Here’s some recent ink wash drawings I made over the last week or so. I recently picked up a Sumie Ink Wash brush and was enjoying trying it out on some subjects close at hand. I often am painting in full color with watercolor, so working only in tones was a treat and very informative to me. With the Stones image, I found the ink wash behaved very differently on the 140 lb cold press watercolor paper than on the 90 lb drawing paper. On the heavier paper, it blended so nicely and moved through the sizing in very interesting and somewhat unexpected ways.

On the lighter paper, with the Flowers,the ink wash laid more on the paper surface with a more spotty, dappled light effect. I had to layer successive wash tones atop one another to achieve a greater tonal range, but very interesting still the same. What do you think? Any suggestions?

I often believe all I need are stones, trees and water as my subject matter. The compositional and conceptual opportunities with just these three are endless and continually inspiring. I find relief not to be thinking about buildings, but rather getting lost in elements of the landscape such as these. I spend a lot of time designing buildings and spaces. I look to natural influences like these stones and flowers to provide respite and renewal emotionally, creatively and professionally.