Weird Gourds – Colored Ink Art

Weird Gourds – Colored Ink Art

by | Aspiring Artist

Oh, My Gourd!

I was in my local grocery store yesterday and spotted these weird looking gourds in the pumpkin section.

This is not a vegetable I usually prepare, cook and eat, but I thought maybe this time, as I wanted to add a drawing to my Perpetual Nature Journal, I would see what I could do.

Hello

Hi, I’m Alison and I call myself a hobby artist.

I am on a journey to get better at art and I’m doing this for self-care.

In a digital world I find that slow-paced activities which are creative support my drive for a slower lifestyle.

You can read about my journey.

Art Supplies

Get Your Stuff

I urge you to use the paper, sketchbooks, pencil, inks and paints which you have at hand.

I believe that artists already have what they need and there is no requirement to let not having the exact equipment I used to stop you from creating art.

No excuses here.

Look around and gather your art tools.

Specific Art Supplies

These are the exact art supplies which I used for this artwork.

Part 1 – Drawing the Outside

Perpetual Nature Journal

I added this drawing to my Perpetual Nature Journal on the October page.

This is the first sketch I have for October as I only began this journal earlier in the year in May.

Pencil Sketch

Once I had handled the gourd and rolled it around to find a good side, I lightly sketched the gourd out.

I used my favorite pencil which has a 2H lead. The 2H describes light lines on the page which are easier to erase later.

I took care to get the knobby bits and the color changes as patches as well.

Colored Ink

When working with these inks you do need to shake the bottles beforehand, but you also must wipe off the screw tops before you close them otherwise the stick and you can’t get the lid off next time.

There is an art to looking after your Windsor and Newton inks pots as well.

Yellow

I began with some Canary Yellow ink in my palette and thinned it down quite a bit with water.

I like to keep the paper quite dry and not add too much water, but it is a balancing act.

It seems I prefer to work with the wet on dry technique and not the wet on wet. One.

This opinion may change, but for now it is my selected method of working with colored ink.

Orange

Next, I added some Orange to the palette and dabbed it in where the gourd was much darker.

Green

The green was the Emerald Green to which I added a little Canary Yellow to make it more like a sage or olive green.

I watered down the ink mix quite substantially and then slowly built up the color after each drying.

Layers

I let this artwork dry in between and then added more color with a light touch.

Pen

Finally, I went over the whole drawing with a 0.3mm black pen to define the main outlines.

With this pen I held it loosely and let it wobble a little.

The pen part does give this a flavor of an ink and wash piece.

Part 2 – Drawing the Sliced Half

Hidden

After I’d completed the outside painting of the gourd it occurred to me to look inside.

I struggled considerably to cut this vegetable in half.

I tried my main straight-blade kitchen knife, but to no avail.

Then I got out my big South African cleaver forged from one piece of steel and heavy, oh so heavy, and I managed to push the blade into the gourd.

Artwork

Next, I set about sketching and inking the sectional slice of this gourd.

To be honest there were some interesting seeds in the main cavity, but not much flesh on the gourd only about half an inch of orange pulp.

yellow-gourd

Cooking the Gourd

After finishing the painting, I tried to cook with the gourd.

I had so much trouble chopping this vegetable up that I gave up.

The skin is so tough.

In the end I had about six one-inch cubes of flesh which I added to the pan with my other roast red potatoes, onions and other vegetables which I was cooking that night.

A gourd is not a vegetable that I am likely to buy to consume again.

However, I am likely to buy them for still-life autumnal center pieces which I love to create and draw.

You can see this year’s Seasonal Art Group story here.

Aspiring Artist Activity

Vegetables

This is an activity which can be done by anyone who has vegetable, which I’m assuming is everyone.

Get the kids involved as well.

Find a knobby vegetable that is interesting, perhaps with multiple colors or is a weird shape, which you want to draw.

In your Perpetual Nature Journal and on the appropriate month’s page please do the following:

 

  • On the appropriate month’s section find a suitable page.
  • Draw a light pencil sketch and remember that we are not engraving.
  • Color in or wash with watercolor, colored ink or your favorite art medium.
  • Pen over to add definition to your artwork.
  • Write the name of the plant in pen below.
  • Sign and date somewhere near the bottom left.

Reflection

Daily Life

This is not the most exciting painting you are likely to create.

Rather, it is a part of paying attention to the world around you and noting the details that go in to make up daily life.

Sketch Journal

This sort of activity can also be created in your sketch journal as a drawing about your day.

If you are the sort of artist who constantly draws your coffee cup in your sketch journal, then doing a gourd will spice things up a little.

Celebrate Seasonal Changes

Celebrate the changing seasons with this type of painting.

It could be a part of your Phenology Wheel as well where you observe nature around you and, during Autumn, the fruits and vegetables ripening into maturity.

Thank You

Thank you for spending part of your day with me.

Love,

Alison

Alison Hazel

Author Bio

Alison Hazel is a woman who shares her ongoing journey about becoming an artist later in life. She creates simple art that anyone can make. She hopes to inspire you to reach your creative potential in the area that suits you.

Read more about Alison’s story.

Send Alison a quick message.

More Articles

If you enjoyed this post then you may love some more articles from our blog.

Sketchbook Flip Through

Sketchbook Flip Through

,

Sketchbook Flip Through Abstract Sketchbook Welcome to the vibrant realm of my latest abstract sketchbook, where colors and shapes intertwine in a dance of imagination. In this flip through, we will embark on a journey through abstract art, a world where the ordinary...

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Sketching English Bay Beach, Vancouver

Sketching English Bay Beach, Vancouver

by | Art for Self-care

Introduction

This week I went down to English Bay in Vancouver to do some sketching.

I was down there rather early around 9:00am because it promised to be a scorching day and I knew that the beach would fill up soon with people enjoying the good weather.

With coffee and a sandwich and sat on one of the benches on the promenade.

The seagulls were cawing and kids were playing and screaming in the surf.

There were six to eight large vessels lining up to enter the harbor to the right. The ships to be just hanging on the distance horizon.

I particularly wanted to get the background mountains as they had very interesting shades of greys and purples through the haze.

English Bay Vancouver

Field Art Supplies

I took my A6 field sketchbook with me a 2B and a 2H pencil.

These fitted conveniently in my little belt bag and I had my phone with me as well, so I could take some photos.

I had my hat and sunglasses because it promised to be a really hot day this is now the middle of summer in Vancouver and the beach is a popular destination.

Loads of people were jogging along the promenade riding their bikes and pushing their kids in their buggies.

There were still the remains of the Pride parade ribbons which was the previous night.

This was Sunday morning.

Composition

I started to sketch out with my horizon line and then the edge of the surf. The sea here is very common at English Bay in Vancouver and the waves just lap at your ankles.

In fact, I’ve never seen a storm on this coast at all, but maybe that’s just because I haven’t been down there when it’s been raining.

Three Sections

Anyhow I did my sketch.

I divided the page into three horizontal bands with the sky, the sea and the sand.

I wanted to make sure to pick up the three distant mountains in the background.

On the far right there was the small curve of a cove which was slightly raised with boulders and had a few fir trees at the edge of the drawing.

There was a huge log of a Redwood tree that the city plonks on the beach for people to sit on and there happened to be one right in front of me, so I just drew it.

There was plenty of people on the beach, but I didn’t add them into my sketch.

Sky

I did attempt to show the clouds in the sky.

It was very difficult with just my pencil.

Clouds are subjects that I find challenging to draw.

Sea

The sea was mainly low flappy wave and I added plenty of little horizontal lines going across the page indicating the motion of the sea.

Beach

For the beach sand, I really drew many dots (and I think it is called pointillism) just to show the texture of the sand.

Although it was very smooth sand, it still had a grainy texture that’s why I tried to express it with dots.

Composition

The three areas on my page, the top, middle and bottom the top being the sky with the clouds, the middle being the ocean with the waves little horizontal dashes and then in the foreground the beach with the dots.

There probably are other ways of depicting these textures, but this is where I am in my art journey.

I added a signpost which I couldn’t read that was stuck in the sand.

Timing

I did enjoy the hour I sat at the beach. It was glorious fresh air, lovely sunshine and it wasn’t too hot although it was promising to be 28C degrees today.

I didn’t want to be there much longer.

Studio Sketch

When I got home, I made a cup of tea and took a bit of a rest.

Then I got out my perpetual nature journal because this is where I wanted to add this drawing.

To me nature is all the outdoors on the Earth where we live. It is the environment we live in and our relationship within it.

I don’t believe that nature journaling is required zoom in on one little ladybug or a leaf, it can certainly be the landscape around us as well.

With my 2H pencil I just sketched out in the bottom right hand of my August page in my perpetual nature journal.

I sketched out the main structures in this drawing.

I then went over it with a 0.5mm black pen just to give the shapes some form.

Colored Ink

As I am continuing to work with my Windsor and Newton drawing inks as my current favorite medium, I wanted to once more practice working with them.

I used my inks to colour in the sea, the trees, the mountains and the beach.

I was very aware of watering these inks down.

Inks are unforgiving and once you’ve laid them on the page you really can’t move the color.

In this way inks are not at all like watercolors.

I used a very small brush, I think it was a number 4 and slowly added the impression of the landscape that I was drawing.

Black and Grey Pen

After leaving it to dry I went back in with my black pen.

I also had a grey pen just to add some textures to the log to the sand to the water and to the trees in the distance.

Improvement as an Artist

I would like to be a better artist.

Style

I know that if I keep practicing, I probably will be better, but the art I can do today is the best I can do.

I would love to be able to do a pond of waterlilies like Monet, just for the hint of the image in the painting and I do admire his work.

I’m also a huge fan of Van Gogh’s work with all his many brushstrokes.

Hobby Artists and Colored Inks

At the moment I’m still learning art as a hobby artist.

I’m getting better with my pen work and I’m getting a little better with my colored ink work although that still is going to require a lot of effort.

This is probably the fifth painting I’ve done with colored inks, so I’m still learning this medium so very much.

Perpetual Nature Journal

The third thing I’m really starting to enjoy is working with my perpetual nature journal .

Where it becomes an ongoing journal.

This Year

It is divided into twelve months and each month I can do the drawing of that month within the page and date it for the year.

Next Year

Then next year in August I can come back and do another drawing and add it to the August page.

I do believe there is further potential for other types of perpetual journals and I’m looking into that as well.

I do enjoy doing these artworks.

I find it greatly meditative and relaxing.

I believe creating simple art brings mental clarity and this is what I’m enjoying as well.

Vancouver Art Map

Creating an Art Map

I have an art map for all the field sketching I do in and around my local area.

I created it by copying the map from Google and drew the outline of the coast on to a large piece of paper.

I plan to frame my Vancouver Art Map and hang it in my studio one day.

Sketch

I added this week’s art outing to my Vancouver Art Map.

The position was very close to where I drew the Canada Geese and the Inukshuk pen and ink before.

Clearly, I need to venture farther afield in my sketching life soon.

Aspiring Artist Activity

Take your field sketchbook, some pencils and an eraser and go out to a local beauty spot in your area.

Field Sketch

  • Choose a composition that appeals to you.
  • Sketch it out keeping it simple spend at least 30 minutes on this sketch.

Studio Sketch

  • When you get home crack open your perpetual nature journal and start working either in pen and ink, colored inks or whatever art medium is your favorite now. For example, last year I really thought I was going to become a watercolor painter, but I did struggle with it as it was hard. This year I’ve moved onto colored inks and I’m trying to work with this medium as much as possible.
  • Make sure to enjoy what you are doing.
  • Spend at least one hour on your studio sketch and finish it off the way you like.

Thank you for sharing your day with me,

Alison

Alison Hazel

Author Bio

Alison Hazel shares her ongoing journey about becoming an artist later in life. She creates simple art that anyone can make. She hopes to inspire you to reach your creative potential in the area that suits you.

Go here to read more about Alison's story.

If you want to send Alison a quick message go here.

More Articles

If you enjoyed this post, here are some more articles for you to read from our blog.

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Aspiring Artists

Aspiring Artists

Discover what it takes to be an Aspiring Artist and see where you fit in and call yourself and artist. Some mind shifts may be required.

Creative Projects for Aspiring Artists

Creative Projects for Aspiring Artists

by | Aspiring Artist

Creative Projects

Allow me to share with you how I manage my creative projects as an aspiring artist

I believe that being an artist, or an aspiring artist, or even a reluctant artist is a natural way to be.

Maybe you were brought up to view art as fluff and something that kids do.

Or perhaps you were programmed by your early home environment to believe that to be an artist is not a real job.

Personally, I was good at art at school and I had my first artwork exhibited at the tender age of nine in the local town library’s gallery.

At high school, as I scraped through maths, science and English literature I still excelled at art.

Yet I did nothing with it.

I could always draw and doodle.

The Middle Years

After school I found a job in an office, got married and had four hungry children, here I want to say, “…and a crop in the field…”

My life was busy with family, family, family.

Only when my youngest daughter left home in 2019, and my husband passed away, did I have time for myself.

I turned to art and signed up for a one-day Art Retreat at the Luminous Elephant art studio in Vancouver.

At this time I began sketching privately and then joined the Vancouver Urban Sketchers  group and went to a few meetings.

Alison Hazel Art

I created this website to showcase my sketches and named it Alison Hazel Art.

To start with I hesitated to use the word “Art” in the title.

I mean, don’t artists have degrees from prestigious universities and certificate and all that?

Who was I as a mature housewife type of scribbler to call myself anything “Art” but, I reasoned that I was an aspiring artist and I am on an artistic journey.

My path to become an artist is different to yours and the art I create is different to yours, but it is my journey and I’m walking this road.

Improvement

I hope to get better over time.

In the past two years I’ve accumulated some markers, watercolour paint, pencil crayons, acrylic paints from my daughter’s school leftovers, ink and pens.

Perpetual Nature Journal

In May 2022 I happened upon the Daily Nature Journal channel on YouTube and my direction shifted.

Starting a perpetual nature journal I began to relish journaling.

Discovering International Nature Journaling week (which is every June 1st to 7th) was another sign, I mean, who knew?

Last Half of 2022

As we enter the second half of 2022, I wonder what I will do next.

I have some ideas about personal energy management as I do seem to get tired easily these days.

Projects

I like to have projects on the go and the main reason to have projects is that it is good to have something to get out of bed for every day.

Journals

I began with Morning Pages like Julia Cameron earlier this year and I decided my Morning Pages needed their own journal.

I discovered that, as I had so many interests, I preferred to have a variety of journals. I’ve subsequently moved onto multiple journals.

Now, I have a journal for:

  • General life with a yellow cover.
  • A family memoir with a taupe cover.
  • A grimoire with a dark ocean blue cover.
  • An art journal with a sage green cover.
  • A crochet journal with a Wedgewood blue cover and a crocheted cover.
  • A perpetual nature journal with a black cover.

Sketchbooks

After struggling along with one A5 sketchbook where everthing went in, I decided that to have more than one sketchbook is a better plan and this works well for me.

Now I have sketchbooks for:

  • Field sketches size A6.
  • Field sketches size A5.
  • Watercolour size A5.
  • Grey toned paper size A5.
  • Beige toned paper size A5.
  • Black paper size A4.
  • Handmade paper which is 10cm square.

I do prefer smaller sketchbooks like A6 and A5 rather than the bigger A3 and A2 sized ones.

This may be because I like to finish each artwork in one day and I can do that better with a pocket sketchbook.

In a way, my art supplies seem to be breeding all by themselves.

Quarterly or Seasonal Projects

A quarter of the year is three months or around just under 100 days.

Quarters can be related to the seasons as well Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

When you divide the year into four segments it provides you with a good chunk of time to get something worthwhile done.

Some ideas for quarterly projects which I’m toying with are:

  • Making a large painting.
  • Creating an online course that I can teach.
  • Planning and organizing a weekend art retreat.
  • Writing or designing a book.

 

Monthly Projects

Mid-size project are my monthly projects.

In this section my creative projects maybe:

 

Weekly Projects

Small quick projects which can be easily completed in a day or two are my weekly projects.

In this category my projects could be activities such as:

  • Recording a weekly video for YouTube.
  • Writing a weekly blog post for my website (like this).
  • Creating a simple drawing or painting.
  • Shopping for art supplies.
  • Swatching my paints, coloured pencils or inks.
  • Tiding up and organizing my creator studio.
  • Attending a weekend art retreat.
  • Going to an urban sketching meetup.
  • Planning an art date with my daughters.
  • Visiting an art gallery in my city.
  • Going to the beach to sketch.

The idea is to have three different projects on the go at any one time and these are a large one, a midsized one and a small one.

It is enjoyable to be able to chop and change between three different ongoing projects.

Quarterly, monthly and weekly projects provide me with creative choices depending on my mood.

I don’t always have the energy for intense creation for an extended period.

If I’m honest, this is the reason I believe I, and you, will benefit from having a variety of projects on the go at once.

Let me know what you think.

Thank you for sharing part of your day with me.

Love,

Alison

Pin this image to your Pinterest board.

Aspiring Artist Activity

This activity is to help you sort out your thoughts and feeklings about the direction you want your art life to go.

In your art journal and, thinking about what you would like to try on your art journey, please do the following:

List

  • List three large substantial quarterly projects.
  • List three medium sized monthly projects.
  • List three shorter weekly projects.

Start

  • Choose one from each time frame and start.

In this way you will have three different projects to get your teeth into.

Now you will have a variety of activities to keep you going and you can start to plan the next trio of projects as well.

Alison Hazel

Author Bio

Alison Hazel shares her ongoing journey about becoming an artist later in life. She creates simple art that anyone can make. She hopes to inspire you to reach your creative potential in the area that suits you.

Go here to read more about Alison's story.

If you want to send Alison a quick message go here.

More Articles

If you enjoyed this post you may find more articles that interest you on our blog.

 

Sketchbook Flip Through

Sketchbook Flip Through

,

Sketchbook Flip Through Abstract Sketchbook Welcome to the vibrant realm of my latest abstract sketchbook, where colors and shapes intertwine in a dance of imagination. In this flip through, we will embark on a journey through abstract art, a world where the ordinary...

Perpetual Nature Journal – Canada Geese – Ink

Perpetual Nature Journal – Canada Geese – Ink

by | Art for Self-care

This week I went to the beach where the protected waters of English Bay laps desultorily at the coast in Vancouver. 

Just behind the foreshore and promenade is a well manicured strip of parkland comprising grass and flowers to enhance the nature beauty of the area. 

It is here that the Canada geese gather or is that flock? 

How many do you need for a flock?

Field Sketchbook

I had my travel field notes sketch journal and a pencil and the. 

The plan was to draw the sea, but I did quite a few sketches of the geese. 

Here they are swimming in the sea.

I’m not very good at drawing people and animals,so I thought it would be a challenge to sketch some geese for my new perpetual nature journal. 

In ink

Here are some pencil sketches I did on location at English Bay in Vancouver. 

Studio Sketch

Next, when I got home,I looked at more free images from the web of geese. 

I sat down in my creator studio and attempted to draw the geese again.

I tried to sketch a few poses. 

After three attempts I did one in my perpetual nature journal. 

Pencil Sketch

First the pencil sketch. I’m using a 2H hard pencil and drawing lightly. 

The back feathers have a beige look with white curved edges.

I tried to replicate this with my pen.

Pen

Next I went over the outlines with a black pen. 

It is the Faber Castell Pitt Artist pen in a 0.1mm nib. 

Black Ink

Then it got out my black waterproof Indian ink from Windsor and Newton.

I painted the neck, beak and legs making sure to keep the cheeks white. The legs have knobbly knees and duck feet.

Gold Ink

As I wanted to try out my gold ink, and I do love a bit of bling on my artworks. 

With a very thin brush I painted the back feathers in with shimmer.

Yellow Ink

For the soft underbelly I wanted a light taupe beige. 

I’d decided to water down some canary yellow ink with a minuscule dash of black.  

This was very thin and created a light beige.

I painted the underside of the fowl to add some dimension to the body.

Green Ink

For the background grass I blended apple green ink with sunshine yellow and thinned it with water.

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Naming the Birds

I wrote the Latin name for these birds Branta canadensis underneath and also Canada Geese.

Vancouver Nature Map

On a separate piece of paper I drew the map of Vancouver and the surrounding 10km where I live. 

The plan is to add a little icon of each Natur Journal sketch on the map in the place where I drew the image.

This will grow in the future as I really get into nature journaling.

Finished Artwork

I really enjoyed creating this nature drawing in ink in my Perpetual Nature Journal.

I’ve only started nature journaling earlier this month and so far I’m loving it.

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Sketchbook African Violet Ink Wash

Sketchbook African Violet Ink Wash

by | Art for Self-care

Sketching

This weekend I had planned to go to the beach.

It’s a short bus ride from my home and very pleasant to spend time there on one of my precious days off.

Unfortunately, it continued to rain which seemed to be set in for the whole day.

My original idea was to go to the coast and do some sketching of the shore, the seaside, and seascapes.

I’m particularly interested in the pebbles and what is brought up on the beach by the high tide.

Objects such as shells and seaweed are always interesting things to draw.

However, I decided to stay at home because of the incessant downpour.

African Violet

I have a little African Violet plant that I received around Christmas when it was first in bloom.

I’ve managed to keep this plant alive and even though the first flowers faded and went.

Now five months later in May I finally have the second bloom of glorious violet flowers.

The houseplant is quite a bit bigger now and the petals are larger and more prolific.

I decided that this little plant would be my nature sketch for today which I will do at home in my creator studio.

Not being able to visit the beach to do some sketching this weekend home sketching is the compromise.

Border

In my Leuchtturm A5 sketchbook, I start with a border on my page, even if I don’t stick to it, because it does help to align the image.

Pencil Sketch

Using a 2H pencil I sketched lightly to layout the subject and ensure that the main petals were slightly off center in my composition.

I added a few of the leaves for balance and drew some of them over the border which I thought would be an interesting thing to do.

Black Pen

I went over the sketch with a Faber Castell Artist Pitt 0.3mm pen in black and firmed up the shapes and main details of the plant.

Although the petals are smooth and don’t have much texture the leaves themselves are quite deeply veined.

Upon close inspection I realized how the curves were happening on these leaves even though they are quite furry leaves, they are still somewhat raised and pillow-like where the veins run.

I drew many of the veins on the leaves with the pen.

I could have drawn more leaves, but it seemed overwhelming and as there are plenty of leaves on the plant than there are flowers.

I didn’t want the greenery to overshadow the lovely purple blooms which are the main reason for the drawing in the first place.

Ink Wash

I had recently been watching a YouTube channel by Alex at The Daily Nature Journal about using botanical inks in his drawings and this inspired me to dig out some of my inks.

Not that I have botanical inks (not yet), I have normal inks, but I did have one bottle of Purple Mojo ink from Private Reserve ink company which I’ve had for years.

I dug out this old inkpot, shook it up and got out my palette.

I took a regular paint brush and dipped it in water first and put some water on my palette just a few drops because I was going to dilute the ink down.

It was serendipitous that I happened to have purple ink and I was drawing an African Violet. How convenient is that?

With a wet paintbrush I dipped into the ink and strained quite a bit of it off against the top of the bottle and then ran the ink into the water pool on my palette.

I mixed up the water and ink which dissolves immediately. The water thinned the ink down which is what I was going for.

Ink is not like paint where you must work the pigment, inks dilute rapidly.

To dry paper, I washed the purple ink onto my violet petals. I did end up with quite a few hard edges and thought that I perhaps could have wet the paper beforehand, but I kept going.

I painted a first light coat on all the petals and let it dry a little bit.

I applied a second coat of the same consistency of ink wash over the petals as well.

I let the second coat dry.

Finally, I came back with some stronger ink, straight out of the inkpot, and added a few dimensional shadows to the petals for interest.

I let the ink thoroughly dry before I moved on, but I have to say that with working with ink gets on all your fingers. It stains everywhere and I had to stop and do some washing up of my hands and the palette and brush before I went any further.

Markers

Ideally, I would have done the leaves in green ink, if I had any, but I didn’t, so I turned to my Faber Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens.

I started running the Warm Grey I around the edges of the leaves because they are much lighter at the edges and I did that for all the leaves.

Next, I took my May Green 170 and colored in some of the main bodies of the leaves.

It’s quite a bright green, so I was a little scared of that, but it turned out well in the end.

The second green I used was called Earth Green 172 and with this I brought more shadows and was running along the edges of the veins and enhancing the puffiness of these leaves.

I tried to work quickly with these Faber Castell Artist Brush Pens because the longer you leave them on the page the darker the color will become.

I went round all the leaves adding the darker shadows to them.

The fourth colour I added to the leaves with a light Warm Grey I 270.

I used it to blend the edges which had the light cream out into the mid green.

I just softened the color down a bit as the leaves seemed a little bit like a hedera helix leaf which has lighter edges and African Violet leaves are really not white at all on the edges, they are just lighter.

I continued a little bit further with the Earth Green just adding finer points along the ridges of the veins on the leaves until I felt I was happy with the work.

The little middle parts of the flowers which are super bright yellow I just added a few dots of Cadmium Yellow 107 in there.

I could have left those areas slightly larger as they did seem to be overwhelmed and crowded out by the purple ink

Background

Finally, I added a light Ivory 103 into the main background of the drawing excluding the border.

I felt this soft color lifted the image slightly without overpowering the plant itself.

I had considered creating the background in yellow to highlight the golden bits in the middle of the petals, but I felt it would be too harsh on such a delicate drawing.

Conclusion

I’m quite pleased with how this sketch turned out.

It was a challenge to work with the ink because you really must work swiftly.

In future drawings I will probably consider combining perhaps a purple and a blue ink to get different colours or something like that.

I do have other inks but they are metallics like silver and gold.

I do not have a red, green or yellow ink which I think I might need to purchase soon.

So, does that signal another trip to my local art store? Yaay!

Have a creative day.

Love,

Alison

Aspiring Artist Activity

  • Create a simple sketch of a flower that you have in your home or garden.
  • Practice using inks and thin them down.
  • Try to use one or more colored inks on your drawing.
  • You may use markers, colored pencils or even watercolor for the rest.
  • Get creative.

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Show your work on social with the hashtag #AHAinkviolets, so we can see what you create.