"White Ink"

My understanding is that white ink isn't really a true ink, as inks are always transparent and so white ink must have something added to it to make it opaque. Like acrylic binder.

With that out of the way:

I add light values to pen & ink drawings in a number of ways: colored pencil, gouache with a brush, and lately I have been trying some white gel pens.

I want a white I can use with a dip pen and brush, and so have been hunting for something that clicks with me. (Gouache out of a tube won't work well with a dip pen nib.)

The top "clouds" were applied with a No. 2 Robert Simmons Expression synthetic round brush.

The linear marks were made with one of my all-time favorite and most-used nibs, an Esterbrook 988:

Esterbrook 988 in a Koh-I-Noor holder.

My conclusion?

They all felt serviceable with brush and dip pen. I could make do with any of them if I had to. I think the Daler-Rowney flowed the best in the dip pen, And the cloud it produced has the most subtleties.

This drawing shows the effect of a dip pen putting in the light value lines:

 (I think the dark lines were a fine line marker)

Lincoln Park Zoo visit

I went to Lincoln Park Zoo recently to sketch. (Color on some of these was added at home.)

(various combinations of pencil, ink, watercolor and gouache.)

Stork standing over the nest

Kenya Crested Guineafowl

What I made on my summer vacation (2015 edition)

I went to Michigan City, IN and South Haven, MI this summer.

Below are the drawings and paintings I brought back.

watercolor & gouache

Lake Kai

pen & ink, ink wash and gouache highlights

My attempt at catching a fleeting light/color effect in the sky

gouache

A scaly-barked tree that caught my eye

gouache

attempt at painting a nocturne

watercolor

study of a wave

pencil

ubiquitous plant

pen & ink, ink wash and white pencil highlights

The sloop Friends Good Will, which sails out of South Haven harbor daily

pencil & marker

colored pencil

Roots

Tree roots, Monhegan Island, Maine

pen and ink wash with gouache highlights on Canson Mi-Teintes toned paper

Emily Oaks Tree

pen & ink and ink wash on Fabriano toned paper

12" x 20"

This was done at Emily Oaks in October during the Brush With Nature plein air event. It was accepted, but I didn't get it framed in time to have it included in the show.

Detail:

Michigan City Mullein

Wild Mullein sketched plein air while on vacation in Michigan City, IN.

pen & ink with white pencil on Strathmore Toned Gray paper

Fun With Pen & Ink

I have gotten back into pen and ink work again lately as I am contemplating doing another Lincoln portrait. (see others here, here and here.)

A beautiful gnarled tree I found in Bunker Hill Forest Preserve.

Noodlers #41 Brown ink with Esterbrook 788 nib in Strathmore Toned Tan sketchbook

Horse and Round Tailed Ground Squirrel from online references.

Noodlers #41 Brown ink with Esterbrook 788 nib on Rives tan paper

Michigan 2013

watercolor (with touches of colored pencil & gouache)

watercolor with touches of gouache

colored pencil

watercolor with touches of colored pencil

colored pencil

fountain pen and ink wash with white pencil highlights

We returned from our summer trip to South Haven, Michigan a week ago.

I was fairly prolific this year, and here are the results.

Abraham

A third (and final?) Abe

(other Abes: 1 & 2)

This was meant to have white gouache lightening here and there. I am now having trouble deciding whether to do that or just leave it as it is.

Daler Rowney Sepia ink on Canson Mi-Teintes paper