Brush Pen Writing Samples

Brush pens are fantastic for swirls and doodles as well as lettering and sketching. My small collection earned a bit of exercise this week with the Midori providing the platform. The birds were intrigued, but kept their opinions to themselves.

Assorted Links For A Breezy Sunday

Need a break from raking those leaves? Grab a cuppa, put your feet up and read on…

• Food And Drug Administration: Incompetence and More Incompetence (My rant for the week.)
• Yafa Tour and outlet items
• Nicole Duke’s Easy and Free DIY Fall Decoration
• Field Notes Leather Cover
• Jackson’s Art Blog covers an Inkophile post
• Anders Andersson: The Magic Colors (I had no idea how this would end.)
• Hungry Artist Will Letter for Lunch
• Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ lets friends know you’re OK when disaster hits
• 1-minute Microwave Quiche in a Mug (1 1/2 to 2 minutes for two eggs in an extra tall mug)
• Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project
• Could “Copenhagen Wheel” reinvent the urban commute?
• Draw Tip Tuesday – Lettering for your Art Journal
• How to refill a Pentel Brush Pen with Sumi ink

Another Simple Kit

My autumn watercolor palette has joined forces with a

• Platinum #3776 fountain pen
• Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
• Autopoint Twinpoint 0.9mm mechanical pencil (Two grades of lead are better than one.)
• Kuretake Waterbrush
• Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook (5.5″ x 8.5″)
• Lamy pen holder
• Two small binder clips
• Paper towel
• Staples Arc notebook band

to form a compact kit for writing and doodling any time space is limited or travel is necessary. The notebook band holds everything securely so I can grab the kit on the go. It also keeps the journal closed so the pages do not get damaged and bits I’ve tucked between pages stay put. However, if I want to play things extra safe, a clear, plastic zipper bag that formerly held a pair of new pillowcases, is the perfect size for the whole caboodle. Another option is to place the waterbrush in a zip lock bag so that even under pressure, no water leaks where it isn’t welcome.

The beauty of this kit is that it holds enough tools for a variety of activities from writing to drawing to painting and all sorts of doodles in between. I do like to be prepared. Do you carry a kit and, if so, what goes in it?

A Doodle Kit Because … Fun!

Does your desk have too much gear on it? Mine, too. Overrun by the bane of modern existence, my desk is cringe-worthy. It’s a re-purposed breakfast table that has seen better days. The surface needs refinishing and gives out splinters liberally. No drawers so everything has to fit on the surface. Covered with stacks of paper and all manner of electronic devices, there is little room for creative endeavors even when I dump stuff on the floor. Anything intended for long-term residency must have a small footprint which is one reason fountain pens suit so well. Being an inveterate doodler as well as a dabbler in watercolor, I have melded the two interests into something small, fun, and easy to use, my desktop doodle kit.

• small Cotman palette with some favorite Daniel Smith watercolors squirted into empty DS pans – colors that make me smile without mixing or fiddling
• travel brush(es) and/or daVinci Cosmotop-Spin Watercolor Brush no larger than #5 (smaller bristles afford more control but take up less paint and run out of color more quickly)
• wirebound Stillman & Birn journal suited to both w/c and ink – folded back to conserve space
• Pentel Pocket Brush Pen – original black cartridge or refilled with fountain pen ink
• large blotter so the journal can be closed quickly (J. Herbin offers a good one.)
• water jar with a lid (up to 8 oz) – start every day with clean preferably distilled water
• folded paper towel for drips and to remove excess paint from brush
• fountain pen(s) – whatever is inked

Extra tools:

• water soluble colored pencils or Derwent Inktense Outliner Pencil
• black felt tip marker – Sakura Pigma Micron 08 is waterproof
• dip pen
• quill brush or hake to lay in background color – sloppy, uneven color preferred
• shaped brushes like angles, combs, ridges, and shaders like those from Robert Simmons for extra variety

Pen and ink dominate but watercolor jazzes up the pages with wider lines and splotches. The variety of colors and comparative low cost makes paint an effective addition to a doodler’s arsenal.

These squiggles were made with paint fresh from the tube. Some colors were more cooperative than others and none were diluted with water or worked into the brush. I just dipped in and put the color to paper.

Key points:

• no paintings but lots of doodles. if something turns into a painting, that’s okay but not the goal.

• goal is to relax – not tax

• back, front, upside down – no limits

• words are okay but long passages should go elsewhere

• kit can be grabbed for off-site use – not a travel kit per se, but parts could be used for that purpose.

• a pencil cup to house the pens and brushes keeps the desk tidy

• not about color mixing but loading a brush and making squiggles so colors need to stand on their own

• no erasing – who erases a doodle?

• visitors/guests such as pencils and markers may only stay for a short time. this kit is for my favorite tools.

• on occasion dip brush in ink but not from the bottle – no contamination allowed

• 12 half pans (1.5 cm x 2 cm each) is like having a dozen pens inked

If you want to give this idea a try, the dozen Winsor & Newton Cotman half pan paints that originally came in my palette are for sale. You could tape them to a bit of cardboard or tuck them in a metal tin such as an Altoids box for an easy start to your doodle kit. I also have a slightly larger, new Cotman plastic palette with 14 half pans to sell as well as a couple of other kits so shoot me an email if you are interested.  Inkophile*at*gmail.com will do.

For inspiration try “Doodles Unleashed” by Traci Bautista. Also, Peter Draws and his journal.

#Quoteoftheday: “Drawing keeps the eye fresh, the mind alive, and the intuition nimble.” – Timothy Nero

— Pentel of America (@PentelofAmerica) July 19, 2013

Pentel Brush Pen Doodle Over Copic Scribble

A recent conversation about the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen inspired some doodling last night with an earlier test of the Copic Sketch Marker BG93 serving as a soft, sage background. I love how similar the use of the brush pen is to using a real Chinese brush.

Brush Pen Over Copic Sketch Marker