More Lamy Love...

As part of an ongoing project with my sketching group, we each made a themed journal which we are exchanging with each other over the next few months. I recently got mine back and was thrilled to have examples of everyone in the group's work. My most recent drawing in my journal is this little bird. The theme is "A Red Thread", so I drew this little guy and then pierced the paper and put a piece of red embroidery thread in his beak. My book is back out in the group again and will come back to me in a couple of months. Once it's full, I'll scan it and post it online.

Lamy Joy Calligraphy pen with 1.1 nib, Lamy Black ink in handmade Stonehenge accordion journal, 7.5" x 5.5" open.

Getting Back Into It...

After the intensity of April's Fake Journal Month, the last few weeks seem calm by comparison. I've had a few times out with my local sketching group with mixed results. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Historical Society Museum where they have a big outdoor area with lots of old buildings and equipment. This is my third time there and each time I've chosen one of the old tractors to draw. This time I decided to go for this old guy...a Caterpillar Thirty crawler. I love doing these detailed nuts and bolts type drawings. This old fella had a lot of parts missing and was resting in the shade under the trees, which means lots of leaf litter!

Way back in November, Marc Taro Holmes turned me on to the Lamy Joy Calligraphy Pen and the Lamy Black Ink after I saw his fabulous vacation journal he did in Newfoundland. Click through and watch the UTube video of his flip-through. It is a beautiful book! This Lamy Black ink bleeds in a very wonderful unpredictable way and works great with just plain water or with watercolor. I decided to work on this crawler with just plain water because he was grey anyway. In my Stillman & Birn Alpha 5.5 x 8.5 sketchbook using the 1.1 calligraphy nib...

Click to enlarge!