Diamine Inkvent 2022

[Zivio]

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[cw: pedantry] @Zivio
The drawing honors the etymology of "Serendipity" which first enters the English lexicon in 1754, coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to Horace Mann, as a reference to a Persian fairy tale known in English as "The Three Princes of Serendip" (an English version was published in 1722) whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of" [Walpole]. Serendip, (also Serendib), attested by 1708 in English, was an old name for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit Simhaladvipa "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island." /pedantry

So this is a picture of Danuka Ariyawansa, an award winning Kandyan dancer (a symbol of Sri Lankan heritage) from Sri Lanka
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Ah, this is wonderful -- I love vocabulary and word derivations, so this is the most pleasant of pedantries!     Serendipity is a favorite word/concept but I wasn't aware of its provenance ... what's not to love?

I've been busy with sewing projects and the usual handwriting practice, so I haven't taken time to browse the forum lately. Fortunately, I was alerted to this post via email notification of your tag.  Thank you for your thoughtfullness!

Wishing you full awareness of happy moments in 2023 and beyond, and great equanimity for the inevitable challenges, dear soul. 

~Karl

[Aries M]

@K-2 ill be posting soon! Ive been having a terrible time getting good photos of some of the inks.

I appreciate you keeping me accountable!

[AnasaziWrites]

@Estefa - I have a German colleague who is looking at documents in Sütterlin for her work in music history.  She's not familiar with the script, and the writer was a native English speaker who was living in Germany, writing in German, so there are lots of errors in the German text. Maybe I can refer her to you?

@Aries M @AnasaziWrites - and to anyone else still following along... Thank you for being patient with me!

16. Serendipity (shimmer & sheen) - a dark teal (teal! @Erica McPhee ), saturated enough to make shading a bit difficult, with some very slight hints of chromatography, bleeding out pale blue and pigeon grey. Red sheen and rose gold shimmer!  white-gold reaction to bleach!  steady line control with broad edge and pointed pen scripts!  What's not to like?

[cw: pedantry] @Zivio
The drawing honors the etymology of "Serendipity" which first enters the English lexicon in 1754, coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to Horace Mann, as a reference to a Persian fairy tale known in English as "The Three Princes of Serendip" (an English version was published in 1722) whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of" [Walpole]. Serendip, (also Serendib), attested by 1708 in English, was an old name for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit Simhaladvipa "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island." /pedantry

So this is a picture of Danuka Ariyawansa, an award winning Kandyan dancer (a symbol of Sri Lankan heritage) from Sri Lanka

Yep, still here, and following your wonderful drawings.

A little less participation from me, as I struggle to arrange a schedule that will move me closer to achieving my goals for 2023 and beyond (not all of which have been mentioned here--not really related to calligraphy). I really have to be more efficient in managing my time and diminishing energy.

[AnasaziWrites]

I'm back!  And while I will still be somewhat pokey about posting, I'll keep going until the end!

Great. Looking forward to it, @K-2

15. Pick Me Up (scent & sheen) - smells (sort of) like coffee!  A rich, saturated, warm dark brown with green sheen, bleeding out a gorgeous array of cocoas, salmons and pinks, with mint green haloing in the chromatography.  A white-gold reaction to bleach, decent hairlines on the pointed pen script, and good definition on the broad-edge scripts.

What a lovely ink to draw with! Check out the tonal variation and chromatography here! Despite having a brown base, it is not one of the "boring inks". I'm smitten! In consideration of the coffee themed/colored/scented ink, I did a drawing of the Kona coast - where my favorite coffee comes from. My aunt & uncle lived on the Hilo side of the Big Island, and it was always a special treat to get 100% pure Kona coffee when we visited them.

Very nice drawing--so peaceful.

Kona coffee is a favorite here too, but the cost ($50+/lb) keeps it from being a daily drinker.

[Estefa]

@K-2 Yes, of course – but I am much better at writing Kurrent than at reading it. That’s more in the area of paleography … there are services who offer doing transcripts, but I would have to look them up too. So I’m not sure if I can be of real help there … as it’s usually plain handwriting, and notouriosly hard to read even if written well, because of the many repetitive basic strokes, I have lots of trouble reading old documents too.

[Erica McPhee]

16. Serendipity (shimmer & sheen) - a dark teal (teal! @Erica McPhee )…

[cw: pedantry] @Zivio
The drawing honors the etymology of "Serendipity" which first enters the English lexicon in 1754, coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to Horace Mann, as a reference to a Persian fairy tale known in English as "The Three Princes of Serendip" (an English version was published in 1722) whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of" [Walpole]. Serendip, (also Serendib), attested by 1708 in English, was an old name for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit Simhaladvipa "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island." /pedantry

So this is a picture of Danuka Ariyawansa, an award winning Kandyan dancer (a symbol of Sri Lankan heritage) from Sri Lanka

LOL - you know my serotonin producers! . And wow - just wow. Your expression of Danuka Ariyawansa is breathtaking!

Also enjoyed the lesson on Serendipity! Fabulous!

[K-2]

Glad to see you pop in, @Zivio - I was counting on that being your type of pedantry!

No pressure, @Aries M - It's really hard to capture some of the special qualities of these inks, with the shimmer and sheen. I have the benefit of a studio set-up, but even so, you see how different an ink like "Pick me up" can turn out, if you compare my photos with the beautiful shot of that dramatic green sheen that @AnasaziWrites got in his image.

(And yeah, Mike, that coffee is a huge luxury. But it's the first coffee I ever tasted, when I was just barely a teenager in my aunt's kitchen in Hilo. That was back when it was almost impossible to get for any amount of money outside of Hawaii. I've essentially been disappointed in all other coffee ever since).

Thanks for your response, @Estefa - It's funny how you say you're better at writing Kurrent than reading it. I'm a specialist in Western European medieval paleography myself, and I specifically learn how to write the scripts because it helps me read them. It's the subject of the book I'm working on at the moment.

I knew you'd like the teal ink, @Erica McPhee - And I'm afraid my drawing didn't even use all of its beautiful shimmer & sheen features. But it's on my short list of inks I might like the 50ml bottle of when they come out later this year.

17. Flame (standard) - a clear, bright, well balanced orange, with a wide tonal range - from a fiery blaze in saturation, to a delicate peach in dilution, with some sunny tangerines bleeding out around the edges.  Good line quality for both broad edge and pointed pen, but hard to start from the broad edge Mitchells I was using. Clean white reaction to bleach.

The drawing depicts Yoshinori Sakai at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He was born on 6 August 1945, in Hiroshima.

[Estefa]

How fascinating, @K-2 ! Yes, it absolutely helps, even for a non-paleographer like myself, to write ancient alphabets in order to understand their construction. When I tried writing Secretary Hand for example, some of the letter forms made much more sense to me!

[K-2]

18. Olive Swirl (chameleon) - a spectacular, unusual, high shading olive green, with chromatography bleeding out acid yellows and khaki taupe, and a white-gold reaction to bleach. The star of the show is the remarkable chameleon shimmer, which my photo does not do justice to.  in real life, its holographic shimmer gleams with pink, silver, blue and green, depending on the angle of the light.

@AnasaziWrites got a terrific image of the ink's shimmer which should serve as the reference shot.  I'm merely here to add a drawing to show the potential for art purposes.  I let the shimmer settle to the bottom of the bottle for this picture, focusing on the huge tonal range of the ink, and fine control it affords for washes and glazes.

The drawing depicts the Erechtheion - the Temple to Athene in the Athens Acropolis, with its sacred olive tree, said to be the spot where the goddess Athene herself planted the first olive tree.

[AnasaziWrites]

The drawing depicts the Erechtheion - the Temple to Athene in the Athens Acropolis, with its sacred olive tree, said to be the spot where the goddess Athene herself planted the first olive tree.

A perfect drawing for this ink. Beautiful, @K-2

[K-2]

19. Silent Night (standard) - a dark, heavily saturated indigo blue-black ink with gorgeous chromatography, bleeding out violet, cyan, and smokey grey, with a clean white reaction to bleach. Nice line control for broad edge and pointed pen. Some hints of a dark red-black sheen in the most heavily saturated spots.

@AnasaziWrites is absolutely correct that "this would indeed make a nice dark night sky if diluted a bit" - The drawing shows the astrophysicist, Vera Cooper Rubin (1928-2016), who discovered dark matter, and after whom the National Science Foundation named the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.  They began construction in 2015 and expect first light pretty soon this year.

I'd like to thank @tiffany.c.a @Gary @Estefa @Zivio @Aries M @Erica McPhee for following along this late in the game. I really appreciate the support as I make my very slow way through the rest of the Inkvent calendar.

[Erica McPhee]

The pleasure is all ours. I’m in awe. 

[AnasaziWrites]

19. Silent Night (standard) - a dark, heavily saturated indigo blue-black ink with gorgeous chromatography, bleeding out violet, cyan, and smokey grey, with a clean white reaction to bleach. Nice line control for broad edge and pointed pen. Some hints of a dark red-black sheen in the most heavily saturated spots.

Portraits are, to me, the hardest thing to draw. Very well done. How do you come up with your subjects for these drawings, @K-2 ? Always topical.

[K-2]

Thanks! @Erica McPhee for your enthusiasm, and @AnasaziWrites for your kind comment about the olive tree & Dr. Rubin's portrait.

Mike - coming up with topical subjects for these inks is one of my favorite parts of the challenge! I'm delighted that you're not too put off by some of the borderline puns involved. One of my colleagues in the astrophysics faculty turned me on to Vera Rubin, whose discovery of "dark matter seemed to fit well with "Silent Night". My dad always taught me that the most important skill in art is paying attention to the world around you and finding inspiration in unexpected places. I agree that portraits are really challenging, but your support along with others on the Flourish Forum last year gave me a real boost in practicing. This one was especially difficult because the reference photo obscured her hand in a big shadow, and I had to reconstruct it from anatomical first principles.

It's MLK weekend, so I got a little extra time for a quick drawing today!  @AnasaziWrites has the best reference photo for the glittery beauty of this ink, but I'll add my drawing to show off the chromatography.

20. Arctic Blast (chameleon & sheen) - a remarkable, high shading cobalt blue with dramatic chromatography, breaking into aqua, cyan, steel blue, and hints of celadon. A blaze of red sheen and chameleon shimmer turning icy blue and sparkling pink depending on the angle of the light. A good writing ink for broad edge and pointed pen.

The "Arctic Blast" drawing celebrates the John Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon. At 400 miles, it's the longest dog sled race in the lower 48 and a qualifier for the Iditarod. The race starts on the last Sunday of January at Billy's Bar, just up the street from us here in Duluth, then runs along the North Shore of Lake Superior, through the Sawtooth Mountains, and finishes at Grand Portage, up by the Canadian border - it's named after John Beargrease (Makwabimidem in Anishinaabe), a winter mail carrier up in these parts who ran his postal route in a dog sled during the late 19th century. The starting festivities are always a blast with the cutest puppy contest, the ice sculptures, day drinking at Billy's, and a community that enjoys the winter.

[AnasaziWrites]

The "Arctic Blast" drawing celebrates the John Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon. At 400 miles, it's the longest dog sled race in the lower 48 and a qualifier for the Iditarod. The race starts on the last Sunday of January at Billy's Bar, just up the street from us here in Duluth, then runs along the North Shore of Lake Superior, through the Sawtooth Mountains, and finishes at Grand Portage, up by the Canadian border - it's named after John Beargrease (Makwabimidem in Anishinaabe), a winter mail carrier up in these parts who ran his postal route in a dog sled during the late 19th century. The starting festivities are always a blast with the cutest puppy contest, the ice sculptures, day drinking at Billy's, and a community that enjoys the winter.

This drawing one of my favorites in the series. Great snow, aurora borealis? Even feels chilly, @K-2