Inktober 2022

All of a sudden it’s October and time for Inktober. There is an official prompt list that is adhered to by many artists, however I have not found these lists to be particularly inspiring - maybe I just don’t like being told what to do!

My Thursday class has a couple of artists who are keen to do some intensive drawing using various mediums. I found a some seed pods from the Streiltzia Regina in the garden. This plant is also called the Crane flower or Bird of Paradise. As each petal of the flower dries, it withers into fascinating forms and after a while the black seeds with a fringe of bright orange can be seen. 

This became my inspiration for some Inktober drawings. I have used a few different fountain pens and varied the inks as well. 

My daily park through local bush lands provides interesting leaves and pods. 

T

Since re-discovering fountain pens for sketching and buying a Lamy Safari in 2011 (I have always had at least one pen for writing)I now have a rather large collection. 

Pens used for these Inktober drawings include a TWSBI F, a TWSIBI B and a Sailor Fude 55 deg nib. The latter is used for oriental calligraphy and has a bent nib which creates lovely line variations. 

Inks include De Artramentis Urban Sienna, Pelikan Smokey Quartz, and Standard Bindery Canyon Walk. 

Chiharu Shiota - The Soul Trembles

A wonderful exhibition at GOMA, Brisbane is coming to an end soon, so you should take to opportunity to enjoy while you can. 

Chiharu Shiota  is a Japanese performance and installation artist. She explores the perception of space to explore ideas around the body and flesh.

 

The Soul Trembles is a visual feast. I’m going to let the photographs of the installations speak. 

Across the River 

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The Burnt Piano

A Question of Perspective 

Inside/ Outside

Exploring Acrylic Ink

When you’ve been painting as long as I have, you collect art materials -  a lot of art materials. Visiting an art supply store is the best therapy. The lure of shiny new paints, brushes, sketchbooks, pens and pencils is very hard to resist. If you have seen my studio you would have seen evidence of this - many, many brushes, boxes of drawing tools, paints and sketchbooks. 

Many years ago, I attended a workshop which stipulated an extensive supply list which included a number of acrylic inks. After the workshop was over, I realised that the inks had been just a whim of the tutor - none had been used during the workshop! Now and again I’ve enjoyed using the inks, but since the workshop I had not done a deep dive into their possibilities.

A couple of years ago, I came across the work of Missy Dunaway. Here’s a link to her website http://www.missydunaway.com/ . She uses acrylic inks almost exclusively in a Moleskine sketchbook as a wonderful visual diary of her travels. 

Take a look at her Instagram page - it’s so inspirational. Now here was an opportunity to explore the inks more thoroughly. I took part in a couple of online courses that she offered through through Creative Bug and more recently a course offered in conjunction with Moleskine called The Travelling Artist. 

Now here was an opportunity to explore the inks more thoroughly.I took part in a couple of online courses that she offered through through Creative Bug and more recently a course offered in conjunction with Moleskine called The Travelling Artist. This type of work aligned with my current preoccupation with working smaller, and, more importantly the course was scheduled at a civilised hour for Australia. (Most online offerings take place as 2 or 3am AEDT!)

The 3 tutorials were two hours each over a period of three months - plenty of time to practice in between sessions.

Acrylic ink provides a flexibility not present in watercolour - colours can be layered multiple times, allowing one to edit and alter frequently.

I am, by nature, quite an impatient painter. I tend to paint and then rapidly move on to the next shiny thing. Missy’s approach is to continue refining and adjusting her painting far longer achieving wonderful detail. So this is a good practice for me, to push through and work on the detail. 

Windarra stream - acrylic ink on watercolour paper 

The Country Lane -  acrylic ink in Moleskine sketchbook 

Coastal Landscape - Tasmania - acrylic ink in Moleskine sketchbook 

 

Mt Wellington Tasmania acrylic ink in Moleskine sketchbook