A brush pen, a puddle & forcing vs. allowing.
“Work with things the way they will let you. ”
That’s what I didn’t do in this experiment! I was given a beautiful (Japanese, I think) brush pen but hadn’t used it other than to see what marks it would make, what the flow of ink was like and how water resistant the ink was. It is almost too beautiful and precious to use but I plucked up the courage to actually draw with it.
I really struggled with it and here’s why.
I was trying to use the brush pen in the way I use a fountain pen.
The qualities of this lovely brush pen didn’t suit my usual way of drawing.
A good lesson in itself but I like to end experiments with an aesthetically interesting image if possible, simply to finish in a more positive frame of mind.
Not quite trusting myself to do any more with the brush pen, I took a photo of it and put it through a couple of photo editing apps to see what I could come up with.
A collage of images created from the original drawing.
None of these is likely to be used any future work. They did their job which was to cheer me up! They also serve as a reminder that sometimes, what’s needed is a change of perspective.
What I did enjoy: the weight and balance of the brush pen, its varying line thickness and opacity of mark depending on the pressure and speed used and the sensation of ‘flicking’ the brush in sweeping curves was very satisfying!
Nature notes:
There’s beauty to be found even on a dreary winter’s day. This shallow puddle had the most wonderful reflections of bare trees and patterns as the water moved around the pebbles and stones.
What I’ve been reading:
“The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. A friend lent it to me after we’d been talking about fate, choices and synchronicities in our lives.
What I’ve been watching:
“The Last Repair Shop” on Disney+. An exquisitely filmed documentary about a workshop which repairs musical instruments for students in Los Angeles. It’s extremely moving and uplifting.