Pen, Ink and Watercolor Wash Sketching.

The backing boards above show ways to mount the paper with a firm surface for the pen's nib. Plexiglas, Gatorboard, plastic Clipboard, or hardbound sketchbook.

Mouth of the Carmel River on a spring morning. The ink lines in the distance got a heavier wash than I planned and ran down the hillside. 8" x 6", Strathmore 400 Drawing paper, vintage Pen with mix of waterproof Platinum Carbon Black and water-soluble Diamine Sepia inks, Winsor Newton watercolor.

From a hillside in California, I can look through a eucalyptus grove to Point Lobos. 6" x 4.5", Lanaquarelle 140 lb. Hot press watercolor paper, Waterman Hundred Year pen with Noodler's Bulletproof Black ink and watercolor wash.

My poppies were picked along the roadside. Paper was first soaked in water, then slapped wet onto Plexiglas. Some of the watercolor wash was blocked in while the paper was still quite wet. Strathmore Aquarius II, 80 lb. watercolor paper, 11" x 7.5" (shown cropped), Waterman #7 Pink nib pen with mix of waterproof Noodler's Eternal and water-soluble Sheaffer brown inks.

On a flight to Texas in November of 2006, I cautiously tried out my first vintage eyedropper pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink and was pleasantly surprised that, contrary to warnings, it did not leak from the pressure drop on the airplane. Maybe I was just lucky. 6" x 4.5" (shown cropped), Lanaquarelle 140 lb. Hot press watercolor paper.

And sometimes I like just to sketch from photographs on a computer screen. They are luminous and nicely mimic being outside. We took this photo from the bridge over a canal in Venice.My sketch is drawn from the photo, but moves in closer to the overhead walkway and emphasizes the sunlit area in the distance. 4.5" x 6", Strathmore 300 Bristol Smooth surface, flexible vintage pen with Platinum Carbon Black ink and Winsor Newton watercolor.