On Saturday 15th February 2020 I ran a fountain pen ink art for ten students at the INTRA Arts hub in Rochester.
The first part of the workshop was spent looking at several different fountain pen inks and learning how to utilise their chromatic qualities and behaviours on various papers and observing their responses to the addition of household bleach. So much from so little!
Using standard inks including: Parker Quink Black, Diamine Winter Miracle, Diamine Earl Grey; and, Noodler’s Rome Burning, the students learned how to create instant stunning chromatic backgrounds.
The second half of the session involved creating simple landscapes with dramatic chromatic skies on various paper backgrounds and observing how serendipity plays a huge part in determining the look of the skies.
The students used Troublemaker Abalone, Noodler’s Rome Burning, Quink Black, Waterman Red and a hint of bleach. The students who chose the Noodler’s and Troublemaker combination witnessed an incredible release of colours from just two inks! See below:
The final part of the session we looked at different mark making tools, Chinese brushes and automatic pens, blending Diamine sheening and shimmer inks together with bleach and Schmincke metal dusts.
HEY! If you’re interested to know more about how to use fountain pen inks in more creative ways – whether it’s simply to observe their chromatic behaviours, or, to recreate one of my swatch cards, or, to learn how to use them in watercolour painting, illustration and calligraphy, why not check out my online course or, even better, sign up for a workshop?
FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART 