We are on a journey through another one of my small artist sketchbooks. As with all my books of this type, I take a sketchbook and fill it with whatever I feel like doing at the time. No planning, just enjoyment.
This book was done between August 2020 and February 2022, more or less (I date each page as I do it).
I don’t go through the book page by page in order, though in general the earlier images are at the front and the later ones following – but sometimes I skip pages and come back later, or do some other thing. No reason, that is just how I do it.
Let’s take a look.
Here’s today’s page spread. The first one is from a photo I took in Allentown, PA: the second one is a view from my living room into the dining room, with me standing behind a chair.
Here are individual views of the pages.
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
The choice of purple for both pages works effectively as a unifying element for the double spread but I also like the juxtaposition of the exterior and interior drawings. It makes me feel like I have moved through the walls to see what is inside.
Thank you. I often paint the pages in these books and only a long time later get around to doing something with them. Which is good, by that time I don’t have any preconceived notions about what I am going to do with it. I like the idea of the inside/outside ghost through the walls feeling you mention.
Wow I love the use of the white in the first one!
Thank you. I figured a black pen would not show up and I have a really nice white pen so I just tried that out instead.
This is my future away from WordPress filling my sketch books without commitment
Ok, I’ll aSK a question — sometimes I think I remember reading that you use acrylic inks? Is that how you get such intense colors? I don’t think I am ready for another media but if it’s ink and acrylic I can tell myself that it’s not new because I already use inks and acrylic. I had a revelation today that maybe I don’t like heavy body acrylic paint. So maybe I’d be okay with runny acrylics?
This is a big subject and I would suggest you look over the websites for Liquitex and Golden (two paints I use a lot of) as to their descriptions of the different types of viscosity and see what hits you. I prefer a thicker paint so I use heavy body. I do use acrylic inks made by a variety of mfrs, but they are a whole different thing from paint in how they behave, how they can be applied, and their appearance (they tend to have a bit of a sheen). The colors I get are mostly from acrylic paints, though in this post I used colored pencils and India ink and a white pen as well as acrylics. I think you just have to think about why you don’t like a heavier paint and let that guide you, and also, try some different options and see what they are like in real life.
I looked at the Golden website and maybe I’ll try one acrylic ink. I accidently have high flow medium and sometimes use that with the heavy body. I used acrylic for years, years ago. Not sure why I’m out of the vibe with acrylics these days but I’ll keep at it at least to use them up!
Your drawings are always so full of life – they’re a delight to see. 👏👏👏
Thank you. I never did much drawing in my younger days but now I really love it.