Notes about Ink

Notes on ink.
There are several main types of ink.
1. Water soluble – like you get in stationery stores, like J. Herbin, Waterman or Quink.
2. Document ink or Pigment ink, like DeAtramentis Document Ink, or Sailor Pigment inks from Japan
3. Permanent ink, like acrylic ink or Indian ink. Do not use Indian ink in fountain pens, ever, ever, ever. For these kinds of inks use only dip pens or reed or bamboo pens or sticks carved to a point. If you put Indian ink or acrylic ink in a fountain pen it will turn as solid as a rock and will destroy your ink feed on your fountain pen and quite possibly also your nib which you likely won’t be able to extricate and you will therefore destroy your pen. This will make you very sad.
Methods of cleaning your pen:
      If you really want to give your pen a good cleaning, you can run the feed under a tap of warm water with a fairly good force. Then, I also use a baby‘s ear syringe which you can buy at many pharmacies, for plunging out clogged ink inside of the pen’s ink feed. Note: never use these in baby’s ears. (I don’t know why they even sell them for that.) The little bulb is great for creating pressure to get the extra globby ink out of your pen.  Another good trick is to put a ball bearing of some sort in your ink bottle: that will break up any globs before you fill your pen.
     I use a cleaning solution that is called by Rapido-eze. Made by Koh-I-noor for technical pens and calligraphy pens. Or, you can get a solution called Pen flush from Goulet pens in the United States, or possibly Duly Noted here. If that doesn’t work, you may have to disassemble your pen which takes a little bit more determination.  I use a little bit of rubberized kitchen shelf paper from the Dollar store  to get a bit of a grip on the pen nib and ink feed its installed into.  But this is not for the faint of heart, and you could possibly damage your pen if you don’t pull straight out.
   It’s a good idea to flush your pen out every time you reload ink, but sometimes when you’re in the middle of a drawing you’re really not going to have time to do this. So plan on doing it as regularly as you can. When it comes to dip pens, I like to rinse the nib with a bit of rubbing alcohol on paper towel.

Other “ink” alternatives
You can also use other things to paint or draw with, everything from wine to coffee. There’s also a wonderful artist called Dylan Sera on Youtube who reminds me of a hobbit from middle earth who forages in the forest for twigs to make pens. He also makes his ink from things like walnuts and berries, which he demonstrates, called Ink Naturally with Dylan Sara.

Saying Goodbye to Good Neighbours

My wonderful neighbours are downsizing, so I made them a farewell gift, (also in memory of their dog), in India Ink and watercolour. Their dog passed away some time ago, but I’ll always think of their place as Holly’s House.

I feel like Eric Cartman about to board a Carnival ride

Sitting up in bed last night doodling while watching CNN. For years now I rushed to the news every day, saying to myself, "This could be the day the Orange Sh*tstain gets busted." But no, he packed his government and courts with collaborators with no spine or morals and managed, until now, to rip off the public. But the day is coming and I feel like Eric Cartman about to board a Carnival ride... Any day now, any day...

I can't wrap my head around American gun culture

This sketch came to me in the middle of the night. I have been trying to avoid Doom-Scrolling on my phone before going to bed. But how can you avoid the news of this latest massacre, when it’s everywhere? We are only 145 days into the year and there have already been over 211 mass shootings this year in ‘Merica. At this point, all I can do is throw my hands up in disgust, because if they didn’t do anything after Sandy Hook, where over two dozen little kids and their teachers were mowed down, and they didn’t do anything after Parkland, we have to accept that it’s unlikely to change, and perhaps it should be designated as a ‘no-go-zone’ by our Foreign Affairs department. ‘Nuff said.

Let's tip our hat to ex-diplomat Boris Bondarev

Have you ever wanted to resign from some job and the temptation was overwhelming to really let loose on the whole rotten operation? Of course you have. But what if you would likely face Putin's spies, the specter of Polonium tea, or being thrown out a window or being written off as a suicide with a knife in your back? Would you speak up then? So last night's bedtime doodle was this man, Boris Bondarev, the ex-Russian diplomat who walked into his office in Geneva on Monday morning and tendered his resignation complete with a scathing denunciation of Putin and his whole gang of enablers who are conducting this genocide he calls a “Special Operation”. I'm hoping this sketch doesn't find its way into my collection of People Putin Poisoned

Seriously, people? Monkey Pox?

Without even a break between Covid and the threat of World War III, we have an outbreak of Monkeypox, throwing the kybosh into everyone’s plans for a Post-Plague Orgy. Two days ago, I had never heard of the word. And I was too busy dealing with my own family’s fever dreams to pay any attention until a grotesque photo of someone’s erupted lesions appeared on Facebook. This is the monkey in question, a Rhesus monkey, used for neurology research, whose 1958 infection was first identified in a lab. We’re used to seeing them with a mechanical box affixed to the top of their brains. These brain scan boxes looked curiously like the Pillbox Hats that the “ladies” of Monty Python used to wear when they were having idiotic conversations about what inanimate objects could or couldn’t be cooked.

From what I can glean on Reddit, outbreaks seem to be associated with a music festival on Ibiza, a Fetish festival in Belgium, (where I imagine multiple people were trying on sweaty leather facemasks and bondage wear), and a sauna in Madrid, where the odd pustule might have exploded from the heat. It’s now managing to circle the globe, courtesy of a few dozen people who got their Post-Pandemic Orgy started prematurely.

If you’re wondering what the scars will look like after your monkey pox dies down, check out the polio/smallpox vaccine scars on the upper arms of people who were vaccinated before 1972. Then consider whether you want to put your orgy on hold for a few more months.

File this under possible future Putin victim

This is a watercolour I did while watching the evening news in bed, which is not always a good idea. It’s messy and some of my Egyptian cotton sheets are now permanently stained with things like Cadmium Yellow and Indigo. This guy is called Mikhail Khodarenok, who may or may not have have had Putin’s permission to say what he said on Russian state TV last night. While come Redditors applauded his ‘Bravery”, others thought it was a statement meant to prime the Russian public for more economic pain.

Meanwhile, here’s a quote from former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov: “This is likely part of a broader Kremlin campaign to manage expectations at home and encourage its international appeasement brigades to push for ceasefire and off-ramps to salvage Russian’s remaining gains…. it doesn’t take courage to say things on Russian TV, it takes permission.”

The excitement of a new sketchbook

Commonly, people are intimidated by the start of a new journal, because they are worried about “messing it up” from the get-go. My strategy is to get excited about finishing a sketchbook and as I near the end, I start to think about what I want to do as the first drawing in the next one. This time I was raring to go: I did my Spirit Animal. A Fly on the Wall, using India Ink and a Zebra-G nib on my dip pen, and Gansai Tambi iridescent watercolour. Incidentally, never ever be intimidated by a new page or a new book. It’s your sketchbook to play in and experiment with and all attempts at art are valid.

Magnolia Fever

While I was off in Alberta, the Magnolia blossomed. Here I wait all year for this fantastic display and then it happens when I’m gone. Like the Singing Frog on the old Bugs Bunny Show. I came back on time to enjoy it for a few days before a heavy rainstorm hit, (inevitable event, that) and washed most of the blossoms off the tree. I was feverish, (guess what I caught in Alberta), so I only managed to do a very quick gouache painting of it, while sitting next to it on the back step. But at least I captured some of it before it was gone.

Edmonton is Canada's Magpie Capital, apparently

Alberta, or at least Edmonton, does not have raccoons. In the absence of “Trash Pandas”, they have Magpies. Everywhere. So much so, that Edmonton has been declared Canada’s magpie capital. Their numbers are also growing according to biologists at Bird Studies Canada. While other species have had their numbers dwindle, in 2015, biologists concluded that Magpie numbers in the city had increased by 20 percent over the previous five years. While they may be pretty, they have become a nuisance, attacking cats especially.

Whitemud Ravine Nature Reserve

According to the signage, there are coyotes, wolves and owls here, but we only saw a few squirrels and some fish in the shallow water of the North Saskatchewan River. I did this quick watercolour sketch of a bend in the glacial river. We were able to see some fish, but the water was quite muddy. It wasn’t white, however, so I don’t know where the name comes from.

At an historic microhotel: The Corduroy Suites at the Gibbard Block

We had a nice suite at a microhotel which is run out of the Gibbard Block, a brick building contructed in 1912, which now houses shared office spaces on the second floor, a restaurant on the bottom floor, and the microhotel run by Corduroy Suites on the third floor. It had everything we needed to feel right at home, and was very conveniently located on 112th Avenue. There was quite a bit of building in the early 1900s, but then a shift in the economy caused a lot of local buyers in that era to bankrupt or move elsewhere. A complicated legal entanglement saw Gibbard Block foreclosed on in 1926. These days, the economy is chugging right along and the city is seeing an inflow of people looking to buy or build. Our Uber driver said he knows many people who just gave up on ever buying a place in Vancouver, who have recently moved in.

E-biking with PEDEGO and then Elk Island National Park

We biked around on e-bikes rented from PEDEGO. There is not much in the way of traffic in Edmonton, which is a stark contrast from peninsular Halifax which was largely built pre-automobile. Later, we went to Elk Island National Park, to see a heard of buffalos. Elk Island played an important role in the restoration of the plains bison, who are huge. We were able to get fairly close to them, safely, because we stayed in our car, or behind a fence. We were warned not to get too close, because they can charge at you without warning. We even saw a mother bison with her calf.

The Connor McDavid—I am Sparticus Moment

On monday night, we went down to Rogers Place to watch an Oilers game, (the playoffs are on). Downtown was a real “I am Sparticus” moment where practically everyone there was wearing the jersey of Connor McDavid. It was a really fun, but chilly night, but at the last minute the L.A. Kings scored, winning 4 to 3. The next two games, Edmonton obliterated LA so badly I felt sorry for the Kings

First day in Edmonton

We have arrived safely in Edmonton, . This was our first time on a plane in over two years. We wore our masks the whole time. Hopefully we didn’t catch anything. After leaving our carryon luggage, (we travel light), we went for a 10.2 km hike through Ward Metis, mostly along the river on natural trails and ended up having a very filling lunch at a place called Dogpatch, where we ate outside. We are trying our best to avoid catching COVID.

Brunch at the SugarBowlCafe, an Edmonton sweet spot

After a good hike taking in the expansive vistas of Edmonton and its river scenery, we ended up near the University of Alberta, and grabbed lunch at the Sugar Bowl. Travis was fixated on the chicken waffle, which I had never heard of before. I made the conventional choice of a Belgian waffle, but Greg tried the chicken waffle and gave me a taste. It was surprisingly delicious. From this point we walked down to the River Lot Indigenous Art Park and then back across the river, up to the legislature complex. Amazing city.