Pen Plotter & Watercolor Dailies - Week Three

Introduction

I have continued to enjoy my daily practice working with my pen plotter and watercolor process. I would like to continue the daily practice this week. However, I am starting to feel more unsure of where to go next in terms of further exploring the process I have been working on (at least within the tentative bounds that I’ve established so far for what the process “is”).

With that in mind, one option would be to explore a variant that feels like something wholly new and different. I’ve identified several candidate directions.While this could be fun and motivating, I think I will resist the temptation for at least another week. Part of the goal of this daily experiment has been to explore the groundedness and satisfaction that emerges from sticking with a single idea, and practicing it regularly. So, let’s continue working on the current process this week and see what happens.

Day 1 (Sunday)

Today I am feeling motivated to do something working with primarily the blue-black ink and perhaps exploring some more varied textural options using the other mark-making tools.I always want more and more layers, so that will be part of the updating.

Here is today’s result:

I did wind up learning some new things. Most interestingly, I did try a few layers where I dipped the fountain pen in isopropyl alcohol. This created an intersting effect on the page, repelling a top layer of pigment near where the marks were being made. This is definitely something I would like to explore further in the future. Additionally, i did a few more layers than I have previously using different colors of the watercolor pencils. These came out okay, though I am not sure they blend as well as I would like.

Later in the day, I did some more experiments with dipping in alcohol. I think there’s a lot more potential to explore this kind of process:

The latter image here involved tracing shapes with alcohol in a water wash and then placing wet pigment into the wet inside, using the alcohol as a barrier. I think there’s a lot more to try with this.

Day 2 (Monday)

Today’s result:

Never too sure about these when they come off the board. I worry that these are getting overworked, or are too muddy. Or is that part of the interest of them, all the mixing on the page? Maybe I will try approaching from a different direction tomorrow.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

Today’s intentions for the piece are two-fold:

1. I am drawing on a palette inspired by the flowers Elspeth got me.
2. Partly related to (1), I will focus mainly on watercolor, and perhaps watercolor pencils, since I don’t have much ink that matches this palette well. Something that could be fruitful is exploring watercolor pencils in earlier layers of the mix. I can also explore some different technique variants with these.

Here is the result:

I am not too psyched on the output today, but it was a good experiment. In general, I think with this palette it’s difficult to accomplish some of the features of these pieces that I like. For example, I don’t have any ink that really fits in this palette, so I can’t really do any machine drawing that bleeds in with the washes. The watercolor pencils can make some nice marks, but also are difficult to blend in this application in the way I would like. I think it would be interesting to explore using these pencils in different ways – e.g. applying them more densly and then going back in with water to blend them.

I also found myself wanting a tool for richer mark-making in white, since my white pencil did not make much impact here. I have some pastels to try but I am not set up for them just yet. Maybe something to explore in the future.

In general, I think I didn’t feel fully present with the piece today for various reasons and I think that that is part of my dissatisfaction. Satisfcation for me seems to come mainly in line with the extent of my attention, care, and groundedness in doing something. I do think this filters into the work output too, but that’s mostly secondary.

Day 4 (Wednesday)

Today’s experiment involves some new, extremely overpriced Arches watercolor paper. The new paper is 300 lb paper, which is significantly heavier than the 140 lb paper I have been working with so far. I wanted to try the heavier paper since I have been dealing with a fair amount of bending and buckling with the paper I have been using.

Since the new paper also comes in a larger size (9x12”), I am also going to be bold and try something in a somewhat larger size. In terms of color, I will stick to my fountain pen inks – mainly the orange and the blue-black.

Here is the result:

Today’s experiment went in a different direction than what I initially expected. I am not sure how much I like the result visually, but I do feel that I learned some new things.

• I liked the burnt orange on its own that I began with, but not particularly the way it combined with the blue-black ink. In retrospect this makes sense, but I had to try it to see.
• I learned more about working with the watercolor pencils for mark-making. I tried wetting the tips of the pencils with a bit of water before and during plotting, which creates a more saturated and interesting mark.
• I think it might have been interesting to go in with a darker inked fountain pen before going directly with the dark ink wash or watercolor pencil. In general, I want to return to working with ink in the fountain pen at least sometimes.
• I did like working with the larger and heavier paper, but there is some calibration required in terms of finding the right amount of water and brush for the larger space and more absorbent paper.

In general, I do think that the uncertainty in this process is part of what makes it interesting. I can begin with some intention, but then things can go in a different direction than I expected, and I have to adapt to that and see where the piece wants to go. There is a real flexibility and willingness to be bold and take risks required.

Day 5 (Thursday)

Today, I think, we return to basics. The ink that started all of this. The goal is to be fully present with the process of it all, how each intervention makes me feel. Here is the result:

The new paper and scale really is different. There is more texture to the paper, which reveals itself on ink-heavy bleeds. But also it is very easy to blend out edges on this paper, particularly with the nicer brush that I am using. I think this is good, but also I worry that I am losing out on contrast. I am not quite sure. I did feel present with the work, though not always sure the direction to move next. This is a feeling that is allowed.

Some reflections:

• With the larger scale, maybe we need something a bit more compositionally rich or varied. I can go darker in areas, but not blend it out everywhere. I think maybe that’s the temptation, which yields something more uniform in value.
• I noticed a significant difference between the white watercolor pencil and the other white pencil I’ve been workig with; the color is a bit yellower with the former, and also texturally rougher.
• In general, I think that the pencil layers are much more textured and visually-emphatic on this paper compared to the previous paper. I am not sure if I like it. I am not sure if plotting into wetter paper might help soften things a bit. But looking back at some of the previous pieces, I like when the white pencil feels a bit softer and more impressionistic.

Day 6 (Friday)

I am feeling a bit uncertain and perhaps uninspired in terms of today’s intentions. Again the goal is just to be present with the work, I think, and allow it to emerge.

Had some issues today with the plotter and had to improvise, but was still able to complete a piece. Notes:

• I prefer the lighter areas in the wash that I left yesterday; I should keep that in mind for future iterations. Maybe along with some warmer colors.
• Experimented with blending out the pencil marks in various ways, both yesterday and today. Can create some depth and variation by choosing to do that or not in different parts of the composition. I also paid a lot more attention to how sharp the pencil was in different moments, and intervened where appropriate. This has a big impact on the kinds of marks that get made, and the amount of texture.
• I added a very little bit of purple ink via some pen marking, but not much in wash except to tint some of the pencil marks. I like introducing different colors in this way.

In general, I think I am nearing the end of this area of work, and approaching readiness to try some different things. Tomorrow is the last of this one-week cycle, so I will reflect more on what might be next.

Day 7 (Saturday)

It’s the final day of this cycle. I am happy to have stuck with this daily experiment through three cycles now, and to have retained focus on what feels like a single idea or thread of ideas. I think today will be the last day working with this particular process (at least for now). I will continue my daily work, but orient in a new direction starting tomorrow.

To finish things off, I think that I will keep it simple today. My intentions:

• More with my blue-black ink.
• Keeping more open, unfilled, white space.
• Blending
• Flow
• Contrast
• Layering

As always, I also have the intention to be fully present with the work as it emerges, and be flexible in following the direction that it takes me.

As I was preparing the drawing file today, I thought that if I want to keep some more open space in this drawing, it might be helpful to add some reference marks which can be plotted in a light pencil before I begin painting, to show where the ink lines will be present or absent. I added them as ellipses in inkscape like so:

My thought is that this can help guide where I apply ink wash or not. We will see how it goes. Here is the result:

This is the end of the series for now. I’ll next explore some different directions in my next phase.