Cover to a birthday story my nephew wrote for my granddaughter. She calls him “My Jon”. (“Is My Jon coming to the party?” Etc)
Day 196 (Sat July 15)
A 365 day art project… one drawing a day
An actual grouping for a change. Daniel Smith, and my beloved Pentalic 5×8 watercolor journal, along with some of my favorite tea items… my tiny cup, my little stainless tea pot, and a ceramic sugar bowl.

Himalayan pink salt. And a mix of peppercorns. Perspective errors, but I still like them. 🙂

Yep, that’s my little pot rack, over the window.

A few of my best loved kitchen tools. I’d like these sketches better if I’d used a pencil first, but I used my new Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen (extra fine)Â and was determined to just quick-sketch them in. This was a fun page to do! Â I love this ink. And at under $10, the pen is worth a try. It uses Platinum Carbon ink cartridges, but the ink is available in a bottle as well. It’s a nice dark black, safe for fountain pens (or so I keep reading!), and waterproof!

Something I read suggested writing pages of your name to play around with fonts and lettering. I like my name, but I need a better one with more letters to do this project justice.

This page includes a couple of art supply sketches and a test of my fountain pen ink when water is applied. It turns out most fountain pen ink is not waterproof, or even water resistant, because properties that make an ink waterproof also make it likely to clog or even ruin a fountain pen. You can get a nice fountain pen for $25, but when some cost upwards or $300, I want to be sure I know a little about them.
I ordered Noodlers Heart of Darkness ink for my fountain pen because so many people who enjoy drawing with a fountain pen swear by it. I I like to watercolor over my ink so tested for waterproof properties. (only on two samples of paper). I found the HOD to be mostly water resistant on writing paper almost immediately, but I guess it just sits on the surface of this particular watercolor paper, because even 24 hours later it still bled. A lot. Disappointing. I’ll try it on another paper. Meanwhile, I’ve ordered another ink that I saw recommended by a youtube artist I follow.