Such a simple idea, why didn’t I think of it first??  Numbers cut out of paper linked to a bottle of ink.  Ink is sucked up by paper to “color” the date, one per day.  How cool is that.  Needs a big wall for it though.  Kinda messy to clean up after too.  check it out here.

Not of pens, unfortunately. Too much to do to put in a decent showing here, I’ll be back on Monday with something worthwhile.

Today’s space age pen: Parker 61 (which, of the pens in this little exercise, is the only one that might be contemporaneous with Apollo 11)
Today’s ink: Vintage Quink washable blue (funnily enough, much darker than current blue-black), c.1960

Hey you. Yeah YOU! If you haven’t heard already, SHARPIE MAKES PENS! Where have you been? Just kidding. But seriously, these pens are taking the world by storm. The pens come in colors: black, blue, green and red. They can be used for anything! You can journal, doodle, take notes for class and the ink won’t bleed through paper.

Did you read that?

The ink WON’T BLEED THROUGH PAPER!

                         Click the pen for more details!

You can see commercials about the pen on TV now. I saw my first commercial about them and felt so proud to be interning at Sharpie. Twitterland is going crazy! People are so excited and have to get one. Some tweets I’ve seen include, “Just saw a sharpie pen commercial, I’m in love!” and “Sharpie makes pens?! I’m getting one now!”

What do I like about the pen? Two things. The smoothness of the writing and it’s cute. When I use the pen, it simply glides across my paper. Not only does it not bleed through, it is simple and the ink does not rub off on my hand. The pen is also cute. It’s sleek and refined. I’ve said goodbye to all those fat, bubbly, unfashionable pens. I know you might be thinking, “It’s just a pen!” But seriously, having a pen that may last as long as my Sharpie marker?! I gotta have it.

Here at Sharpie, new ideas are being “uncapped” everyday, literally. And with all of this excitement, it doesn’t seem like the ink is gonna run out on the Sharpie pen any time soon.

So, grab a pen and Uncap What’s Inside!!

Like today, tomorrow-

this will be behind me.

…inkling

A little tip on giving your child stamping instructions: “Pat the stamp on the ink pad 3 times and then stamp the image.”  This way, they don’t endlessly ink the the stamp…you know how enthusiastic kids are =)

“Before all else, be armed.”
(Niccolo Machiavelli)

1:08 am.

yes.  before doing anything, one must come fully prepared.  mentally and psychologically and everything in between.  for it is in being very much prepared can you ensure doing it beyond your best, endure all the pain that comes with it and winning it eventually. 

oh well.  it was kinda busy at the museum today.  felt so tired.  but not beyond those doors.

but you know what?  its a monday.  and of course, its super boring.  oh dude.  it was just another long day.

but tomorrow is not a monday anymore.  and im excited about it. cool.

im doing some other stuff online.  time to log off.

im out.

1:15 am.

Thought I’d have a go at doodling with a grey marker. Not sure of the result (I haven’t quite got to grips with markers yet), but they are definitely good for drawing really quickly which is handy for sketching people in the wild.

pigment liner

tried adding color with illustrator.

different?

++i asked my friend which one he liked better: i liked his answer: “of course the colored one! the beer mugs don’t look empty!”

My son is the main impediment to getting things done, currently. I’ve for the past three days had a goal of getting a single Touchdown-filler re-sacked, and find that every moment at home is filled with either the child himself or some child-related task. Or clearing the cat litter, which is similar.

I hasten to point out that this is a pen of my own, for my own amusement. Were it a client’s pen, I’d conduct things a little more pointedly, and with my wife’s blessing (part of this current incapacity is I’m trying to buy her some free moments to make jewellry for an upcoming sale– she has a deadline).

I may, if this persists, start working on my pens over lunch and leave this thing hang. The only sticking point there is that I’m not anxious to take my poorly-stowed tool kit (several boxes never meant to carry what’s in them) out into the world. And what if I find I’m not done when the lunch break ends? Official rebuke! My heart quivers at the prospect!

Today’s pen: Sheaffer 330 (first of a series of space age styled pens to celebrate the anniversary of Apollo 11’s voyage and landing)
Today’s ink: Skrip turquiose.

PS– What’s up at Raven’s March indeed? I suspect my IP’s server is down, hopefully momentarily, but if you’re not getting into the site, you’re not the only one. And later– looks like it was a short term problem, whatever it was. The doors are open once more.

Finally got two prints ready to sell, Elderfield studios did a cracking job printing them

Joose:   click here for more info

Rapid: click here for more details

Festschriften 15

Also at Carye Bye’s party.

pigment liner

powkang.tumblr.com

As if I didn’t have enough online presence to keep track of, I decided to start generating content for my tumblr (which heretofore only had one post, which was a link to this WordPress blog).  It will solely be sketches made in public while people-watching and listening to my ipod. I’m hoping it will generate traffic to this blog, and my website. I haven’t yet decided if I want to x-post everything there here, but I probably will for the time being.

[via: tumblr]

Medium: Ink on Sketchbook Paper

Size: 8.5″ x 11″

Date Completed: May 2007

Other Information: This was one of the intermediate versions of an eventual watercolor piece. To be honest, the ink drawing turned out much better than the watercolor. I think skunk cabbages are beautiful plants. The flowers actually smell pretty, if you don’t bruise the leaves and get skunk smell in the air.

11:06 pm.

“an eye for an eye
a tooth for a tooth”
(code of hammurabi)

oh yes.  a pain for a pain.  fair enough.

coz life is pain.  and pain is everything.

yes.  i am marked and pierced for life.  on my skin is a unique story.  my very own life story.   on me are all my lifelines.  all my dreams.  my convictions.  my aspirations.  every needle pierced unto me reminds me of all the pain that goes with it. 

all thats written on me will always remind me of my being human after all.  the permanence on my skin is going to be a living proof of what things are all about.  i dreamt.  i aspired.  i wished.  i hoped.  i excelled.  i loved.  i endured.  i lived and not just existed.  and oh yes.  i felt pain all over.  coz thats what it is.  pain.  and suffering.  nothing more.

before all these, it has always been an endless ride.  and endless journey in life.  but lately it has discovered a true home.  in short this very long and tiring  journey is gonna end soon.  yes, at long last.  it has to end soon.  somehow.  i got tired of it all eventually.  yes its gonna end with or without a home.  thats the crossroads.  either way the journey will lead me, both paths are all covered now.  so there’s no point of all the worry.  either way is a path to happiness.  real or unreal.

the sun set.  the rain poured down again.  the window just closed on me again as it always does.  after all, it was just so temporary.  like all the rest.  all the time.  there’s not gonna be a thing to call a home after all.  its just a mirage somehow.  its like an object of a distorted illusion  as a product of an extreme aspiration and of an utmost desire to pursue that elusive sustainable happiness.

so, is happiness mine to keep after all?  its a no.  a strong no.  its just all mine to give after all.  it dawned on me again.  it only lasted for about a day.  in my world, nothing really lasts forever.  it has been a fact.  and its gonna be always a fact.  sad.  but true.  and i think i have to start to accept it fully and live with that starting now.  coz there’s nothing to left to hope for.  much more nothing left to live for.

11:34 pm.

im out.

“Cause you can’t jump the track, we’re like cars on a cable,
And life’s like an hourglass, glued to the table.
No one can find the rewind button
So cradle your head in your hands,
And breathe, just breathe”
(anna nalick)

Until very recently, I’ve never wanted a tattoo. In spite of my self-destructive tendencies, I made it through my teens and 20s with no ink. The very idea of getting something permanent, gave me the willies. I have a habit of getting hyperfocused or infatuated for months or years, then moving on to something else. Dont we all though?
But time has shown me the ideas, values, core traits, beliefs, passion that will never be over-shadowed. I can understand the desire to make a symbol of it part of you.

What is it about tattoos?
What do you consider attractive about tattoos?
Do you admire from afar or have you gotten inked?

As promised…

Festschriften 14

At Carye Bye’s birthday party, Gus and I played badminton in a stiff breeze.  Gus got all samurai.

So, for the past four months I’ve been trying to get my mother to sit down with me so I can watch her ink something.

She didn’t have much time, but I whipped up a sketch in five minutes, and she took half a minute to work on it with a micron pen:

Good gravy. I think she did in 30 seconds with a micron what most people take 15 minutes to do with Flash or Illustrator. Everything is so loose and fluid, and the line weight is so expressive.

I was just reading an entry in some other fellow’s blog (I still don’t like this word), and I was struck by a couple of things. Thing one– the posting person apparently has much the same take on “disposable” and modern fashion as I do. Thing two– the vehemence of some of the comments responding to his suggestion that it’s not altogether a good thing that “Dress as thou wilt” is the whole of the sumptuary law.

About the time I got very serious about my pens (as opposed to the idle dalliance that had been going on since third or fourth grade), I also resolved that, after a long patch of t-shirt and jeans, it was time to dress my age. As it happens, this is the ’40s, and within my funds (The Regular Job doesn’t leave a lot of slush for hiring tailors) I’ve been doing pretty well with that.

One of the advantages to this is I always have a pocket for a pen. One of the disadvantages is that there is regularly some shambling git in oversized and droopy jeans, with a puffy baseball cap on more or less backward, who shouts an inarticulate taunt about my hat. The irony is delightful, of course, but the bare fact of such encounters is irksome.

My point is this– I may think someone walking into a reasonable restaurant in sweat pants and a t-shirt with a scatological slogan on it looks like an utter dink. He may think the same of me in my pleated trousers, brogues and fedora. But if “Dress as Thou Wilt” is indeed the law, how is it that he feels free to pass negative comment? I’m not suggesting (hoping, certainly) that he move his mode of dress closer to mine, but I get the feeling that the Totally Casual Crowd don’t like to have examples of a more elegant fashion on hand. It makes them aware of their inadequacies.

Well, too bad. I’m unwilling to descend to the lowest base, common and popular denominator (it’s a Henry V reference) merely so those who primarily compose it feel better about themselves.

What’s this got to do with pens? Not much directly, but the same urge that leads to people to wear Crocs in public is the one that leads to the use of biros. It’s easier. It’s more convenient. It’s disposable. All of a package, and I’m not interested in it.

Today’s reused and elegant pen: Waterman 52
Today’s stylish and noteworthy ink (from a recyclable bottle): Noodler’s FPN Van Gogh Starry Night.