My sketchbook permits me to play.  Ink and watercolor, like children, are most expressive and creative when handled without restraint, when allowed to move and flow where they will, exploring new possibilities.

Eight minute ink sketch

Wednesday is my night to cook dinner.  A trip to Trader Joe’s resulted in a collection of great shapes, bottles, vegetables and fruit.  I couldn’t resist a quick (very quick)  ink sketch before chopping, slicing and pouring.  No time to fuss.  Capture the moment and move on.  Later, I returned to the sketch and added color, bright, juicy color, to the ink sketch.  I used Waterman black ink which runs, even after it’s totally dry. The running ink invites loose strokes of color.

Colorful table of bottles and veggies

No longer having the items in front of me, I added color playfully, mixing for value more than hue.  The result is a split-complementary color scheme, fresh and vibrant.  No, I did not drink the whole bottle of wine before I started cooking dinner.  Had I painted the deep burgundy color of wine in the bottle, the dark shape would have blocked the movement from the foreground to the background as well as camouflage and compete with the bright red shape of the table top.

Sketch: drawn first with Waterman Phileas fountain pen filled with black Waterman Ink, followed by watercolor washes.

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