Please Don't Go8x11 inches
Ballpoint pen, micron pen and Inktense pencils
on Polyester canvas
Recently I received an email from one of my friends with a photo of her son's HSC art assignment. I was fascinated to find that the majority of the self portrait had been done with biro, or ballpoint pen and this inspired me to do some research and experimentation in the use of ballpoint pen as a serious medium for use in art. There are quite a few artists now who used the ballpoint pen in their artwork, one of them most notably is Juan Francisco Casas who creates huge photorealistic artworks in blue bic pens. Another artist Allan Barbeau spent 96 hours doing an amazing reproduction of the Mona Lisa using only ballpoint pen.
Mostly I have tried to use ballpoint pens with an ISO 12757-2 rating because this ink is the most archival, but I also used bic pens for some of the finer work. Working with the ballpoint pen gave a mixed sense of satisfaction with the way lovely gradients of shading could be achieved from soft right through to deep and dark, but also some angst, as there really is no room for error, so in that way, it is quite an unforgiving medium. For now though, I am hooked and for my next artwork, am aiming to work on a bigger canvas, so will probably need to post progress shots.
15 comments:
Gosh Karen! Your piece is fantastic and I so love the paisley tunic she is wearing! And what an artist this young man is already!! I've never done a piece nearly as beautiful as his work. He is amazing. I look forward to seeing more of your work using a Bic pen. I think I will check out your links!
Love this Karen....I have some great work done in ballpoint pen, but as say very unforgiving,no room for mistakes really. Thanks for the links super stuff.
A very interesting post Karen. I have seen work done with a Biro. i think I would prefer to use the Faber-Castel Pit Pens but whether they give the same effect I don't know.
seeing a work done in pen always inspired me. I have the pens (Pit Pens) ready to start a project.
Thanks for sharing this inspiring work.
You are the most talented artist Karen that can turn from one medium to another and work wonders. I am speechless.
Love the use if the inktense pencils but have no done anything more than a practice with them. They can be very vibrant.
Fascinating Karen! A great first work after some stellar research! You never cease to amaze me, and your friend's son has lots of talent. :-)
beautiful Karen! Its fascinating to see what some artists are now doing with biros, and I didn't know about the archival qualities. I hope you'll do more, this one is fantastic.
Thank you Sherry. I think Jez is an amazing artist for his age and will certainly be very successful if he pursues a career in art. Enjoy the links - they are inspiring for sure!!!
Thanks Vic - I'm not sure I have seen your ballpoint work - is their an archived blog post I can check some out?
Thank you Dors - I have the pit pens too, but find them really useful in different situations. To me they are like the old brush tip textas and give a more opaque look. I like the biro for it's ability to work like graphite, but without the fear that it will smudge (no mistakes allowed though!!) The inktense are sooo vibrant, and to be honest, I think it will take a few more artworks before I have perfected them.
Thank you heaps Mona - you're a darling and yes he sure does have an abundance of talent - gets it from his Mum!!!
Thank you so much for your encouraging words Tracy - I am so excited to try out some more pieces with this combination of media - it's always lovely to try out new ideas!!! :)
I really love the effect Karen, it really makes a great eye catching portrait. Thanks for the showing me something new.
My pleasure Wendy - It's always exciting trying something different isn't it!!! :)
This is really great Karen, I never would have thought about using pens like that. Like you say no room for error I guess-great job!
Thank you heaps Sam - I'm working on another one at the moment, but having a few more challenges with this one.
wow!
i'm speechless.
What a beautiful piece Karen! Quite haunting with that colour scheme. So sorry about the severe tardiness of this comment.
Jez is just so flattered that you chose to show him and his work PLUS he is floored by the portrait you did for him. You've captured him so well. "Thank you" just doesn't seem enough.
Can't wait to se what you've been up to....
Sorry I'm late - have had a break from art/blogging so now catching up.
Fantastic work Karen.
The only artist I know of who used ballpoint pen is Richard Childs who has done some beautiful pictures using pointillism/ball point pens. Have you seen his work?
http://www.chumleysart.com/index_files/Page908.htm
Thank you so much Art Collector's Corner for stopping by and for your lovely comment.
Thank you heaps Cindy for all your lovely words - Please don't feel you're tardy - I'm only just catching up myself. I'm so happy Jez likes his portrait :)
You make me feel better Sue, because I had been feeling guilty myself at my lack of blogging and catching up with other blogs - hopefully will rectify that in the next week and thank you so much for the link - will definitely check it out!!! :)
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