I was bored when I made this ink and brush drawing. Could be anywhere but looks more like a Starbucks cafe. I wonder what he’s staring at. Feel like that quite often these days. Didn’t really keep my verticals vertical.
Back in London. I bought a new Winsor and Newton Series 7 sable brush. It also splays when it gets wet in ink or water. Frustrating. I give up, this brush is not fit for purpose. Something must have changed in manufacturing. I’ll try and see if there’s an older brush I can still use, some of the bristles have fallen off my older brushes but they are still a sight better than the new ones. I got this one from Ken Rowley via mail order and it’s as bad as the one from Cass Arts. This rather quick ink drawing is of a couple at a Parisian cafe. Have reverted to using Winsor and Newton india ink here instead of Chinese Sumi calligraphy ink.
While sleeplessly browsing the internet at 4am, I found a photo of a man holding a glass in a cafe and decided to adopt the same pose for my study, but draw a somewhat different face, rather younger and better looking, but in the same clothing. Still sketching and drawing from photographs gleaned from the internet, just trying to practise my brushwork. Tried out the Kuratake Cambio brush pen for the first time, for the fine detail on the man’s scarf, and feel very satisfied with the fine brush strokes that the Cambio is capable of. However, my Winsor and Newton Series 7 sable brush continues to disappoint, it flares and splays the moment it touches ink. I may end up discarding this brush and getting a new one when I return to London, perhaps from a different retailer, in the hope that I merely got unlucky with a damaged brush from Cass Arts. Apologies for the uneven colouring, I did not scan these ink drawings, I only photographed them with a smartphone in poor lighting conditions.
I went to the Royal Academy sometime in the summer of 2019 to see an exhibition of Felix Vallotton’s paintings – ‘Felix Vallotton – Painter of Disquiet’. I was most intrigued by his humorous woodcuts and decided to make an ink drawing copy of one that I enjoyed. A shameless rip-off! Just for fun to stave off the usual afternoon boredom.
It is infuriatingly warm and it is also my birthday. In my bedroom in my parents’ home in Kuala Lumpur, sweating buckets and trying in vain to focus. I brought a new Daler Rowney sketchbook out here with me to while the afternoons away, getting back into sketching and drawing, and it was difficult to get started as I hadn’t picked up a brush pen in so long. My new Winsor and Newton sable brush was immediately disappointing; having just dipped it in water, then Sumi ink, the brush hairs then split like a fish tail. No idea if I just bought a dud from Cass Arts or if this is the result of poor quality control from Winsor and Newton. Really gutted especially since it is such an expensive brush. Anyway on the afternoon of my 51st year, I made a lonely drawing of a path snaking through a wintry wood, while sweltering in the tropics. Trying to make the most of an uncooperative brush! Happy birthday to me.
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