preparation for this is amazing...tons of testing and MRIs etc.  I even have to go to "Knee School" one afternoon.  In between these stressful things will be a very nice project to work on.  

Spring is coming here to central Florida...the azaleas are blooming and many of the flowering trees in wild pinks and yellows.  The grass is bright green due to recent rains and soon the oaks will drop their leaves as the new leaves push out.  Falling leaves and raking is a SPRING chore in Florida.  We expect 80s most of this week.

Happy Groundhog's Day

Time for First Friday in Fine Arts at the Hawthorne Community again.  How can it be?  I was just there!  Here I am plugging the Fine Arts Show which will be March 11..holding up the application for putting art into it.  

The interview involved two really great artists, Jane and Eileen, and they had a lot of wonderful art to share hung on the walls behind us.  It's kind of fun to market the arts in the community.

A nice group of folks.

Desperation Sketching

Teeny Sketchbook sketches:  I call these "desperation sketches".  

When it's too cold to sit outside (well, windy and 50 today was not my cup of tea).  BUT you need to sketch cause it keeps you calm and focused.  And you have use what you find in your purse.

Then you are forced to find something in the doctor's waiting room (so sterile and blah) to sketch.  You pick the handle on your husbands walker!  

And later the seat and brake mechanics.  

I know. Not beautiful.  But it's good practice for eye hand coordination and it's quiet ink-to-paper that feels meditative and interesting.  It keep the motor memory going.  And it works on spacial measuring.  Everything done here in ink...no pencil. So you have to make mental on-the-fly measurements.   

These, remember, are only 3 x 4 sketchbooks.  My teensies.

I used my PN Sakura pen.  

Taught my Zentangle class this morning and forgot to take photos as usual.  About 20 gals.  Nice group.  I had fun.  I hope they did.

We are going to have temps around 70 the week in Central Florida.  I don't think that's far from normal in January.  Hope to see a tad warming spell come February which is RIGHT around the corner.

Remember that Ground Hog's day is coming up on Friday...surely you have a gift for your loved one? Oh wait, that's another Feb holiday.  Sorry.

Off to see the State of the Union speech tonight.  No comment.  

So What's a Chop?

This Chinese set of "chops" was given to me by my daughter many years ago.  I have always adored the concept of having one.  The little boxes are adorable.  In China many artist sign their name with their chop.  They are made of stone and feel smooth and cool in your hand. (one for my husband too).  Tiny lions carved on top.  

If you do a little research and google "Chinese chops" you will find lots of interesting info and even website helping you find how your name might look in Chinese so you can make your own.  There are instructions also if you have drawing apps like Illustrator so you can design a chop on line.  

Apparently trying to find characters for a chop in Chinese is fairly random.  Sometimes they will try to pronounce your name in Chinese and find something that sort of sounds like it.  

For instance when shop keepers tried to write Coca Cola for signs in their Chinese shops the actual words they wrote translated to "bite the wax tadpole". Hard to imagine this sold much of the drink! Finally Coca Cola did research and came up with a better symbol which actually translated "to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice."

Okay now that sounds better. 

Chops are traditionally done in red using a kind of wax paste.  My set came with a small pot of the gummy stuff.  But I use red ink stamp pads.  

So below is my Chinese Chop to the left actually carved in China, a hand made larger chop I carved myself after looking it up on line and then below a tiny "chop" just drawn by hand made up of my initials "V and S" for use on my Zentangle tiles.  Maria and Rick both have tiny "chops" of their initials and they encourage folks to do the same.  I always do mine (see two versions) in black when putting on a tile so it blends in.  

TransZENding and TransluZENce

You can make small books by binding together Zentangle tiles too!

With this one I was trying out the tangle "Surf's Up".  It makes a nice frame.  

I thought I'd experiment with two techniques called "transluZENce" and tranZENding.

It's a little harder than I thought.  But worth trying.  You can find detailed instructions for TransluZENce on "A Tangler's Mind" posted Nov 5, 2017.

Here is the example by Lynn Mead that  I was looking at. She really nails it. I have a lot of work to do!  

The tangle itself above is called "Membranart" (found on blog of Tomas Padros).  The idea is to try to emulate a layer on the top of the work that looks like thin tissue paper (membrane).  

A version of the other technique called TranZENding is shown on Maria and Rick's Kitchen Table Tangles video.

I wasn't too happy with my first try but I plan to hang in there and try again soon.  

Going Tiny with Sketchbooks

Remember the "tiny" sketchbooks I designed this week? (see below)?  Well I decided to try one out yesterday while I waited for the food truck to prepare my husband's sandwich.  

We have a food truck show up in the community every Thursday evening 4-6 pm.  They have a pretty nice menu!  (not particularly good for Weight Watchers however). 

I am more and more discovering that the KIND of paper you are working on is more important than any other consideration, even size.  There are dozens of kinds of pens (and watercolors too) and the choices you make are quite dependent on the paper qualities. 

These little experimental books are done using Strathmore cold press 140# paper.  It has a tiny bit of tooth to it.  And it's weight is nice as you can paint on both sides and it doesn't bleed through.  

The size of the tiny sketchbooks necessitates that you decide on one object or one portion of an object or an unclose version of something.  It's also nice as it is surely not intimidating! 

Autumn says to remind everyone that there are different sizes and colors of spiral bindings you can use.  My machine is very inexpensive one and does not offer too many "kinds" of spiral binding.  And Office Depot only carried white and black but in different sizes that accommodate different amounts of paper.

You can, remember, take your pages down to Office Depot or other office supply stores and have them spiral bind it FOR YOU at a very nominal fee. And you can have a clear plastic cover put on the pages.  

I may make up a few of these and offer them for sale in my sketching class in March here in the Florida community.  I am booked to teach a class in WI in June and this would be a good way for me to try out the syllabus and see how much can be done in two hours!  

Here's a good quote about sketching from Danny Gregory:

Three facts to write in the inside cover of your sketchbook:

1. Never compare yourself to other artists. Don't compare your first drawing to their reproduction in a coffee table book. Let their progress inspire but not intimidate you. Compare you to you. That's all that counts.
2.  You're making more progress than you think. You may not see it but it's happening with every page. Guaranteed.
3. Everyone struggles at the beginning. Check out early van Gogh drawings. Awful. Struggle is normal, inevitable, a positive sign that you are working things through. Your early drawings are zero indication of what you will achieve in time. Zero. 

Spiral Binding Small Sketchbooks

With the inspiration of Sketchbook Skools new "zine" I found an article about "tiny" sketchbooks I rather liked.  I do keep an accordion sketchbook in my purse at all times.  And this is "about" the same size...these are 3.5" x 4.5".  Because they are spiral bound, it will be difficult to "draw across the pages" but not impossible.

The cover on the left is "duct tape" and it is a nice sturdy waterproof cover.  The other is just a stencil (Christmas gift from my sister) but I can coat it with gel medium to waterproof it a little.

A friend gifted me with my own spiral binder machine.  

So I am playing around with some of the ways I can use it.  

I'll give these a try now and see how I like sketching so tiny!  You can buy tiny sketchbooks but some of them are VERY expensive!

Worth a try.

And it might be a fun addition to a watercolor sketching class to have some for sale for the participants?  

Urban Sketching in Leesburg, FL

Thanks to Susan who organizes our little sketching group called Fetch a Sketch Trekkers!  Yeah for her!  We had a nice group...maybe 8 or 9? at the Antique Store this afternoon sketching all over the place.  I took a few photos that would make some nice paintings.  

It was fun to be in the company of gently used old china and furniture and lamps and beds and clocks.  A friendly cat visited us as we sketched.  

I used my Stillman & Birn (Beta series) sketchbook and my Lamy pen with Lexington Gray Noodler's Ink.

We went to Blooms on Main for a nice lunch...yummy Chicken Tortellina Soup for me!  It was 80 degrees in Leesburg today! 

Diva Challenge

The Diva's challenge this week was to take a few everyday objects, trace around them and use that tracing as a string.  
(Tangle challenges end on Sunday night...I cut it pretty close!)

I used the tangles called KauriKunda and Lampions.

The tile will be a birthday card for my dear brother in law.

Urban Sketching (inside because it's cold in FL)

Been playing with some new pens. They become somewhat addictive.  These two are fountain pens.  A Sailor Profit is a bent-nib pen and the Eco is a lovely pen (clear so you can see all the ink inside) and it holds a ton.  The bent-nib is quite fascinating and as you can see makes a great variety of strokes.  

The issue now is to find good ink that is mostly water resistant.  Noodlers ink has been a go-to but on certain papers only.  It says it's permanent on "cellulose" papers.  So on some multi-media papers that are slicker paper...the ink never seem to be permanent.

that is a problem for washes.  

Below I used a micron which is a safe choice for the multi-media paper in this notebook.  We were at the car dealership today just playing around with finding out what a new CRV would cost.

Greg talked and I sketched.  Couldn't believe that a gentlemen in a wheel chair arrived with a clown nose on.  No body seemed to notice.  

On this sketch I used the Noodler's ink and had quite a time with the wc wash bleeding the ink.  This was Greg's Essential Tremor Support group up in the Villages.  There were actually about 40 people there!  

Manikin Part II

So this is my second try on finishing up my little manikin.  She needed something on her head.  I cut a little hat from foam and glued some ribbons sort of floating out behind.  I decided she would have white hair (I mean this is a retirement community after all).  There..that feels more finished.  

Sketching is Not So Much Learning About Art as Learning About Seeing

I am pulling together some of my sketching resources as I write up the marketing materials for the classes I am going to teach at the Woodson Museum in June in Wisconsin.  One is Zentangle but the other is WC Sketching.  

Information has to go into print months in advance for these sorts of things.  Hard to think of June in January.  (But if you in one of those winter storms you probably ARE thinking about June.)

I was actually surprised by how many books I own that directly apply to sketching.  Several are out of print now.  Precious books!
It will be fun browsing through them again this winter and picking parts that may be useful.  

I am suggesting an inexpensive option for beginners in the materials list. It is a Koi outdoor sketch box and it comes with a water brush pen (still collapsed in the box).  It's only about $10. Has 12 colors including white and black. I decided I needed to try working with this kit myself for awhile to see how it responds.  I never use white watercolor so I immediately tipped that color out.  In it's place I put quin. gold.  I have never understood why companies put white in.  White gouache is sometimes useful.  But not white watercolor.  I carry a white opaque pen with me in case I need some opaque white for something small. 

Once I put together the water brush pen,  I think I might glue in a few empty half pan cups in that area and add a few of my favorite go-to colors like "leaf green" and alizarin crimson.  The empty tiny pans are about 50 cents each online.  A little super glue would hold them in place.  I would squeeze tube colors in the pans.  

There are dozens of empty Sketching "tins" with little half pans to fill that you can find online now.  But if the students are brand new, they are not going to have the tube paints to squeeze into them.  We have 2-1/2 hours to do this class.  So things must be simple and quick.  

I am giving some consideration to teaching a "dry run" to this class at our community park here in FL in March when the weather is more consistent.  Speaking of which it is still in the mid 30s here at night in central FL.  Sunny and maybe 50 in the daytime.  NOT warm like we are used to!  Slowly warming.  We should be 78 on Thursday.  THAT is more like it.  

We are prophets of a future not our own.

I wish I could give the artist credit above but the little sketch appeared on Facebook awhile back with no clue to as to it's painter.  I liked it and I think it is well to post it on New Year's eve.  

I looked up the origin of the first of January as a starting point for the year and it is credited to Julius Caesar who re-arranged the calendar to accommodate it.  I never liked his choice.  Every teacher knows that September 1 is the beginning of the new year.  

But tradition wins and so here we are looking back at 2017.  Everyone will have something to say about it.  Anne Lamott, one of my favorite writers,  put out a column on her Facebook recently sending comfort to those who are starting their diets AGAIN.  

And we all know about those dratted "resolutions" we are supposed to be making.  

Many many of us found this past year to be a huge disappointment.

Not in the living and loving of our own, of course, but in the government and the tragedies of violence and weather.  Many times through the past year I've need to re-group and re-dedicate and re-think and re-shape and in some cases re-linquish.  As an optimistic person by nature I've had to cling to hope and prayer more than ever.   

So as 2017 draws to a close I'd like to share a prayer:

As the year draws to a close, a prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, written shortly before his assassination in 1980, offers this insight:

"It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

"We plant the seeds that one day will grow," Romero continued. "We lay foundations that will need further development.

"We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning . . . an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

"We may never see the end results," Romero concluded, "but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen."

With that hope and thought in our hearts let us set out to do what we can letting God's grace enter in and do the rest.  Happy New Year.