MARTHA KELLY ART
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Walnut Ink

8/1/2021

1 Comment

 
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When I am feeling a little lost, I often buy new art supplies to play with. So I've done a lot of that this last year and a half. One of those has been a bottle of walnut ink from the Art Center in Memphis. I love having a really good, locally owned art store that will not only stock my specific needs for me (18x24" linoleum blocks instead of just 12x12" ones) but that also has a wide array of alluring things to browse and try and play with. If you are lucky enough to have such a store, please support it. Online ordering just isn't the same. 

So I came on this summer trip with a bottle of walnut ink and a very old dip pen that had been handed down to be and that has been sitting in a cup ever since, lonely and untried. I'm having a ball. The walnut ink nicely has a tight fitting top, and it rides around safely in the daypack with my art things, so I've been using it on site a lot lately. ​
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I've used watercolor so steadily that it's easy for me to fill a page of my sketchbook with swirling, eye catching color. Facing a double spread with just the nib of a pen is a much different proposition, and I've enjoyed the challenge. It's more similar to the printmaking I do, which is graphic and pattern oriented as well. I'm feeling a distant kinship to Van Gogh, whose ink drawings I have loved since I discovered them in high school. One lovely thing about switching mediums is that you see the world around you differently since you're looking for different opportunities in a sketch. Just that gift alone is worth switching things up regularly, and I was overdue. I also do love feeling that tangible through line with my art heroes who have gone before. It's similar to the feeling I get cooking stew, a sense of the history of people standing and stirring pots and making a life giving force. Suddenly it's not just me and the stew but a host of ancestors standing at my shoulder as well. 

It's been a delightful change, and I plan to keep my hand in for sketching in line as well as paint. 
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1 Comment
Susan Robinson link
8/5/2021 12:49:33 pm

I love these sketches with Walnut Ink! Reminds me of Draper Hill the cartoonist for the Commercial Appeal in the 70's! I have 6 originals of his!

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    Martha Kelly is an artist and illustrator who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee.


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  • HOME
  • PRINTS
  • WATERCOLORS
    • Memphis
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    • France
    • Greece and Turkey
    • St. Louis
    • House Portraits and Commissions
    • My Palette
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    • Quarantine Journal
    • Memphis
    • Overton Park
    • Mr. Darcy
    • Mr. Darcy's Odyssey
    • Musicians
    • Tea
    • Dutch travelogue
    • Shakertown travelogue
    • Sketching tools
  • LITURGICAL
    • Special Bulletin Sets
    • Year A
    • Year B
    • Year C
    • "The Garden"
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT
  • SHOP