MLYON.com » Pen http://mlyon.com Mike Lyon painting, drawing, printmaking, furniture, photography, and other stuff Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:18:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 “Annette” 70 x 45 inch watercolor with pen and ink drawing http://mlyon.com/2008/01/annette-70-x-45-inch-watercolor-with-pen-and-ink-drawing/ http://mlyon.com/2008/01/annette-70-x-45-inch-watercolor-with-pen-and-ink-drawing/#comments Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:42:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2008/01/annette-70-x-45-inch-watercolor-with-pen-and-ink-drawing/ I don’t know that I so much completed this drawing today as simply called it ‘done’. Either way, I’m moving on! “Annette” is my mother-in-law and she does NOT appreciate this portrait at all — she thinks it makes her look too old and wrinkly (she’s only eighty-one years old, after all) and just hates it! But _I_ love this image of her even though I had trouble with the drawing from beginning to end! I composed the image during two and a half weeks in December and began actually drawing and painting it January 2, 2008. I stopped work on it this morning after 592 hours of continuous drawing and 34 Sakura Jelly Roll .3mm ink pens. The Sakura pens are advertised to write to the last drop, but that last drop usually happens LONG before the ink runs out — VERY annoying! Still searching for that ‘ideal’ writing instrument which leaves a permanent mark, very fine line, and writes reliably until the ink runs out. Not easy to find!

]]> http://mlyon.com/2008/01/annette-70-x-45-inch-watercolor-with-pen-and-ink-drawing/feed/ 2 Crosby pen and ink drawing with watercolor 90 x 45 inches http://mlyon.com/2007/11/crosby-pen-and-ink-drawing-with-watercolor-90-x-45-inches/ http://mlyon.com/2007/11/crosby-pen-and-ink-drawing-with-watercolor-90-x-45-inches/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:19:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2007/11/crosby-pen-and-ink-drawing-with-watercolor-90-x-45-inches/ When my “Sarah” drawing was first exhibited at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the founder’s wife appreciated it and invited me to create a similar life-size portrait of her husband, Crosby, a giant of a man and huge patron of the arts.  They loved this portrait and it was later purchased by the museum for their permanent collection.  3 2007_11_25_crosby.jpg

Here’s a ‘revisit’ to an approach I was very interested in a decade or more ago — black line over color — inspired by Hiroshige and other ukiyo-e artists (and the comic books I loved during my childhood)…

1 linda-mono-web.jpg 2 green-face-me-monotype-web.jpg 1996 monotypes with black ink over flat color areas my wife, Linda and a self-portrait
each image about 16 x 11 inches

I designed the image to include three flat colors, pink, blue, and tan to be painted in watercolor and then overlaid with the squiggly cross-hatched line drawing I’ve been developing over the past several years. I mounted a pencil in the gizmo I invented to carry my ink-pens and drew the color area outlines, then painted them very loosely with watercolor washes, using frisket to mask the outlines. Then mounted pen(s) and drew the image as usual. 4 2007_11_16_crosby_plan.jpg

I think the color turned out to be very effective, in spite of nasty technical problems caused mainly by uneven dampening of the paper during painting. That caused some expansion in the large sheet of Arches 300 lb. hot press watercolor paper which didn’t completely shrink upon drying and left a half dozen large wrinkles which have persisted into the finished piece. Later this morning I’ll lay the paper down flat, dampen it carefully (my inks are all water borne and very resoluble, so I’ll have to be careful not to ruin the drawing after several hundred hours of work, and then see whether I can press the paper back to flat with a hot iron.

5 2007_11_19_crosby_pencil.jpg
6 2007_11_19_crosby_pink.jpg
7 2007_11_19_crosby_frisket.jpg
8 2007_11_19_crosby_blue.jpg

Another nasty technical problem was caused by the frisking FRISKET!! Wouldn’t you imagine that a product designed to be used on watercolor paper for masking would be non-staining?!? I used a frisket recommended by my local Dick Blick — their house brand, same stuff as Windsor Newton (which I’ve found also stains the paper) — but it left a dull reddish-brown ‘halo’ wherever I applied it! UGH! Blick carries a WHITE frisket which I hope (next time) will be non-staining! Very disappointing!

9 2007_11_20_crosby_shoes.jpg
a 2007_11_25_crosby_shoes.jpg
b 2007_11_24_crosby_scott.jpg

]]> http://mlyon.com/2007/11/crosby-pen-and-ink-drawing-with-watercolor-90-x-45-inches/feed/ 1 “Anthony”, 83 x 45 inches, pen and ink drawing http://mlyon.com/2007/03/anthony-83-x-45-inches-pen-and-ink-drawing/ http://mlyon.com/2007/03/anthony-83-x-45-inches-pen-and-ink-drawing/#comments Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:08:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2007/03/anthony-83-x-45-inches-pen-and-ink-drawing/ On March 19, 2007 after 240 hours of continuous drawing with pen and ink, I completed “Anthony”, a pen and ink drawing 83 x 45 inches on Arches 300 lb. hot press watercolor paper.

]]> http://mlyon.com/2007/03/anthony-83-x-45-inches-pen-and-ink-drawing/feed/ 7 “Jim” large scale pen and ink drawing http://mlyon.com/2006/12/jim-large-scale-pen-and-ink-drawing/ http://mlyon.com/2006/12/jim-large-scale-pen-and-ink-drawing/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:47:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2006/12/jim-large-scale-pen-and-ink-drawing/ Large scale pen and ink drawing — a portrait of my friend, Jim W. At 84 inches high (7 ft) it’s one of the largest of my drawings. I like the rendering of the hairs and of the fabric of the shirt where the woven threads can be made out in places… 

]]> http://mlyon.com/2006/12/jim-large-scale-pen-and-ink-drawing/feed/ 0 “Arthur” 77 x 42.5 inch pen and ink drawing http://mlyon.com/2006/11/arthur-77-x-425-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/ http://mlyon.com/2006/11/arthur-77-x-425-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/#comments Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:20:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2006/11/arthur-77-x-425-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/ “Arthur” pen and ink drawing completed October 31 after 282 hours — almost 9 miles of ink line and 8 million lines of machine movement instruction. This one used a new (to me) pen with oil based ink and I’m not very fond of this pen at all. Drawn on Rives BFK paper, the paper turned out to be too soft to hold up well under all the drawing, the ink went in somewhat grayish and although I very much like this image of my 83 year old friend with the youthful eyes and hair, Arthur Kase, the drawing itself lacks the crispness of my previous work. The pen eventually abraded the paper surface in the darker areas and then kinda soaked into the rough surface in a way I don’t much appreciate.

I’m about to begin another drawing, this time using water-borne pigmented inks and a tiny capillary pen. But first I have to solder up a little circuit to actuate a pen-lift solenoid so that the tiny hollow nib can ‘float’ over the paper without bending and breaking. Should begin this full color drawing middle of next week and I’m very excited to see this one develop!!!!

– Mike

]]> http://mlyon.com/2006/11/arthur-77-x-425-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/feed/ 0 “London” 78×45 inch pen and ink drawing http://mlyon.com/2006/09/london-78x45-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/ http://mlyon.com/2006/09/london-78x45-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/#comments Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:50:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2006/09/london-78x45-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/ “London” pen and ink drawing completed this morning after 208 hours — 5.83 miles of ink line (just under 1/2 inch drawn per second) . I think I like it! 

]]> http://mlyon.com/2006/09/london-78x45-inch-pen-and-ink-drawing/feed/ 2 Pen & Ink Drawing — Shannon & Danielle http://mlyon.com/2006/05/pen-ink-drawing-shannon-danielle/ http://mlyon.com/2006/05/pen-ink-drawing-shannon-danielle/#comments Tue, 16 May 2006 19:47:00 +0000 Mike Lyon http://mlyon.com/2006/05/pen-ink-drawing-shannon-danielle/ Another life-size pen and ink drawing (extra fine point rolling ball pen) — this one of Shannon and Danielle partially robed, about 90 inches by 45 inches on Arches 300lb hot press watercolor paper…

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