I made myself a bamboo pen today! I've been wanting one since seeing Laurelines lovely pen and wash sketches, and on Friday I spotted a pile of cut bamboo on a neighbour's pavement, waiting for disposal. So I guiltily sidled up to it today and pulled out a few sticks, feeling like a burglar (which we really had - 3 of - in our driveway yesterday morning - but that's another story). Dogs barked and cars slowed down, but I soldiered on - brought them home and searched for how to set about it.I found wonderful instructions and diagrams on Daily Art (mas o menos) blog, and his flicker site on exactly how to go about it. It isn't as professional looking and beautiful as his, but I intend to practise and make some thicker and thinner ones - I have enough bamboo for at least fifty. Mine is very green - easier to cut I think without it splitting, but I wonder how it affects the line, it will be interesting to find out. I had to try it out immediately, of course, so here's a rather wonky quick drawing of Johnny Depp - I'm not really an avid follower of all these celebs, but I found a magazine of one of my kids with lots of rather good portrait photos in it - something I don't manage to take myself very often, so I hope nobody minds if I do these exercises using them.
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5 comments:
Well thank YOU for the very detailed and clear instructions. Was dry bamboo not very hard to cut? And what did you use - a craft knife (called NT cutters here)as i did? I need to work on the reservoir bit - it does run dry quite quickly - but I'm so thrilled with it!
Well you are a clever, Catherine!!
I'm very impressed. I'll look out for bamboo now too - what an amazing plant - grows everywhere - and so many uses. (It's the latest in GREEN thinking here. So far I only have a bamboo cutting board. But I did see neat bamboo storage boxes in a favourite store today.) I think Chris would like to know how to do this.
Thanks to drb too.
Love G.
Thanks so much for your comments on my horse picture! They are wonderful. I am getting some great feedback. It's really helpful for me to hear from people that see the painting with fresh eyes. I totally agree about the feet, mane and tail, and I'm going to re-work it some. A mistake I think I made is cropping it too much, it's too zoomed. I think that is another reason the horse looks like it's going to topple...it's coming up so close to the right edge.
I love your work, I wish that I could let myself be imaginative, free and spontaneous. Your paintings are very fun and happy. They make me smile.
Have a wonderful day!
Johnny D should be very happy I think. Well done on the pen. I have made random stick ones from bamboo and other stuff, but they are always dip and splatter, so I should try to do it properly. I've had good results, though, with big feathers, just slicing through the quill at a good angle.
Using green bamboo, it becomes more stable if you let it stand in water or dry out for a week before carving it.
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