The Painted Pen

Letter R and Raspberry Letter R and Raspberry are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each study will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   For some reason lately, I keep wanting to follow letter Q with letter U. I’ve done it on Instagram challenges, in alphabet lettering practice, and I almost did it with this post! I don’t know what’s up with my brain because I’m certainly old enough to know my abcs, having graduated kindergarten several decades ago. Nevertheless, I started…

Letter Q and Quill Letter Q and Quill are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each study will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets. Letter Q almost led to my alphabet study downfall. (Letter X may be the next terror.) If there ever was a letter to skip … I mean, how do you paint words like quirky, quiet and quintessential? I thought about queen, but I didn’t really want to paint six queens … maybe a queen’s crown. Yes, drawing and painting…

Letter P and Parrot Letter P and Parrot are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each study will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   Parrot belonged with letter P since the beginning of this study. It might actually have inspired it. One of my first watercolor and ink sketches was of a color wheel parrot. Certain birds beckon for our attention. Owls with their silent, intelligent watch. Herons with their graceful, patient hunt. Parrots with their ability to imitate sounds and extravagant…

Letter O an Ocean   Letter O and ocean are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each study will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   I waffled with letter O for several days before landing on ocean at the last minute. It felt like I didn’t decide until I had to write my word for the study to post on my Instagram feed. I considered oregano. Our bees love the dainty flowers from the herbs in our herb garden. I thought about…

  Letter N and all things Night Letter N and night are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each study will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   Are we at Letter N already? That means we passed the halfway mark. And what a week to creep over the hill! I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with galaxies, stars, and all things night. This study could go much farther, as far as the imagination, but I’ll stick with what I have for now. The…

  Letter M and Maple Letter M and Maple are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each study will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   Letter M has so many possibilities. It can look pointy or rounded, symmetrical or varied, and a flourish can sprout from almost every angle. Studying M in pictures has many options too. I added mandalas, mermaids, mountains, and more to my “study someday” list. But for this study, I chose maple … as in maple leaf or…

Letter L and Lavender   Letter L and Lavender are part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each week will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   When thinking about each letter, I often ask my children what they think of that starts with that letter. I like to hear different opinions. Alone, I tend to run circles around the same few ideas instead of thinking something new. This time, lemur, lion, linx, leopard, and ladybug added some good options. But when lavender came…

  Letter K and Kaleidoscope This project is part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each week will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets. As you may have noticed, I took some time off from this lettering and watercolor study before starting letter K. I plan to adjust the time frame of the rest of the study to allow for other projects that pop up, to get myself organized for future blog posts, and to do additional planning for the days/weeks/months ahead. Instead of…

  Letter J and Jellyfish This project is part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each week will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets. It would seem as though letter J would be one of my favorite letters. It starts my name. And I do enjoy playing with the look of it, but I must say, it can also be one of my most elusive letter styles. Perhaps I want the perfect look. The J that best represents me. After all, it’s a part…

Letter I and Iris   This project is part of a watercolor and ink study in letter styles and object styles beginning with that letter. Each week will focus on one letter and one object beginning with that letter in order to collect and practice various artistic styles and alphabets.   Letter I is a hard letter to work with. Not only is it limited in its strokes, but not many nouns start with I. I found myself stuck in a box of ice cream, icicles, and igloos. Not what I wanted to paint at the start of the heat of summer. Though maybe painting those things would cool me…