As a displacement activity for weeding an attempt to ease my way back into gardening, I decided to try some brush and ink sketches of snowdrops, which had just opened that day. One of the great things about arty friends is trading around not-quite-right art supplies, which is how I ended up with a 120 sheet ‘Pro Art’ 9x12 pad of 50 lb acid free white sketch paper: Fran didn't like the tooth which I expect was to make the paper more versatile: the text lists charcoal, crayon, pastel, pencil and ink; interestingly enough, the icons immediately below suggest charcoal, crayon, markers, ink & pencil.

Higgins ink on 50# acid free paper, 9x12" (folded into quarters) made (probably) on 09mar2021; /LumixDMC-LX100/2021LX100/20210313LX/P1160843adj.JPG; minor image editing

So, of course, I've been using it mostly for watercolours;)

It works okay for watercolours, as long as you're working in a quick once-and-done style; what I like about this sketch is thinned, grey ink which to me has something of the sensibility of Asian brush and ink (alas without quite as much grace. Working on it.) Folded into quarters, the 9x12 size makes a nice notecard, and though the glue binding the sheets together gives kind of a yucky, unprofessional edge, now that I have an old-fashion paper cutter, chopping that off or a sliver to square up my imperfect folding, or enough to squeeze it into one of the many vintage envelopes I have lying around is easy & quick.^[1]

I was very frustrated with the somewhat crappy brush I selected: I have (somewhere) a really nice windsor and newton #4 series 7 sable, but ink is hard on brushes, so I bailed on the good tool and was frustrated thereby by the lack of a truly calligraphic line as a result. However, out of several efforts this one's not too bad; and I do love looking at snowdrops, which painting them certainly gives me the opportunity to do.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.