geek birthdays!

I do love this one.

Pentel brush pen with Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolours and Faber Castell brush pens.

happy beerthday!

Pentel Pocket Brush, Winsor & Newton watercolours.

Today is my beloved cousin's birthday. He's a bartender and a bit of a hard-partying dudebro, so I made him an appropriate card. 

In a few days it will be his older brother's birthday, and that guy loves Magic cards and MMORPG games, so his card is going to be FUN.

Drawing objects: killing time or filling time?

Things I draw between projects:

Nothing cramps your drawing style more than not drawing. Usually I like to go through old mail-order catalogues or magazines, or rifle through my photo folders, to find things to draw.

These days you can find lots of things to draw on Pinterest, like vintage book covers.

Don't be upset or discouraged when your drawing doesn't come out the way you imagined. Keep drawing!

water under the bridge

More work for the merboy story: sketches and practice pages. Not sure whether I want to draw this story with brush or pen; the lines all have something different to say.

Dip pen and Noodler's Luxury Blue.

Dip pen and Noodler's blue;
Winsor & Newton Cotman pan watercolours.

Pentel brush pen on Canson smooth watercolour paper.

calligraphy: song for the dúnedan

I always see the second line of this poem floating around Pinterest, and more than one friend of mine has used a variation of it as inspirational quotes. It is actually one of my favourite poems, and has a lovely story behind it (...it's called The Lord of the Rings). So I wrote the full version down.

Parker Vector with medium italic nib, filled with a mix of
Waterman Green and Brown ink, in Botanicals notebook.

My other group of friends, of course, not only knows the story, but many of them also know that this is a poem that Bilbo Baggins wrote for Aragorn. It also seems to echo the promise of the first King who Bilbo knew, Thorin Oakenshield. But Thorin (spoilers for The Hobbit, if you haven't read the book!) was never able to achieve his own destiny. I like to think that Bilbo was thinking about his old friend when he wrote that poem, which adds a shade of tragedy that makes it more meaningful for me.

Additional nerdery: How much do I love that Tolkien created his own rune from his initials? 

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers in my life: to my surrogate mothers, nearly-mothers, mother-friends and motherers, and most of all to my one and only Mom...

Your strength and generosity have helped me become what I am today. I love and appreciate you with all my heart.

Happy Mother's Day!

some things I have been doing...

Here is a preview of some things I have been up to.

Sketches and drawings in various notebooks, with various fountain pens and brush pens, captured by iPhone camera and saved to Evernote for the most part.

Egg salad recipe

Whenever I visit my mother, what we love to do is eat. One of our staples! (Please forgive the scan; this notebook doesn't open very well.)

Noodler's flex pen and Inktense pencils in Winsor & Newton heavy cartridge sketchbook.

noodling and doodling: blue

Once you start, it's hard to stop. Some materials are very addictive.

Maped fountain pen, Speedball dip pen with C4 nib.

Brause 361 and Hunt 101 nibs.

(Here an aside: I have always been fascinated by the fact that Sauron chose to use an Elvish alphabet to write in the Black Speech of Mordor. Tolkien used this device wonderfully to show off the beauty that cloaked Sauron's darkness, something I think none of the media based off his work has been able to do successfully.)

Joseph Gillott 404 nib.

This sketch, while nominally an illustration for my merboy story, is also a little nod to a painting by Caravaggio, one of my favourite artists: The Inspiration of Saint Matthew.

Noodler's Bad Blue Heron ink in various pens, Winsor & Newton cartridge sketchbook.

post christmas

It's Easter, so naturally that means I can write about Christmas.

I forgot to post about the Christmas cards I sent out! Now that everyone has received them, I can show you my favourites.

They are a little haphazard, mostly scraps from Christmas catalogues, but that's part of the fun, I think. Mixed media on D'Arconte monogrammed cards.

Happy Easter everyone!