One of the days that I was waiting for my hard drive to arrive it rained. I’m not one for sketching from photos but desperation will drive me to such extremes. My pointy device of choice is a very fine pen and I thought it might be an opportunity to play with pens that produce a heavier line and to use them in a more loose fashion than is my norm.
And so I did some quick sketches in a 3×5 sketchbook. Here are four of them.
Done with a Hero 578 ‘bent nib’ pen
Done with Sharpie ‘fine’ pen (not marker)
TWSBI Mini w/Platinum Carbon Black
Done with Hero 578 “bent nib” pen in about five minutes.
The next day I went out sketching and continued the experiment. I stopped to pick up a coffee and drew the car across the street.
Done with Hero 578 “bent nib” pen
I was walking along the St. Charles River and decided to stop and sketch these rudbeckia. I’m not much of a flower sketcher but this was fun.
There is a large water regulation reservoir along the banks of the river and I decided to draw it as quickly as I could. I spent less than 15 minutes on it, which is something of a world record for me when it comes to doing buildings. I found the format too small for a building with all those fiddly bits.
Done with TWSBI Mini w/Platinum Carbon Black
Hi Larry, I love these thicker pen sketches, they seem to have loosened up your hand! By the way I have been missing seeing you on the JAW Facebook page…
Thanks for stopping by, Valerie. I think most of the ‘loosening’ comes from doing these sketches so quickly and avoiding any details. I guess I don’t understand what people mean when they talk about ‘loosening up’ as the same people that see it as a virtue also applaud details in sketches. I a big fan of your work because of that detail, in fact.
AJW has become an unfocused, general art group and I don’t have time to follow it any longer, though I do miss interactions with some there, including you.
Cheers — Larry