Is your Pen your Friend?
I love drawing with my pens and they definitely are my friends. Especially, the BLACK ones!!
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| Sketchbook Activity: A Quiet Spot on the Trail |
The feel of the smooth flow of ink on paper is very satisfying. It exciting to watch the crisp black lines move and dance across the page as my picture comes alive. It draws me in and makes me want to draw more.
I know for many, the idea of drawing freely with a black permanent pen is terrifying. I can certainly understand the feeling as I wasn't always a big fan of pens. Somehow that has changed for me and I hope with a few different activities (which I will post in my upcoming blogs), I can convince you to become better friends with your pen.
One way to get comfortable with your pen is to
draw wonky lines. This reduces the
feeling that everything needs to be precise. It changes your grip on your pen which also brings that sense of freedom to your mark. Adding to that we will be drawing things from your imagination. Again, the feeling of 'percisement' is not there. You will quickly get that feeling of the freedom in your mark.
Let me show you. . .
************** You can see a YouTube version of this blog which has more discussion on this topic.
How to Teach Your Pen to Dance
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| My everyday Mixed Media Sketchbooks |
- A sketchbook - Strathmore 8.5 x 5.5 Mixed Media or Canson 7 x 10 Mixed Media are my favourite. I use Mixed Media books because I like to mix watercolour with my pen work. Watercolour is your Pen's best friend and they are both happier when they work together.
- Some watercolours and a brush - a gray, blue and 1 other colour
Let’s get started. Part 1 -
Drawing
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| Lay out trees in pencil |
- Loosely place 2 trees shapes on your paper in pencil. With light lines indicate the trunk and branches. Focus on general shapes and not on the details. Now pick up your pen. Your are ready to rock and roll. Literally. With your pen draw a few rocks on the ground. Don't hesitate to pile a few up.
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| Ink in rocks and outline of trees |
- Leave room for a few bushes to go near the trees. Now draw your trees, filling out those loose lines from Step 1 to make a trunk and branches. Interlock the trees by having the branches of one tree go behind the other.
- Now its time for a few bushes around the trees. Bushes are just shapes and so use a few swirly lines to make bushes. You can have a few stems sticking out the top for single leaves or ferns. Have some of the leaves overlap the edge of the tree trunks.
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| Add some bushes around the trees |
-Now redraw the trees. Starting at the bottom, draw rows of wobbly lines up through the trees and branches. They can even overlap a bit. It your tree needs to be tidied up a bit, now is the time to do it. You can even make it fatter by drawing some of those lines 'outside' the tree.
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| Draw wobbly lines up through the center of the trees. |
Part 2 - Add Some colour
Like our lines, think a bit wobbly. The idea is to not paint everything, leave white spaces.
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| Add gray on the shadow side of the trees. |
- Use a soft gray to add some shadows.
Pick a direction for your light to come and keep that in mind as you add
some shadows. I have my light coming
from the left side of my painting. Don’t paint all the
shadows, leave a bit of white. Also make some darker than others. This is a random thing but at the same time, look at your painting and see what 'looks treelike'.
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| Add your sky loosely painting around some cloud shapes |
- Pick a blue for your sky and start painting. LEAVE WHITE SPACES. Paint loosely leaving white space and water
some of it down so there are lights and darks.
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| Add a bit of colour to the underbrush |
- Pick a colour to do some painting in the underbrush. I choose an orangy-red, I made with my yellow and red. I did some washes, leaving lots of white spaces in my rocks and bushes. (Don't feel you need to colour in the lines.) Then added a bit of yellow at the edges of the orange. When it was dry, I went back and put a few darker marks with the red. Notice I did it at the base of the trees to really draw attention to that area and to ground the trees.
When you are finished, stand your painting up and step back. What are 3 things happening in the painting that you really like. Why do you like them? These are the things you want to remember and try in another painting.
************** You can see a YouTube version of this blog which has more discussion on this topic.
How to Teach Your Pen to Dance
I hope you have a happy feeling when you review
your painting. When I look at mine, it
brings a smile to my face. It feels
good.
Try drawing a few more of these imaginary places. It really helps in getting to know your pen. I have a few more things you can try. See you in my next post.
Upcoming Events:
4-Day Outdoor Sketching Art Retreat in the Shuswap with Wendy Mould, hosted by Joanne Dennis, June 12-15, 2026. All inclusive: food, instruction, accommodations and drive from Lower Mainland. $100-$750 depending on room choices. https://www.joannedennis.ca/events-list/aventurasretreats/
Dates: Wednesday or Thursday, June 24/25, July 22/23, or Wednesday, August 5 or Aug 12. It is best to go 10-12:30am as the light is good for shadows. 6-8:30pm also works for evening sketching. Bring a lunch or small dinner to add to the adventure.
