It’s Inktober-Are you In?

Every year, people from around the world make a promise to themselves that they will work to improve their daily drawing practice during the month of October. They make an ink drawing each day and then they share the results on social media with the tag #inktober and #inktober2018.

I'll usually be posting my daily ink drawings on Flickr and Instagram. Go to https://linktr.ee/michelecooperart and select the link you want.


How about it? Are you in? Here’s where to get more information if you’ve never done this before.

For those who want the official daily prompts, here’s this year’s list.

In honor of the first day of Inktober 2018, I sat down at my drafting table in the studio this morning and drew a collection of my watercolor tubes, pans and pencils. All those in this photo are considered toxic, which fits the prompt for the day, "Poisonous".

Oct 1, 2018--Prompt is "Poisonous"

The pigments used in all media, watercolor, colored pencil, oil, acrylic, etc. may contain toxic materials. Most, but not all, of the toxicity issues are associated with heavy, or toxic, metals such as copper, cobalt, cadmium, lead. Caroline Roberts has written a comprehensive article about toxicity in artists' pigments here.

These are some of Caroline's suggestions on how to handle your materials safely:
 How to handle toxic paints safely

1. Do not use the same containers for paints that you do for food or drink. Well, duh, but thought I'd put it in anyway.
2. Do not put paint brushes in your mouth! Use a brush holder or a piece of kitchen towel.
3. Wash hands thoroughly after each painting session.
4. Even better, wear latex gloves whilst painting, or at least whilst using the toxic pigments. I hate wearing gloves but after researching this topic I will be wearing them. Simple as that.
5. Wear a dust mask if you handle pigment powders. Make sure it's the right one and keep it clean!
6. Do not have food in your studio and use covered drinks containers.
7. Since we don't want heavy metals in our rivers either, wipe up paints with kitchen towel and dispose of in the trash, not down the drain.
8. If you sand your paints at all (as an acrylic painter, yes I do) then wear a respiratory mask. Keeping the paint surface damp as you sand also keeps the dust down.

Author: Caroline Roberts

Shells drawn with a Mapping Pen

I'm still having so much fun making my daily drawings on DIY postcards! I like the Fabriano Studio 140lb CP paper for the surface that takes pen and watercolor perfectly for this illustrative style.

I'm trying out my new dip pen and Dr. P.H. Martins Bombay Sepia ink. The ink dries relatively quickly in this 82°F weather we're having. (That's the cooler part of the late morning this week!) So right away I can start painting layers of watercolor washes from my DIY Altoids Mini Kit. No smearing!

I found my new "rare" pen on Ebay

Now about the pen. I saw Ohn Mar Win using it a year or two ago, but lately she mentioned that it was her favorite and I can see why. I wanted a dip pen that I could take sketching and not get too inky all over. Look! the nib stores in the pen just like my travel watercolor brushes do! I also wanted a flexible niib. Voila! Thanks, Ohn Mar!

William Mitchell Joseph Gillott Reversible Mapping Dip Pen Holder with 659 Mapping Nib. The 659 Gillott Mapping is a delicate and flexible nib which can create fine and wide lines depending on the pressure applied. Suitable for most mapping and drawing requirements.

The Gillott 659 Crow Quill nib can be stored inside the holder to preserve the point. The nib can be replaced when worn.

Climbing Mountains and New YouTube Demonstration

Day 9 of World Watercolor Month
The prompt for today is climbing mountains. I think this phrase fits both metaphorically and realistically because it seems like you’re climbing a mountain sometimes while trying to develop your watercolor skills doesn’t it?

After our sketching session we looked over the results.

A whole group of us climbed to the outlook past Buster Brown field during my recent Watercolor Nature Journal Workshop at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. Along with the demonstration and my sketch of Rita already on the page, I added another little vignette showing the view below. I managed to indicate the bridge across the distant edge of the lake.

New Watercolor Demo on YouTube

I’m also using this sketch to fit the prompt of “shapes and colors” for day 9 of the FireflyWatercolor Challenge. The idea of the challenges sparked my creative  muse. I had just visited the North Cascades National Park and wanted to do something about that rather than a beach scene. (saving that for later, though). I concentrated on interlocking the mountains, lake and surrounding forest shapes in the composition and distinguishing them in atmospheric perspective through color.

If you would like to see a video demonstration of my process please visit my YouTube channel here. Give me a thumbs up if you like it!

After recording and uploading the video, I looked at the sketch with critical eyes and decided to develop the lower left c orner a bit more. See tomorrow's post.