Pen and Ink landscape

This started out as an ink over to an existing watercolour that I did some time ago but I couldn't find my sepia ink and my pens have gray or black in them.
So I decided to make a new sketch just for the hell of it..

4 x 6 using Noodlers Gray, Micron brush pen with black ink and some water soluble graphite applied with a water brush.

Oh and a teeny bit of white from a gel pen for a few highlights :-)

The scene ?
I made it up ...

Winters Swimming Hole ..

Winter loves to go splashing about in the man made (or kid made) area that is a bit deeper because of all the rocks piled to stem the flow in the 'creek' that runs through our local park.
Unfortunately the mosquitoes love it too, so this was created from memory after we returned home.

Hand Bound Paper Co Travelogue 5 1/4" x 81/4" sketchbook

Pen, Ink and watercolour pencil washed with water.

Patrick was correct the Noodler's Black ink takes a long time to dry to permanence ;-(

Bunch of Keys

Sometimes the mundane can take on a life of its own..

Just a bunch of keys that caught my attention while reading Barrington Barbers book
"The Fundamentals of Drawing Still Life"

Another 'Oldie'

Last week Patrick and I talked about stippling while waiting for Doug at a local restaurant. 

I mentioned that I used to do some on larger works, and although it's a tricky method I usually liked the result

This one was is from 1993, we were on vacation with the kids and I was sick ;-p

We had a howling, overnight wind storm that took down a lot of branches and the morning found me sitting on the deck drawing while the kids helped the clean up crews.

The subject for this sketch was on the deck all I had to do was pick it up :-)

Alan

Apples ..

Thinking about the bowl of apples on the counter...
Thinking 'I should draw those'
Thinking, thinking, thinking...

Then I watched a youtube video on drawing (yes, apples) with water soluble graphite pencils.
So that was it, decision made !

A bowl of apples drawn with Graphite sticks and water soluble graphite.

Black and White ..oh yeah ..

Comments and critique always welcome.

Alan

Signs of Spring..

I was away in the wilds of Quebec this week, where winter still has a grip. Temperatures well below freezing (-14c) freezing rain and snow.

However back in balmy Guelph and while out walking Winter this morning I spied a cluster of snowdrops on a neighbours front lawn.

Using a bit, OK a lot, of artistic license and my memory I created this when I got home.

HandBook Paper co. Watercolour sketchbook 8" x 5.5"
Lexington Gray ink
and W&N watercolours

The greens got lost in the translation to interweb ('onest)

The Ruins III

Another rendition of the Ruins.

Close to the original sketch but on 'real' paper.

I think:
the Jack pine (the tall skinny one) has to go

the shadow colours are getting muddy

the background is too cluttered but I am not sure what to do with it..

Alan

Blue shadows and yellow sunshine

Recently I was chatting with my friend Constance, who likes to review my watercolour sketches. During the conversation she mentioned using blues for the shadows and yellows in the sun lit area's as base washes.

So in a quiet moment, which are rare now as we have a new-to-us 40lb Siberian Husky puppy who has to be watched constanlty ;-) ... but I digress...

In a quiet moment I sketched the arbor and the fast fading lilacs in our backyard to try out the technique..

OX - our Saturday destination

After wandering the riverbank yesterday we decided to scratch an itch, sketching some of the fine buildings in downtown Guelph.

What better place to start than our regular 'watering hole', OX.

I should call this "without before within" because as soon as we were done we crossed the street for our reward of tea and croissants / muffins. 
We are all creatures of habit :-)

Pen (Micron 0.05) and soluble graphite.

Alan

A good place to start ..

Goldie Mill - Guelph - June 28 2014

A good place to start...
I have had my photography blog for several years but in recent times I have reignited my need to draw and paint. This caused a confilct with my photography so I have decided to give it its own space.
Why 'Happeninks'?
Well in trying to find a catchy name for this blog I used Wordoid, a nifty name generator.

I knew that the majority of posts would be pen and ink sketches so I used the tags 'pen' and 'ink' and hit generate and 'Happeninks' was born :-)

My visit to Goldie Mill in June was my first En plein air excursion, my coming out of the closet day so to speak, so it is fitting that a pen and ink sketch from that day should be the first post.

I hope you find inspiration here and return often to see where I have been, what I have been up to and where I am going with this...

Alan