The Joy of a Fine Line...drawing with a pen

'Daisy Delight'           4x4       acrylic     ©Karen Margulis sold

Put a fine tip black pen in my hand and I am in heaven. Doodle Heaven!  As much as I love to paint, I love to draw with a fine tip black pen. I am a compulsive doodler....if I have a pen and there is paper I have to draw. My notebooks are filled with random line drawings. I love taking a fine line and see where it will go. So after I painted this daisy in acrylic, I felt it was missing something. I decided it needed some nice black lines.

I used a Koh-I-Noor Nexus pen for the lines. It is smooth and the ink flows well. The ink is fast drying, acid free and archival. It was a joy to work with! These little 4x4 acrylics are a fun change of pace to work on. Besides adding ink lines to my acrylic paintings I love using a pen to sketch.

•  I like to use a black pen for sketching. It is portable and always on hand. I like to use a small fine lined pen called Le Pen by Marv for sketching and note taking.
• Pens are liberating. There is no fussing and erasing. You put down your marks and make them work. I like the more interesting look of an ink drawing. 
• Pens help you become more confident....since you can't erase you learn to be bolder and more confident in your drawing skills.
• You can do more than lines with a pen. You can shade very effectively. Doug Dawson does his thumbnail value studies with a pen and they are awesome! (saw him do this at the IAPS convention)

If you are interested in drawing with a pen you may be interested in this Squidoo lens on drawing with a pen

Check out this wonderful art blog with great posts on pen and ink Lines and Colors