The tree is up, cards were sent, eight different kinds of cookies have been baked, and all of the gifts are wrapped. I’m looking forward to start cooking, mainly because it’s been in the teens – twenties here for the past few days and any excuse to turn on the oven!
This handsome gent is my father-in-law taken in the 30s/40s. He passed away in December, so Joe crafted this ornament, and he hangs out on our tree every year!
I continue having fun sketching with my Sailor Fude fountain pens — one with a nib bent at a 55º angle and the other at a 40º angle. I’m finding that the pen with the 55º nib offers a wider variety of line weights and would be the pen I would want with me if I were lost on a desert island. Hopefully that island would have a lifetime supply of ink and paper.
I’ve also brought a Rotring Art Pen which I purchased back in the 1980s back to life with a newly purchased ink converter filled with fresh ink. It gives a consistent line weight which is pretty good for ruling and filling in dark, cross-hatched areas. It feels pretty good in the hand, too.
Old and no longer available Rotring Art Pen brought back to life with an ink converter
I love figs, so a cookie filled with figs and walnuts was a no-brainer. They look fancy, but are surprisingly simple to make – roll out the dough, spread on the filling, cut with a pizza cutter, and roll up! They make a great addition to your cookie tray. Continue reading
Lady Frankenstein has some difficulty with her ancestor’s creation.
I am having a lot of fun using my Sailor Fude fountain pens in a couple of small, mixed media sketchbooks. Sometimes I have a subject in mind, and other times — like the drawing above — I go wherever my pencils and pens take me. I roughed something out in pencil and started to lay in the ink with my new Japanese fountain pens. The Canson and Strathmore multi-media sketchbooks I have been using have 60 pages, and I’d like to fill future books with inked drawings. Maybe they will tell a story — a 60 page illustrated story! It depends on where my tools take me.
I acquire a lot of vintage photos to use in my work. This little holiday gem is something my brother-in-law Brian picked up for me. This pair certainly had a way with tinsel garland, and his bow tie was fab! There will be another cookie post on Wednesday – stay tuned!
