A blog about writing, sketching, running and other things
We had a “street party” at work in Arca, a venue in Tel Aviv’s Port, and I took the opportunity to draw a quick sketch of the place.
Schminke watercolours applied with a waterbrush on a Stillman and Birn pocket Alpha. Sketch done with a Super5 0.7 fountain pen and Rohrer & Klingner Lotte SketchINK.
Saw a little brown bird lying still on the road on my way to work. It was alive but appeared stunned. I gently picked it up and moved it to a large planter, away from the road and the cars. Came back later with some water for it but it had flown away.
Drawn on a Field Notes Signature sketch book, with a Zebra fine disposable brush pen.
I’m reading Daniel O’Malley’s “Stiletto” right now, and more than halfway through I still can’t figure out why that’s the book’s title.
Potato quality photo of a potato quality doodle. Field Notes Signature Sketch Book, Pilot Futayaku Double-Sided Brush Pen. I love this brush pen, but the fine side dried up, so I was forced to use the wide side (it’s called medium, but it’s a broad brush, don’t let Pilot fool you). A bit of shaking and doodling later and the fine side is working once again – yay!
I started my run a little after 6 o’clock, just catching the sunrise. I was planning on running a 9k, but the weather was perfect, so I pushed myself to run a 10k. I was rewarded by a pretty close look at a night heron, and some pretty nice river views.
I just finished the third draft of my novel! There’s another, short polishing round I need to do on a few sections that I added, and then I’ll start working on getting this in the hands of beta readers.
There were some massive plot holes that I had to fix and made for a challenging draft, but the overall narrative is so much better and tighter now, and my characters also grew in the process, so I’m very happy overall. It was totally worth the effort, though it was quite a slog to rewrite so much at this stage.
I went back and finished my sketch of the embassy today. I would have probably spent a little more time on it but I was eaten alive by mosquitoes, so I cut my sketching short. You can find the initial ink sketch here. As usual, I used Schminke watercolours.
Went on a 5k run this evening, and though the weather was hot and humid, a breeze kicked up in the end, easing some of my sweaty discomfort.
It was a big cloud kind of day:
Stopped on my way to take a few pictures of ducks and a night heron:
A young woman was sitting by the artificial lake with her dog, taking in the view and adding to it:
A hot air balloon made escorted me for a while:
Then rushed back, before it was too dark to see the path back.
Lost daylight while I drew this, so I couldn’t complete it in time. Will go back to I add watercolour, hopefully soon.
Drawn on a Moleskine A4 watercolour notebook, with a Sailor Fude 55 degree nib fountain pen filled with Noodler’s Lexington grey. This is the first time I’ve used the Sailor Fude pen, and it is taking some getting used to. Depending on the angle you hold it, it either creates thick, brush-like lines, medium lines, or extra fine lines (when flipped over and used upside down).
A first look at the new Staedler 308 colour pigment liners. The standard black ones are my fineliner of choice, since their barrel is more comfortable than the Sakura Pigma Micron or the Faber-Castell ones (Copics are overpriced, and I’ve had bad luck with them drying out).
I made a quick sketch of the vintage Parker ink bottle promo pen cup that I got at the local flea market. The ink spread a little, as most ink does on the Lebuchtterm sketchbook. Strangely enough that doesn’t bother me, and I still am a fan of these notebooks. The Staedler pigment liners are a joy to use, and their colours pop off the page:
Scanned in, you can see the ink spread, but also how vibrant the colours are.
All in all, I’ll probably pick up a few more of these once I get the chance.
Writing at Large 