An Ode to Gray

I've been thinking a lot about what we think we like and what, in truth, we do. For example, I have a collection of images that are grouped because I liked the colors in them. It is quite large, and I find it fascinating to open it from time to time and see how my color interests change and where I am at the moment (or was a year ago). Or what colors I buy or mix all the time - and then see if they end up in actual projects. And also to see some complete outliers or examples of I would never have guessed was my pick - but that is a story for another time. 

Recently, I noticed that the number of grays in the world around me has grown - there are more different types of gray cars on the highways, there are more grays in the house paint store and in designs that I see on paper and online. And in my sketchbook too! I am very interested in bringing textures and printmaking ideas into drawing on location, and I was tracking a particular texture in grays. It got exacerbated after I learned more about lithography and saw some amazing textures at the Ruth Asawa Retrospective this summer. So I ran a whole bunch of tiny experiments which involved lithographic crayons and tusche crayons, but also all sorts of grays that were lying around my studio. One of the things I was after was finding a solution that does not smudge, as graphite / liquid graphite does (think an alternative to tailor's art graph and possibly darker). I think I was able to reproduce the effect I was after, but it is probably too time-consuming for my preferred speed of working. Here are some of the experiments (click on the image to see it larger and read my notes):

Two Inks: My Winter Colors

I picked up a few new pens while traveling. One was a chisel nib with a lovely gliding feeling - I used it for sketching in Singapore quite a bit, thinking that it was water-proof - but when I tested it home I realized that it is water-resistant at best. Still - it's a joy if you like a quick and quirky line! I am thinking about refilling it with waterproof ink as a test :)

There were two fountain pens, both no-names but custom-adjusted by the owner of the famous Straits Art Store in Singapore. Andrew Tan (Drewscape - who has new Skillshare classes out by the way!) brought me there and introduced me to the store owners and we had a lovely conversation about art materials and urban sketching. I filled these pens only upon my return home because of all the travel and picked brown and blue-gray inks from my collection. One is De Atramentis Document Brown and another one is an old bottle of blue-gray, from an ink company that I cannot recommend but have some leftovers and will finish up before getting new ones. 

And these two colors became my signature winter colors! No matter what I draw (unless it is a crazy "on the go" situation like while moving my parents from one apartment to another when a ballpoint or a dry sharpie from marking boxes is all I have) my hand goes to one of these pens and other colors that I lean into are being curated by this pair. They work with each other, work with other materials but they also fly solo quite well - not boring but more austere. They give me a feeling of profound wintering.

Little things that I draw in between other things.

My sketchbook is populated by little everyday things: standing in line, fixing my pen, enjoying a fig preserve, choosing color palette, conversations with our nonagenarian, eating apples and looking at interesting seed pods.