Dear Everyone ~
I love to draw with a brush pen on bits of scrap paper. The shop's new brush pens from Japan (which took almost six months to arrive) have drawn my immediate infatuation. I like to take little bits of scraps and go out into the garden or wander in nature, simply drawing little sprigs or leaves or stems or buds. I’ve been doing this for some time. The uninhibited nature of drawing in this way so appeals to me: just a few lively lines and voilà, you have a charming little something to frame or share, or attach to a sketchbook page.
The brush pen’s name is Aquash (which Spell Cheek likes to tweak to Squash). So, it’s a clever combination of aqua and brush, or perhaps it’s aqua and wash. Either way, the Aquash is a joy to draw with. One of its particular charms is that it provides a variation in the line from a washy black to a rich black. The brush itself is lush, in that you can make a very thick line and a very thin line within a single stroke, by varying your pressure. So, you can evoke the effect of sumi-e ink + water, all in a transportable brush pen.
The ink is permanent as well as fade-proof. It glides over all sorts of textures. Speaking of textures, let’s talk about scraps. I’ve assembled additional scrap bundles and renamed them: bundlini and bundlissimi. These scraps are all from bookbinding projects past, so they are imbued with creative karma. Each stack is at least an inch tall, garnished with a vintage postage tag.
Recently I have taken to cutting out shapes that look like vases and glue-sticking them to a scrap I’ve drawn on. I’ve also done this on a few notecards to send to friends. Happiness abounds all around.
