Brutal Honesty in Ink

A short comparison of ink and charcoal.

There is something so honest about drawing with an ink pen that I love.  There is no room for error, so you know you are getting the artist’s direct, first impression.  As an artist, I love how it forces me to really look. You have to plan for the light spaces; they can’t be added later. It’s really hard to hide your mistakes.

My kid’s shoe, drawn in sharpie ink pen

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I have always traditionally been a charcoal sketcher.  (Perhaps someday I will post some of my charcoal figures.  I LOVE charcoal, even just picking up a piece and feeling the luxurious texture on my fingers is enough to make me joyous.)  Being a busy mom these days, it’s not very practical to just grab a piece of charcoal and sketch a little something quickly.  It’s so dang messy. But, I love it because you can get nice soft transitions and you can rub out what you don’t like and try again.  You can erase light into the darkness.

Tomatoes in charcoal, drawn in today’s drawing class with my kids.

Could not resist adding some colorful pastel. These are the last tomatoes from our container garden this year.

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In the end, no matter how it’s accomplished, it’s extremely gratifying to capture something beautiful, and to share it with you. Thank you for being here and supporting my art. 

Which medium do you prefer and would you like to see some charcoal figures in the future?

The kids and I studied Jean Louis David, Francisco de Goya, and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres today before we drew tomatoes and coffee cups. I hope you have an excellent weekend and thank for checking out my scribbles!