@Aries M - what a compliment from you! I bet you could get good a drawing quicker than you think. Your high-level pre-existing skill as a calligrapher may transfer over to drawing more than you anticipate; it's all about the small motor skills, the willingness to practice regularly, and the eye for shapes. And it works in reverse too!
@Erica McPhee and
@AnasaziWrites and others can vouch for my learning curve on copperplate, in which I started off Inktober on pretty shaky ground, and finished the month with a passable hand, if I do say so myself.
Mike - Nothing is cuter than a baby cardinal! I'm tickled that you got a new ink trick from me! With the right paper/ink combo, you can lay down a field of ink, and then dip a nib in bleach and write with it. I use the "splashless" bleach too, but notice that its binder makes it go off faster than plain (you get a cloudy blob in the jar). I'm always flattered by your kind words for my drawings - that ghost ship drawing might end up being my favorite all month too though.
I'm really falling behind in Inkvent! although I follow along every day to see what beautiful work gets posted. Work has been crushingly busy. I'm in a new position from where I was this time last year, and it turns out that I'm also much much busier. And family life, of course.
Since I haven't been posting the last few days, here's my offering of an Inkvent/Advent story for all you pen fanciers out there: I tried to reciprocate the Inkvent (not really a) gift (since I ordered it for myself this year, but told spouse I considered it a gift) from my spouse with a fancy Advent calendar in return. Spouse likes jam! Got spouse the deluxe Bonne Maman Advent Calendar containing 24 limited editions jams + honey in tiny glass jars! Figured this would result in at least 24 days of happy spouse. Then the other night spouse caught me cleaning out the tiny empty jars, removing labels.... and yelled, "YOU JUST GOT ME THAT JAM CALENDAR SO THAT YOU COULD HAVE ALL THE JARS FOR YOUR INK!!" My friends, I am offended. Offended! by that accusation. ...
Although I will admit that the jars are essentially perfect for ink... As I often say to spouse, "How dare you! I resemble that remark!"
7.
Alpine (shimmer) - an earthy green with beautiful shading and chromatography giving out dark khaki green, mushroom taupe, celedons and robin's egg blues, robed in a silver shimmer. Pale blue reaction to bleach! well behaved on broad edge and pointed nibs. What an ink!
Alas, the drawing is not my best work. I overcommitted to this ridiculous drawing of Neuschwanstein Castle in the German Alps, and then I got really busy at work, and kind of lost interest in it before I really finished. Sometimes it just works out that way.