Maybe you’ll think I’m stoned but a friend of mine introduced me to drawing with sticks and ink and I love it, love it, love it. The line quality is so sensitive and to some extent uncontrolled. It really does have a natural look and just might replace my rigger brush. Painting an image and then drawing on it with stick and ink is something you should try. if you want to put color on over a drawing make sure the ink is waterproof. Also if you want midtones, do your ink drawing and pull some values out with a damp brush. This isn’t Sumi painting. The stick makes all the difference. Stick to it (groan) and you’ll be amazed!
Very interesting blog – many thanks. Another thing you might like to try if you haven’t already – is to take a palette knife normally used for oil painting and dip it in watercolor – the edge dragged across the paper can represent all sorts of textures like bark and rock. But my favourite is to dip the tip in fairly strong watercolor and then just hold the handle very lightly between finger and thumb and let it ‘meander’ over the paper – makes great tree branches because the line tapers naturally as the pigment runs out! All adds to the ‘repertoir’.