Pen & Ink

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

There is something so basic that a pen provides. Pen and paper can go a long way. I do not need a pencil sharpener, and I seldom carry an eraser. Pen does not smear either. In fact, I have been at church services when the sermon gets really boring; as others nod off, I simply pull out my pen and start doodling. Before you know it ideas and images start pouring out. I can't keep up with the rapidly emerging thoughts that are evolving from my mind to my pen.

This is a drawing from one of my sketchbooks, back in 1993. Through the years I have done many drawings in pen and ink. For some doodles I have used such a basic writing instrument as a Bic pen. For other more elaborate drawings such as the one above, I have used technical and even fountain pens. Here, I used colored inks from a bottle where the pigment is really concentrated, with a brush to depict individual plants. This is a detail of an imaginary landscape. With a background in landscape architecture and hands-on experience, I have learned much about all kinds of plants and their growing habits.

Through the years I have evolved to using watercolor with black ink, which conveys an illustrative appearance. The pen provides the structure or perspective while the watercolor gives it atmosphere and temperature. In a future post or posts I will provide more examples, but for today I just wanted to talk about using a pen. So get busy -- because we all basically carry a pen with us most days. You will forever look at the world differently.