Welcoming In Inktober!

October means Inktober!

Yummy! Dragon Chinese ink and ink stone.

Dragon brush holder and Chinese brushes.

All the supplies came in a beautiful red Chinese box set: ink, stone, brushes, holder, chop, red ink (for chop), and small water bowl. Found it at the flea market for a very reasonable price. I bought the roll on rice paper on line. 

I'll probably burn through the whole roll during Inktober just practicing! Maybe that should be my goal?

Kay's pet frozen fish...

Kay bought 3 goldfish for pets and to sketch in her lovely Chinese brush style, but sadly, they all met their demise within a day. So she froze them. This is the darkest one. Directions: Sketch before thawing occurs.

More fish:

What can YOU do with celery?

This month is Yummy Science at the North Museum. Today we played with our food printing with celery, lemons, apples, and a pear. The body of this fish was completely painted with a piece of cut celery! I used a brush to fill in the face, fins, and tail. (Acrylic paint in ProArt Sketchbook 60 lbs with watercolor background.)

Detail of Tail:

You can actually see the xylem of the celery stalk in the red print. 

More Fish Tales:

Art and Oatmeal with Georgia Blueberries: A Fishy Tale

While down at Climber's Run last Saturday, my nature journaling friend, Carol, painted a lovely rainbow trout with watercolors. I hadn't painted a fish in quite a while, so she inspired me to do one! Of course, hers looks perfect enough to be in a field guide! My fish are, well how should I put this, "different" as are my birds and my dinosaurs and my ____ (you can fill in the blank).

This turned out to be more involved than I had planned, way to much for just one bowl of oatmeal! The page had to be worked on during lunch.

The page was done with watercolors and Sharpie Ultra Fine Pen. There are a few sparkly bits that are iridescent watercolors. Those iridescent paints are from a very old Terry Madden watercolor set that my husband bought used on Ebay years ago. 

End of tail!

For more Fishy Tales:

Pennsylvania Fishes

These Pennsylvania Fishes are ready to paint. The top fish (Quillback) was drawn with a Stablio All Black pencil that reacts to water and the bottom fish was drawn with a 4B pencil.

Here are the fish painted with some very old Terry Madden watercolors that my husband bought used on eBay. These are NOT their true colors!

This is my favorite part of the painting - the head of the Bullhead. I can see different layers so I think that it looks like the technique that I have been practicing - glazing.

One Fish, Two Fish

Drawing fun fish inspired by Felix Scheinberger. These are ready for some watercolors!

I am using some very old Terry Madden watercolors that my husband bought used on eBay.

These fish are an exercise in the process of watercolor glazing! Maybe I need more practice!

This is another fun fish. This one was a practice in doing a watercolor wash.