No expectation art, scribbled ink & Renoir.

Today I was scribbling on a piece of scrap card (actually it was a bit of packaging from a bar of chocolate as it was the closest thing to hand!) to get the ink to move through the nib feed of a fountain pen before changing the ink.

The scribble.

As you can see from my fingers holding the card, it’s a small scribble.

That dark arc in the bottom left was where I flipped the nib over to get more ink out in one go, wiping it on the card.

The cropped image.

I wondered if I could do something with it and digitally edited the cropped photo on my phone. This process is one of trial and error. I never have any idea about what I want it to look like and don’t analyse the image with thoughts like, “It needs to be darker/lighter there.” It’s more a series of very quick yes or no responses. I simply try lots of things until I stumble on something that looks interesting to me.

The final image.

Could it be an ethereal landscape with a bridge and trees against a twilight sky?

What worked:

• initially, I had no intention of making art!

• curiosity without expectation

• intuitive, quick responses

• stopping when I had my “That’s it!” response

Nature notes:

Morning star.

An inky, dawn sky through the attic skylight.

What I’ve been reading:

“Renoir, My Father” by Jean Renoir, published in 1962. This book was left on the free-to-a-good-home shelf in the mill where my workshop is. The description on the very grubby, torn dust jacket describes how Renoir had a wonderfully happy marriage and was “almost saintly in his goodness and simplicity… whimsically humorous and a charming and remarkable man.”

I’m reading it as an antidote to the horrors of the world news and it’s the perfect escape: an era of history I know very little about and such evocative and captivating writing too.

What I’ve been listening to:

“Illusionary Reality” by Liquify. Instrumental, psychedelic, stoner/prog rock by Tanner Ratcliffe who plays all the instruments on the album. Yes, it’s more escapism! You can check it out here.

From my sketchbook:

Drawing practice. I’d love to be able to draw reasonably realistic landscapes so I’m sketching to see if I can.