Woodland Art

A short and quick post today, sharing some more ink and watercolour art I did in the summer. I was testing using my Sailor Fude de Mannen pens, using waterproof Write and Draw ink from Octopus.

Again, I used two different photos from Unsplash as references. I think not all photos are suitable for reference images – the lighting has to be right, there needs to be some light and shade (contrast) and an interesting subject or sense of place.

I’m very drawn to woodland and nature settings at the moment, though I do like to draw meaningful objects and still life (especially books and cups of tea!).

The first is a bluebell woodland study:

And the second was a zoom on to the woodland floor for a mushroom!

I really like this painting because I managed to capture the light on the mushroom.

These paintings are half page studies in an A5 sketchbook so they’re much smaller in reality.

What I love the most about drawing with the 55 degree nib Fude de Mannen pen is that it allows for a greater variety of pen strokes in one pen. It’s also a bit more expressive than using my usual Pigma Micron pens (though I still love them too). I’ve always loved writing with fountain pens so drawing with them feels natural.

I did a little bit of art this evening which felt nice after a long hiatus. I’m looking forward to doing more this month.