
For the past two days in Chicago, we had massive amounts of SNOW. And then overnight . . . it all melted away! Not done with white winter yet, I picked a white wine and a white gelly pen to play with for today's blog post.
A lesson learned from this? When booze is the beverage of choice, it's best to do some pre-planning. The art in today's post is a lot sketchier and looser, which is up to your interpretation how that happened . . . ;) Don't forget to click pictures to make 'em bigger.
The Drink: Menage a Trois, White Moscato, California 2010
The Place: The Wet Stain Studio (Erm, I leave sometimes, I promise!)
The Art: Sakura brand Gellyroller pen, white. Black mounting board scraps, smooth & heavyweight.
A lesson learned from this? When booze is the beverage of choice, it's best to do some pre-planning. The art in today's post is a lot sketchier and looser, which is up to your interpretation how that happened . . . ;) Don't forget to click pictures to make 'em bigger.
The Drink: Menage a Trois, White Moscato, California 2010
The Place: The Wet Stain Studio (Erm, I leave sometimes, I promise!)
The Art: Sakura brand Gellyroller pen, white. Black mounting board scraps, smooth & heavyweight.

Manage a Trois is a wine I pass every other week (or every week . . . twice a week . . . ) with a little giggle. But I've never tried it, and the minimalist label really attracted me, along with the calligraphic, curlicue typography.
Although I'm a big fan of sweet whites, I find some get cloying towards the end. I liked this Moscato a lot for its starting crispness and nice, lingering sweetness that didn't kill my throat. This wine is a blend ( Oh, that's where the name comes from ~ ) and the brightness made it really refreshing and enjoyable to sip on. Although it was crazy delicious freshly chilled, I had no problem drinking it after it sat out for a little while and warmed slightly. This wine is fruity and fresh tasting, and made me anxious for summer time sipping!
Although I'm a big fan of sweet whites, I find some get cloying towards the end. I liked this Moscato a lot for its starting crispness and nice, lingering sweetness that didn't kill my throat. This wine is a blend ( Oh, that's where the name comes from ~ ) and the brightness made it really refreshing and enjoyable to sip on. Although it was crazy delicious freshly chilled, I had no problem drinking it after it sat out for a little while and warmed slightly. This wine is fruity and fresh tasting, and made me anxious for summer time sipping!

White Gelly Pens -- yeah, like the kind you drew on your friends with in the 3rd grade -- are insanely fun to draw with! I usually use this pen on my marker and watercolor pieces to add white flecks and highlights, so sketching on the black board was very different.
Doing any sort of art in inverse feels awesome. It was a great change of pace, and made me consider line and value differently. As someone who does a lot more line-art than value work, it was a little bit of a challenge to see the white as more than just a highlight color.
Doing any sort of art in inverse feels awesome. It was a great change of pace, and made me consider line and value differently. As someone who does a lot more line-art than value work, it was a little bit of a challenge to see the white as more than just a highlight color.
I'm not sure why gelly pens were originally invented, but they aren't super high quality art supply. Prolonged sketching with them get the tip all gloopey, and they were prone to loosing ink mid stroke or rolling out inconsistently. While working in inverse was really cool, I am probably going to explore white ink or acrylics with very fine brushes or pen nibs. But there is no underestimating the value of experimentation, and with a little relaxing white wine, a little white pen was a whole lot of fun!
Until tomorrow <3
-Ali
The Wet Stain
-Ali
The Wet Stain