The story of Ink

It was 2021, and over the previous two years I had come face to face with the massive, gut wrenching realization that I was not the enlightened being I thought I was. The world at large and my family along with it had become a chaotic mess and I saw no way back to the simplicity of my former life.

When my kids finally went back to school, in the quiet hours of my day, working at a tiny dinner table, my mind was absorbed into the simplest possible combination of elements. One flower. One shape. One pen. One brush and one pot of India ink.

After over ten years of being interested in art, of dabbling in different mediums and subject matter, of countless opportunities squandered and a multitude of perfectly good ideas abandoned, it was this season of brokenness which led to the most clarity about who I was and what I wanted to make.

I’ll never be able to fully understand that.

But, I hope that my art can be a reminder of that to you, too. That your brokenness can lead to goodness and that goodness can be exemplified in simplicity.

This year, I picked up this same theme of work and expanded it into my first collection. Here it is.

About my Process

It all starts with a flower. Or sometimes, a shape. Or maybe I'm lucky enough to have both the perfect flower and shape pop into my head a the same time.

I typically take some time to sketch the basic shapes into my sketchbook to ensure the perfect combination. I then create a layout of the flower and shape on the final page.

I either take or source a reference photo of my chosen flower. I do not do even a minute of tracing (people ask about this sometimes), but I do look very carefully at my flower of choice as I make a pencil sketch. It's taken me nearly seven hours to do a sketch before - it's a very important part of the process.

Once the sketch is finished, I take out a 005 Micron pen and redraw the entire thing, still paying close attention to the lines and shadows of the flower.

Next, I use india ink and a few small brushes to paint the ink into the shape surrounding the flower. Near the edges I use micron pen to get the shape crisp and precise. I then draw the outer line with a larger micron pen.

By the end of each piece, I feel like I've gotten to know these gorgeous flowers on an intimate level. Honestly, they are the true works of art. I can only hope that my art does them justice.

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