Practicing Values with One Tombow Brush Pen

 Last week in my Drawing Practice class with Roz Stendahl, we began working with water media to capture value in our subjects.  The class requires us to get out in public and draw live subjects at least twice a week.

Knowing I would be sitting in a waiting room for a good hour one morning, I armed myself with a journal, one Tombow Brush Pen, and a Derwent water brush, and headed out.

Working with just one pen and the waterbrush felt loose and energized, and I think the drawing shows it.  I stuck with the brush pen's broad end, a fat thing, so I couldn't get--and so didn't try to get--fussy tiny lines.  And the waterbrush just let me smear around the ink that the pen put down.  It feels sort of magical and haphazard when I'm doing it.

I think the energy of it shows in these scribbles.

One thing that I didn't anticipate:  an insight and strong sense of gratitude about people and physical pain.  As my journaling note says, many of the people around me suffered some pain or were waiting for those who did.  Yet on TV, two reality "actors" travelled the world to eat the hottest food they could, thus putting themselves in incredible pain.  It was a weird juxtaposition.  And it made me very grateful for my continuing health.