Sketching in Pen and Ink with Mixed Mediums and Humour

Working with Australian, Van Dieman's Ink

I have all the Van Dieman's Inks aside from the Hollywood and the Harvest series. I bought them while on a 40% off special which allowed me to have a wide range of ink colours at an affordable price. 
I tend not to go with sample quantities. 

All the colours I've used behaved exceptionally well both in fountain pens and for brush wash work. By having such a full range of one brand I feel I could easily mix any other colour I want—but for convenience, given how little time I have in my studio, I'm still buying other colours it other brands anyway. I will, settle in and do my mixes from Van Dieman's, in the future.

In my current inked-up pens I'm using Van Dieman's Leatherwood Honey, Bay of Fire's Red.
I have frequently used and love the Tiger Snake, Howl at the Moon, Huon Mid-winter Festival, Devil Black, Mountain Grey, Launceston Fog, Tassie Season's Winter, Styx Valley Forest Green, Pinot Noir Wine Red, Blackened Seas, Hastings Caves, Firetail Finch.

I love the original square bottle. I don't like the round bottle they changed to temporarily. 
I find the silver foil seal hard to remove from the bottle. It's not user-friendly for awkward hands. I wouldn't trust the round bottles to seal well if tipped over. It's too easy to cross-thread them—with older arthritic hands. I still prefer these bottles to another's tall bottle. The bottle design is important, especially with inks.
I like that ink spills aren't too hard to clean up if you get to them quickly. 

An excellent value Australian brand and excellent intensity pigments which I find I can water down to produce weaker tints.
The density of tone is important when comparing the price of a bottle of ink. Some other brands I've recently purchased, I feel are already greatly diluted—which makes them many times more expensive than their bottle price in comparison with the excellent strength of the Van Dieman's Inks. 

I found the Huon Mid-winter Festival, astonishingly dense in metallic effect. Excellent for writing. It flowed well on every start, and wrote fairly wet. I'd placed it in one of my more valuable Large Sailor pens, and left it in, using it fairly regularly for a month before washing the pen out. I had no difficulty fully cleaning the pen. 

There are other brands I love for permanence or a special colour, but for a basic set, I'd highly recommend Van Dieman's Inks.

I use my pens a lot, the two Jinhaos I purchased are bin dumps for me.
I've decided I only want pens with a top quality nib with good ink flow, plus a built in ink storage system, matched with a wonderful balance in the hand to reduce repetitive use strain.
If I only used a pen to sign my name, then the Jinhaos would suit me fine.
I agree, don't buy a pen for the name. If Jinhaos works for you, use it with pride. Nice looking pen.
I also won't pay more for a colour or trim. I'm after a functional professional tool, not an ornament, that's where Jinhaos lets me down.

It was my disappointment with the two Jinhaos pens I bought on Facebook that brought me here with a $200. (ha ha) budget to learn what I was doing wrong and to buy one good fountain pen.
I learned I was doing everything wrong, and to heck with the budget. I can thank Jinhaos for leading me to my new studio equipment. No regrets at the cost of my fountain pen studio in a bag set up cost. I'm putting it to good use.

Aussie Humour - Boots Gully

How could you not paint Boots Gully in the Hamlet of BASALT with humour?
You tae a diversion off the main road in the Daylesford - Hepburn Springs region to find Boot's Gully in the small hamlet of BASALT, no doubt named for the basalt quarry.

There are no commercial facilities there, just this amazing piece of Australian rural history. 

Painting Boot's Gully

I plan to exaggerate the boot colours.
I'd love to see the two tall narrow paintings hing either side of the larger one. but of course I'm not getting anything framed at the moment. I cannot get to a framer, and like you probably. I cannon justify the price of a frame, I spend all my money on the art supplies and art studio equipment.

I'm happy with how the works are progressing.

Boots Gully & Charlesford Mine Hepburn Regional Park to Banalt Road.

• Walk Length: 15 km
• Walk duration: 4.5 hrs
• Walk Grade: Experienced 
• Walk Style: Circuit

Walk Category:Day
Getting There: Car
Nearest Town: Daylesford
Walk Area: Central Victoria
Distance from Melbourne GPO: 127 km
Mobile Phone Coverage: Yes but coverage varies by provider
Walk Details Collated: May 2015
Walk Details Provided by: Federation 2015; Bayside Bushwalking Club & Great Dividing Trail Association

From the historical record  books about Boots Gully

Victorian Heritage Database Report BOOTS GULLY SLATE QUARRY
Location.
HENDERSON SPRING WALK BASALT, HEPBURN SHIRE
Municipality
​HEPBURN SHIRELevel of significanceHeritage Inventory Site
Heritage Inventory (HI) NumberH7723-0227
Heritage ListingVictorian Heritage Inventory

Victorian Heritage Database Report BOOTS GULLY SLATE QUARRY
Location
​HENDERSON SPRING WALK BASALT, HEPBURN SHIRE
Municipality
HEPBURN SHIRE
Level of significanceHeritage Inventory SiteHeritage Inventory (HI) NumberH7723-0227Heritage ListingVictorian Heritage InventoryHermes Number7900Property Number
This place/object may be included in the Victorian Heritage Register pursuant to the Heritage Act 2017.
Check the Victorian Heritage Database, selecting 'Heritage Victoria' as the place data owner.

Original trees in the area listed as Peppermlnt, box, messmate, gums, stringy-bark, wattle, l!ghtwood, cherry tree.

UljarOOk Forest, Wombat and Iusk Creek, Dividing Range